Powerful tendency

July 14, 2011 by 4 Comments

Absolutely right

In their editorial last Sunday, The Journalist warned us that “Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”.

Their editorial, and the quote about how power can corrupt, reminded me about a conversation I had with a friend of Bhutan several years ago. This is how she explained the context of the quote by Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, an English historian and the First Baron of Acton (1834-1902):

In 1870, the Catholic Church entered a crisis over Vatican’s promulgation of the dogma of “papal infallibility” — the dogma in Catholic theology that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error, when he teaches faith or morals in the context of divine revelation.

Lord Acton was a devout Catholic. He went to Rome to fight against the dogma of papal infallibility, but failed. It was in this context that, on April 1887, Lord Acton made his famous statement in a letter to an ecclesiastic scholar Mandell Creighton:

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. “

This friend of Bhutan carries considerable influence and authority herself. And she explained that knowledge of this story could be useful in any fight against those who abuse authority and misuse power.

And for good measure, she added:

I have met only one man in my career who quoted the much misquoted quote accurately, word for word: His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.

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Deleting power

January 12, 2009 by 12 Comments

The “delete” key is powerful. I can undo what I’ve done. It gives me a sense of security. And a sense of power. I can, after all, erase a word, a document, a picture, or even my computer’s memory, by an effortless tap at the “delete” key.

The “delete” key is also dangerous. Once deleted, the memory vanishes into the dark depths of cyber space. That’s where one of my emails went. It was from Europe. From a person who wants to meet me in April. Please send me your email again. Sorry I made a mistake! But, I’ve learned from it. I’ll be more careful from now on.

I learned something else though. What the delete key gives is a false sense of security. And a false sense of power. Artificial memory, once deleted, is out of sight, and out of mind. But, it stays etched on the hard disk, and in the depth of cyber space too. Any whiz kid can fish it out. I’m not good enough, and neither are any of my friends. I am duly humbled.

The “delete” key is dangerous, indeed. Just like politics. Power rests with the people, never with the politicians. That, is one mistake I pray I will never make.

The “delete” key and politics. Both necessary, useful, and even wonderful. As long as we handle both with care, and with a big dose of humility.

(This entry was updated – and completed – with your help. Many thanks for your comments.)

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