Anger is one of the most primal catalysts for control. And also, insecure people feel negatively intimidated by eloquence in proper lexicon. Let’s chat more.
Hijacking people’s insecurities
It is human nature, everybody at some point has felt insecure about something at various points in their lives. That’s normal, but we also have to realize that this is highly exploitable because people tend to be very vulnerable whenever they are experiencing this level of insecurity – even if they mask it with faux-bravado.
In fact, this faux bravado and alpha-like-posing façade is one of the most evident red flags to look for if you are ever forced to unmask their insecurities – for when you identify these indicators, then it is quite easy to understand how this phenomenon manifests with them. For this analysis to work, we must remember that each person is unique, but there are some common denominators; after all we are more similar than different.
Let’s use a stereotypical high-school bully as an illustrative example. When you peel the onion on this bully’s bravado, you will often find traumatic and neglectful issues that cause the bully to project that anger onto others. Especially against the “stereotypical quiet nerd” – why? Actually, it is because the nerd can very well unmask the bully’s façade of arrogance – if push ever comes to shove… and if the so-called nerd actually decides to defeat the bully.
Of course, the stereotypical nerd in this example might have some insecurities himself that can also be exploitable, and thus this bully might feel he gained the upper hand, because the nerd will likely lose the will to fight altogether. And understand that by “fight” I don’t mean going into blows – it can even be an argument – but if a bully is very obtuse (pedantic, arrogant, petty, cynical, irreverent, etc.), then the nerd could realize it might not be worth even reasoning with the bully. In part because the nerd understands that it will be frustrating to reason with a person with such a thick skull – and the bully might think he won, even if he didn’t.
Yes, the bully might think that he was victorious, but due to technicality he just won by default because the nerd did not stand up to him. But in reality, the nerd won because he did not descend to the bully’s level and thus validating the bully’s dominance – especially if the bully could be prone to violent action.
In other words, the nerd knows that being the better person is a win, the bully might be able to convince other impressionable fools that he was victorious – but somewhere deep inside the bully knows that he is a loser, no matter what the score board says – because he never won. Hence the faux-bravado – this façade is all the bully truly has. It’s quite sad and pathetic actually. It might make him look popular in front of other impressionable people (to include his acolytes), but the bully is in fact always an insecure individual.
The bully grows up to be a perpetually insecure shell of a man, and the nerd grows up to be a person who realizes that the external validation from a bully is as useless and toxic as bird excrement in a Caesar salad. Hence, the nerd builds his intellect and the bully lives on his “past achievements” or his fantasy of being an “alpha male” (if we are talking about a dude – but bullies are non-gender specific). He was not the alpha he thought he was, everybody was really laughing at him behind his back – some maybe to his face, he was just too dense to realize it.
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Demagogs are that low kind of bully
A bully might be overt, sometimes might be closeted. You may be able to fool how people perceive you, but if you have insecurities that are not properly addressed, the faux bravado and frustration will continue to haunt you. The sad part is that if this situation goes on for long enough it gets normalized – and even embraced as a badge of honor. And this can lead to the narcissistic nature demagogs tend to display.
Even if they pose as passive, it is their actions and decision making when treating others that will unmask their true nature. Again, it takes some skill to identify their true intentions. The good news is that the better you get at it, the easier it is to spot them. Of course I am oversimplifying for the sake of this article, but I’ve written extensively and will continue to do so in order to help you hone those skills.
Why? Because these proverbial high-school bullies are not combining their strength, even though they are deluded into the pretense they are the only true alpha-personality, even though they will follow another alpha of their devotion. It is nonsensical to anybody who realizes the obvious, but remember the bullies do not really traffic into a well-formed rational stratum – instead, they rely on the exploitation of feelings and emotions. Even if they don’t themselves understand how and why.
But they are well aware that it is easier to galvanize people’s attention with outrage than with facts. For some reason the click-bait, the ratings, or any other type of production will have a higher level of viewers if there is some sort of conflict. With demagogs, a lot of that outrage will be manufactured, overhyped, and often divorced from empirical reality – but it will have just enough moniker of truth in order to convince them that their outrage is justified, and lead their followers into an echo chamber.
However, if we get along and actually resolve issues – that is inconvenient to them. Because much like the example that I illustrated before, they very well know that they are not really operating from a factual and solid standpoint. These very facts, if argued on the merits, could very well be what could destroy that demagogs whole façade in a swift swoop.
Instead of arguing with the facts demagogs will find a way to discredit their opposition – a tell-tale sign is because they will be vociferous, irreverent, sophomoric, and pedantic (like as in name calling, petty attacks, etc.). This type of behavior tends to erode the will to argue for a lot of people who would prefer having a serious conversation versus a kangaroo court-type s—t show.
And again, the demagogs might be able to galvanize power if enough people decide to just sidestep and do nothing about it. The problem exacerbates if these demagogs are able to weasel their way into positions of influence.
THAT is exactly the problem here, we have the proverbial high-school bullies gaining traction, everybody else is allowing them to control a narrative that is both false and destructive. What unites the bullies is the same level of insecurity, what unites everybody else is our critical thinking paired with intellectual honesty, but it only makes a difference if we work together.
Right now, the voices of reason are sensible but are also extremely fragmented. My intent is to change the nefarious reality where we find ourselves right now – but we need to learn to work together. HLC