This is starting to seem like a regular, but it seems that whenever I go to the bar I get ideas of things to blog about. Some of us are relatively new at this so don’t REALLY know what we are doing. I figured this would be my place to talk about B movies, regale shocking stories of weekend past and the like. Instead I have found that rather than have verbal spew coming from my mouth, I am actually having to think and pick a side.
So last night I was with the colourful characters of the Muppet’s corner. Those who were present on this auspicious day happened to be Munya “Diamond Boy”, Chris and a late comer in Thembaz. I am not sure how the conversation started but we started talking about if there was a difference between power and control, were they mutually exclusive, and if having one automatically meant having the other.
I found this very interesting because we ended up not coming to a conclusion but there were a lot of things that we ended up touching on. They say that Obama is the most powerful person in the world. However what power are they referring to? The power to nuke another nation? The power to convince other leaders to follow him into war? Having just thought about these few rhetorical questions, it makes me then ask: if he has the above power, does that mean he has control? Or does he use the power in order to control other people? This is where the conversation got interesting. I think that depending on the circumstances, power and control are separate. It brings in the issue of the gun lobby in ‘murica. My understanding (rightly or wrongly, and also from reading too many books) is that the gun lobby has a LOT of power in ‘murica. They are essentially the ones who steer policy and laws on guns in most states, and they also have a big hand in who becomes president. This is mainly due to the vast sums of money at their disposal. They can fund a candidate’s campaign, get him/her into office (not necessarily Presidential Office, but office) and thus make sure that that candidate carries out their political suggestions with regards to guns and gun control. Now as I said I am not going to say that I am a currently expert on this, but this has been from reading that I did a few years ago.
The CEO of a company (let’s say, for this argument, he is not a major shareholder as well) has a lot of power but in some instances no control. He is answerable to the shareholders who are the ones in control. There are also things that are in place to control HIM i.e. there could be a length to his tenure as CEO, e.g. every year the board has to vote him in or out.
I think that if you have power you have some sort of control. Take a musician for example. They have the power of their words, and therefore control of their groupies. There are those people who have control and a lot of power. The “random” guys who you see out with the super celebrities. They MUST have some sort of control to be seen with people who some consider to have power, but at the same time to remain anonymous.
I have never been able to figure out the difference between the two of them myself. They seem the same but different (If there is a word for that please post it as a comment!!). To be honest I think that both power and control frighten me somewhat. You can never know when you have had enough of either. Or both…
You'll thank me later 