Assertions and Opinions

It is one thing to share an opinion. It is an altogether different thing to make an assertion. Confusion of the two typically serves the interests of coercive power, the power that forces. In contrast, clearly drawing the distinction between the two, and insisting on keeping the gap between them open and unobstructed, is in the interest of conducive power, the power that capacitates.

Read more

Coercive Power: The Power of the Closed Fist

The greater coercive power grows, the greater the number of those it puts behind bars, and the greater the number of bars with which it contains them. Eventually, those over whom coercive power is exercised can no longer even see the world beyond the bars that enclose them, confining them in their prisons. Their world itself shrinks down to the size of their prison cell.

Read more

Powerful Words: A Confession

I was a cop once. It was only once, and only for a few weeks. Nevertheless, I must confess that once I was a fully-fledged officer of the law—with a blue uniform, a black duck-billed hat, a shiny badge pinned on my chest, a walky-talky hung at my side (this was long before the rise to ubiquity of cell-phones), a bully-stick in a holder on a leather belt studded with bullets, and a holster with a loaded handgun in it. I even bought myself a pair of mirrored sunglasses to complete the outfit.

Read more