It doesn’t matter what you, the ordinary folk, do to improve yourselves, as a certain breed of politicians, as Winston Churchill intimated, “are asked to stand, want to sit, and end up lying,” and they will say and do anything to keep their foot on your throat.
Though I’m sure that most of us do improve ourselves as we grow, learn, mature and gain experience, it is almost as if despite demonstrating compassion, care and concern for others, despite having good work ethics, contributing to families, communities and societies, being faithful, loyal and true, showing resilience and integrity, there is always something we have no control over, that prevents us from achieving the fulfilment that truly completes us.
Is it perhaps what we New Zealanders refer to as the ‘tall poppy syndrome,’ where societies find ways of ostracising high achievers in society or the workplace, so seek to “bring them back to earth,” through criticism. Its origins are credited to the Roman author Titus Livius, in his history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, in which he identified the tyrant King, Tarquinius of Gabii, who, in hacking off the tallest poppies in his garden, demonstrated the threats to his rule. A
It, tall poppy syndrome, is usually driven by insecurities or envy, in what starts as banter, but quickly becomes malicious, often finds the individual unfairly maligned, socially ostracised, and their achievements belittled, resulting in self-doubt, anxiety, and a complete withdrawal from seeking excellence or approval. It is, absolutely, bullying and harassment by another name.
Another malignant presence, more institutional than individual, is known as the ‘clobbering machine,’ a scenario which pressures individuals to ‘not make waves,’ and accept the status quo, or be ‘cut down to size.’ It is different because it threatens, right from the start, malignant and poisonous, saying, “toe the line, or else!”
Politicians wield such threats effectively, and Vladimir Putin’s, when imperialist objectives were put under pressure by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, warned, “Imperialism is evil. It harms the interests of the Russian people.” Putin’s response was chilling, referring to “that person,” or “that character,” and warning, “We will fight against them.” Which is exactly what he did, as Navalny was charged with fraud and extremism in 2021, and sentenced to 19 years' hard labour. Imagine, 19 years!
Navalny was quietly moved to the Polar Wolf Colony in Kharp, in Russia’s harsh Far North, where he died in February 2024, from what was originally said to be a blood clot, then later to have been ‘sudden death syndrome.’ An authoritative investigation by an international panel found he had been poisoned with epibatidine, a laboratory-produced toxin. The implication is that Navalny’s death has the imprint of the FSB clobbering machine all over it.
So, it’s no wonder we feel that no matter what we do, we’re going to get ‘slapped’ metaphorically, by the clobbering machine, or ‘cut down’ by those who aren’t doing quite so well, so why... bother? You think to yourself, “I was born to stand out...” like a poppy in a field, that last bit being the death knell, again, you know you’ll get ‘slapped down.’
The great clobbering machine may well be defined in our lives as a metaphorical media onslaught, a political force majeure, or even intense social media pressure, etc., yet I will always see it as the inflated egos of too many narcissistic, antagonistic, masochistic politicians. Look around the world right now, and a rich harvest of warmongers, deceivers, and charlatans, of whom George Orwell may have spoken thus, “political language makes lies sound truthful.”
Beware of the politician whose lips are moving, for in Voltaire’s words, echoing the clobbering machine’s justification as, “politics being the art of deliberately lying.”
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