Money? Knowledge? Dick Cheney as your best friend? Marble balls? A Nuclear arsenal? What do you need most to become very powerful? This question had me thinking a lot and I believe I finally found the answer:
The ability to persuade and convince!
What Do You Need Most To Become Powerful?
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
hi drima,
powerful in terms of what, or rather having power over what?
I guess I mean powerful in a political sense.
Right… I think that a country can’t be powerful until it has secured its own stability, so initially a country must have a functioning and fair justice system, and it needs to ensure the education of its populace to ensure the system is kept in place. When both justice and education is secured, stability is generally secured… with political stability in a country and an educated workforce, you get a more productive economy… and a more productive economy will increase your economic weight in your respective region, which will eventually secure a somewhat influential amount of power for a country.
“The ability to persuade and convince!”
Nope.
What you need is the ability to make people believe that you agree with them.
If I had a choice, I’d choose Dick Cheney as my best friend.
Buckshot and all.
Yes, and if you’re going to make people believe that you agree with them, then you better do it in a convincing way. You just stated the same thing but in different words.
I’ve always had the impression that Dick Cheney has significant influence over Bush.
“Yes, and if you’re going to make people believe that you agree with them, then you better do it in a convincing way. You just stated the same thing but in different words.”
I guess I’m a little too subtle in my use of irony: to be forthwith, if I was a friend of Cheney’s, and if he accidentally shot me full of buckshot, I’d still be his friend, because he still is an American leader that I trust.
When I voted for the Bush/Cheney ticket in 2004, I voted mostly for Cheney, not Bush. Bush is a front man, while Cheney is “l’eminence grise” to the Bush presidency:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89minence_grise
There are many reasons why I support Cheney. But I’d like to give you one particular example: in a rare interview, where an MSM reporter peppered Cheney with all the standard criticisms, and Cheney parried all of those attacks admirably with the arguments that are so well familiar to all of us, the reporter finally relented and asked a more nuanced question (and I paraphrase from memory)…
“If there is one thing that disappointed you in these past years, what would that be?’
Cheney: “I thought the first time the Iraqis where able to vote would have been a bigger effect.”
Reporter: “the first time, as in the whole purple finger…?”
Cheney: “Yes. I thought that that would have had a larger significance to the Iraqis…”
That reporter had caught Cheney at an amazing (and perhaps historical) moment of candor. For only an American could imagine that free elections might make a difference: Europeans, behind the scenes, have always told Americans that they were naive to think that Arabs/Muslims could appreciate the significance of free elections. I know this because I hear it constantly from Europeans, especially since Europeans (like the Finns) talk like this about Arabs/Muslims, but only in their own languages (i.e. they never express themselves in English when it comes to these subjects).
Unfortunately, (and especially so for Arabs) Cheney’s realization marks the point where American optimism might be about to join European cynicism when it comes to western attitudes towards Arabs and, by extension, to all Muslims.
Cheney might be the best thing that had ever happened to the Arab/Muslim world. He got rid of a tyrant, only because he had faith in an innate belief that Arabs/Muslims would eventually appreciate a democratic way of government.
The years since 2004 point to an American disillusionment that has rather dismal consequences for the Middle East. I think Cheney gave democracy the best shot it ever had in the region. In 2008, we will probably see an abandonment of the cause, regardless of what party wins the American election.
Arabs/Muslims do not yet know what an ally they’re about to lose.
Ah, but I’ve digressed from the main topic of the thread…
Putting Cheney aside, what anyone needs the most in becoming powerful is the ability to quickly dismiss unimportant facts and news… from the important facts and news.
This is how I sailed through Ivy League. Do not clutter your mind with knowledge that you know you can retrieve later (or delegate to someone else to retrieve later… when you’ve advanced in life). Concentrate on understanding the significance of certain patterns of knowledge and thinking. For the mind has a habit… for habits and patterns. It doesn’t take long to realize the repetitive capabilities of the mind can be organized for strong, powerful performance - or organized for crazy, disjointed, illusioned, dispirited, and finally, maybe, inspirational thinking.
The craziness might sometimes be seen and translated by others as worthwhile to follow. There’s power in that, if you want people to follow you, thought I’d think that might be cumbersome for anyone over time.
You cannot rule people who can be persuaded and convinced by arguments.
You can only rule those who do not change their opinions.
Leave a Comment