Micropolitics

When one of the Real change vendors asked me how I was doing today, and I answered "OK," he replied, "Just OK? Not great?" reminding me once again that I can never be great. If I say I feel great I'm being facetious, and I make sure you know by the tone of voice. This comes from my childhood. I was raised that way.

It worked like this: Say I'm 5 years old, sitting in the living room drawing, and my Mother says, "How are you doing?" and I say "Great." What happens next is Mother says, "Then you can be the one to do the dusting, so you can be miserable like the rest of us." Eventually I was conditioned to answer no better than "OK", always.

My Mother was an egalitarian. She believed that if we are all created equal, and if she was in a sour mood, then everyone should be in a sour mood.

As a result I grew up extremely suspicious of arguments from equality.

I've noticed how it's used to limit freedom. Here's an actual conversation between me and a teacher in junior high school, conducted in the hall.

Teacher: "All the rest of the kids in the school are going to the cafeteria to see the talent show. Don't you think it will be fun?"

Me: "No."

Teacher: "Well, you have to go. You're just the same as everyone else."

That's the catch. The flip side of "we're all equal" is "you can't be allowed to be an exception." No stepping out of line.

Eventually the teacher admitted that the real reason he wanted me to go was he didn't trust me roaming the halls by myself.

I call that sort of thing micropolitics.