A little thing I wish to say about political power and the people of the United States...

[CannonStreak]

Now, to begin all this, I want to bring up the definition of political power, which is...

"Power, in political science and sociology, the capacity to influence, lead, dominate, or otherwise have an impact on the life and actions of others in society. The concept of power encompasses, but is not limited to, the notion of authority. Unlike authority, which implies legitimacy, power can be exercised illegitimately."

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/power-political-and-social-science

Now, with that out of the way, here is something I want to say about this; power is something everyone can have, even if it is not in terms of leading another person or group of people. Still, with how some people in the United States are today, maybe even some people in general, I had an observation I would like to point out...

I don't think some people in the United States (whom we will be talking about only here) have power over themselves.

What I mean is that some people just blindly follow others, whether it be a parent or parental figure or a person of higher authority or a famous person. That said, some of those people even follow those people no matter what, as in no matter what wrong they do. It is as if some supporters of those kinds of people cannot think for themselves. They just eat up whatever those other people say even if there is strong evidence against that.

Now, to clarify, I know this is not the only reason why people may act that way, or support such people. There are other reasons such as the supporters and the like being bad people altogether. Still, I believe freedom is power, and freedom is something big in the United States. Now, the question is, how can you have freedom when you don't even have power over yourself? Think of supporters of Donald Trump. He has done many horrible things, and yet there are still some people who support him, if blindly. That said, another thing that is power is knowledge. Knowledge is power, as they often say, and the more knowledge you have, the better you can exert your power. Thing is, people like those who support Trump do not seem to have either regular power over themselves or power in the form of knowledge, for odds are, if they did, they would not be supporting him. With that, I think these kinds of people are not free themselves, for they rely on and blindly follow others like Trump when they have no power over themselves or the knowledge to know better. It is as if they are just sheep looking for a shepherd. With that, it seems the famous people, those in authority, etc. know this, and are abusing the power they have over others to take advantage of the people who do not have power over themselves.

This applies to fans of anyone, too, or any form of media, for that matter. They may blindly support such things or people and not look into or even accept that those they follow may have done some bad things themselves. This easily and especially applies to "fanboys" and "fangirls" of such media and other things. It is said that no true fan of anything can exist, but these fanboys and girls sure act hard to try to be like a true fan, whether they know it or not.

In high school, I was in a politics class where my teacher was teaching the class about power, and she mentioned islands. So I said, "What if Gilligan's there?" And she responded. Afterwards, she made a comment about one of the characters in Gilligan's Island, Skipper, saying not only did he not have power over anyone in that show, but he barely had power over himself.

With that, I think the same thing can be the case for some people in America. While they may be a vocal minority about things and other people, I do not think these people are truly free. I mean, they barely can think for themselves, let alone stand up for themselves, and form their own opinions without copying others. They even think just because a person of higher authority like presidents or kings said something, they are automatically right, when that is not the case at all. In fact, I'd even say children barely have power over themselves too, and parents may even teach them lies and they would buy it easily, all without having to think for themselves because they are not yet mature and educated. Even then, some people don't truly grow up and remain immature and still need to rely on others, and that can lead to them having less power over themselves, if any.

Note: Anyone who is a child reading this: Please do not rebel against your parents just because of the things I just said. I don't find what I said to even be a good enough excuse to rebel against parents.

Not saying anyone, especially, but not limited to here, is stupid or even not free or lack power over themselves, for I am just making some observations.

Anyway, that is my point of view. What is everyone's thought on the matter here?

 

[Nah]

Now, the question is, how can you have freedom when you don't even have power over yourself?

You can't, and that's the idea. The US has long peddled itself as a land of unparalleled freedom and opportunity, despite it never being anything close to that.

The Gilligan's Island bit is lost on me though, I never watched that show, so if you could explain that one further....

 

[SirroMinus1]

Deleted message.

 

[CannonStreak]

I wonder what SirroMinus1 was saying?

You can't, and that's the idea. The US has long peddled itself as a land of unparalleled freedom and opportunity, despite it never being anything close to that.

The Gilligan's Island bit is lost on me though, I never watched that show, so if you could explain that one further....

I have not watched it, either. I was just tying what I said about that into my initial post.

Still, I would also want to say something now that you mention the other part of your post: With some people not having power over themselves, I do think that by listening to those in power, those who are famous, etc., people who do so (especially grown ups) do not seem to have any free will. I did say "seem", so there is that, but what I mean is that by listening to and supporting the kind of people I mentioned (in power, famous, etc.), I would go as far as to say they BELONG to such people, as such people have that much power AND control over what their supporters think. Sometimes, it is to the point that they do not listen to logic and logic seems to simply not apply to them, and without power over themselves, some people are just wrapped around the finger of the people they support, and mindlessly go with what they say.

It's so sad.