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The tyranny of small decisions
Quite apart from the explanations frequently offered as to why we don’t act as a community i.e. being hidden & scared etc, I’ve been trying to unravel alternative reasons why we are struggling to act collectively in an altruistic manner.
I offer the following quotes from the ancients. Today, the theory (they) speak of is known as the tyranny of small decisions.
Thucydides (ca. 460 BC-ca. 395 BC) stated:
[T]hey devote a very small fraction of time to the consideration of any public object, most of it to the prosecution of their own objects. Meanwhile each fancies that no harm will come to his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after this or that for him; and so, by the same notion being entertained by all separately, the common cause imperceptibly decays.[8]Aristotle (384-322 BC) similarly argued against common goods of the polis of Athens:
For that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he is himself concerned as an individual. For besides other considerations, everybody is more inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often less useful than a few.[9]What we expect society to do for us, we must also do for ourselves.
It is being asked that society care about us a members of the collective (that which we call greater society) & not leave us to fend for ourselves.
Within our own community we must exercise what we ask of society.
Some thoughts to ponder. -
2 Replies
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This is unfortunately so true, obviously not just with regard to the members of TGR but most organisations fall foul of the same attitude.
So I think if something is to happen then the few will just have to resolve to do it, if they don’t then it will never happen, and that would be, The Tragedy.
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Quote:So I think if something is to happen then the few will just have to resolve to do it, if they don’t then it will never happen
Yes, I basically agree. Though an egalitarian approach is to be admired, there are few examples of systems that function successfullly that way.
Take TgR as an example, if someone didn’t first act to create it & additionally there were not mechanisms in place to ensure that it functions smoothly or a position of ultimate authority to make final determinations then the entire operation would collapse.The counter to the tyranny of small decisions, is to accept that many voices exist & are in fact both relevent & necessary, coupled with the understanding that systems need to exist for the conglomerate to function as a whole entity.
