23.2 C
City of Banjul
Friday, March 29, 2024
spot_img
spot_img

Mindless submission to a ‘leader’ does not equal loyalty

- Advertisement -
image 2

At the height of his madness, Hitler called himself Fuehrer and Reich chancellor of Germany or alternatively, Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of the German Reich. Like most garden variety criminals-cum-dictators, he too had a huge appetite and penchant for titles; just like our own Sheikh Professor Dr Babili and Nasirudeen fella. And like most gimcrack dictators, Hitler too demanded absolute submission and loyalty from his minions, especially his “Brownshirts”, who wore brown shirts to promote evil just like the Blackshirts of the fascist, Benito Mussolini, who wore black shirts as part of their uniform to terrorise their people. See any parallels? Remember our own black blacks and Green Boys? Hitler went to the extent of making public officials take an oath of loyalty which began with “I swear: I shall be loyal and obedient to Adolf Hitler…” What Hitler sought was not loyalty or obedience; he wanted absolute submission to his authority and power! Yahya had his marabouts go around The Gambia making people (we are supposed to be Muslims and Christians by the way) swear allegiance to him at a shrine! You don’t have to take my word for it, watch Mustapha Ceesay’s testimony, and see the pictures for yourself. Some of our senior civil servants signed off on letters and memos to Yaya with “Your Humble Servant”. Mindless submission!

In 1978, the sick and corroded cult leader of The People’s Temple, Jim Jones, persuaded his followers to drink Kool-Aid he laced with poison and killed themselves. Over 900 people submitted to his wishes and drank the poison! They all died! Mindless submission to people, specifically those in some form of authority has always been of interest to many who are fascinated with how the human mind works. Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an obedience experiment where people were made to think that they were shocking others with electricity since they were not learning. The less they learned, the more they got shocked with electricity by others. Those administering the shocks were just submitting to the orders they received. They knew next to nothing about the one asking them to administer the shocks. Just as the torturers of our NIA and those who sat by and watched obediently obeyed Yahya. They tortured people without even knowing why they were torturing them. They only did so because they were asked to. Mindless submission!

Hitler and his folks embraced a system they called Führerprinzip, which meant absolute submission to the one leading you. Idi Amin of Uganda filled the ranks of the Ugandan Army with Sudanese illiterates with whom he shared tribal lineage because he wanted their mindless submission, (Again, do you see any parallels?). Amin demanded absolute submission to his will and craziness, and so those around him saw him as some philosopher who foresaw things and had powers beyond the ordinary (Our Yahya had jinns that belonged to him and could cure Aids and all other diseases even if he never saw his own downfall and exile in a foreign land). The “Great Helmsman” Mobutu, Richard Nixon’s “friend”, claimed to be a pan-Africanist, but was quick to kneel at the feet of the West, while demanding absolute submission from his minions. Ring a bell?

- Advertisement -

None of the leaders mentioned above will end well because they conflated mindless submission with loyalty! Remember how Yahya cried “Now I know who are my true friends are” as he fled with his expensive toy cars? He thought the people he surrounded himself with were loyal to him. When the going got tough, there were no loyal men left to stand by him and those who remained with him today do so out of self-preservation. Wily and two-faced ones like Seedy Njie smelled the coffee early enough and bolted. The Sheikh Omar Fayes and Masaneh Kintehs saw it even earlier and jumped ship!

Any leader that thrives on the mindlessness of their followers only has submissive zombies they created who are mostly spineless and opportunists! Once the leader is in any type of trouble, such followers only go on to find another patron to be submissive to (look at Barrow’s circle)

At the height of his madness, Hitler called himself Fuehrer and Reich chancellor of Germany or alternatively, Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of the German Reich. Like most garden variety criminals-cum-dictators, he too had a huge appetite and penchant for titles; just like our own Sheikh Professor Dr Babili and Nasirudeen fella. And like most gimcrack dictators, Hitler too demanded absolute submission and loyalty from his minions, especially his “Brownshirts”, who wore brown shirts to promote evil just like the Blackshirts of the fascist, Benito Mussolini, who wore black shirts as part of their uniform to terrorise their people. See any parallels? Remember our own black blacks and Green Boys? Hitler went to the extent of making public officials take an oath of loyalty which began with “I swear: I shall be loyal and obedient to Adolf Hitler…” What Hitler sought was not loyalty or obedience; he wanted absolute submission to his authority and power! Yahya had his marabouts go around The Gambia making people (we are supposed to be Muslims and Christians by the way) swear allegiance to him at a shrine! You don’t have to take my word for it, watch Mustapha Ceesay’s testimony, and see the pictures for yourself. Some of our senior civil servants signed off on letters and memos to Yaya with “Your Humble Servant”. Mindless submission!

- Advertisement -

In 1978, the sick and corroded cult leader of The People’s Temple, Jim Jones, persuaded his followers to drink Kool-Aid he laced with poison and killed themselves. Over 900 people submitted to his wishes and drank the poison! They all died! Mindless submission to people, specifically those in some form of authority has always been of interest to many who are fascinated with how the human mind works. Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an obedience experiment where people were made to think that they were shocking others with electricity since they were not learning. The less they learned, the more they got shocked with electricity by others. Those administering the shocks were just submitting to the orders they received. They knew next to nothing about the one asking them to administer the shocks. Just as the torturers of our NIA and those who sat by and watched obediently obeyed Yahya. They tortured people without even knowing why they were torturing them. They only did so because they were asked to. Mindless submission!

Hitler and his folks embraced a system they called Führerprinzip, which meant absolute submission to the one leading you. Idi Amin of Uganda filled the ranks of the Ugandan Army with Sudanese illiterates with whom he shared tribal lineage because he wanted their mindless submission, (Again, do you see any parallels?). Amin demanded absolute submission to his will and craziness, and so those around him saw him as some philosopher who foresaw things and had powers beyond the ordinary (Our Yahya had jinns that belonged to him and could cure Aids and all other diseases even if he never saw his own downfall and exile in a foreign land). The “Great Helmsman” Mobutu, Richard Nixon’s “friend”, claimed to be a pan-Africanist, but was quick to kneel at the feet of the West, while demanding absolute submission from his minions. Ring a bell?

None of the leaders mentioned above will end well because they conflated mindless submission with loyalty! Remember how Yahya cried “Now I know who are my true friends are” as he fled with his expensive toy cars? He thought the people he surrounded himself with were loyal to him. When the going got tough, there were no loyal men left to stand by him and those who remained with him today do so out of self-preservation. Wily and two-faced ones like Seedy Njie smelled the coffee early enough and bolted. The Sheikh Omar Fayes and Masaneh Kintehs saw it even earlier and jumped ship!

Any leader that thrives on the mindlessness of their followers only has submissive zombies they created who are mostly spineless and opportunists! Once the leader is in any type of trouble, such followers only go on to find another patron to be submissive to (look at Barrow’s circle)

Generally, people become submissive because there is some reward of sorts for the submission. But submission to a leader and loyalty are not the same even if they may be married. For a grown man to be in a zombie-like trance and keep repeating Yes Sir, Yes Sir to everything including going to hell is not loyalty, it is mindless submission. Supporting and or standing by any leader even when you know they are wrong, or going along with any leader as if they are infallible, is not loyalty, it is mindless submission. Mindless submission denotes an abandonment of one’s freedom as if to say, “I cannot think for myself, I will just nod and agree to anything you say, and do anything you want me to because you will reward me for spinelessness.” Even the God we worship does not accept mindless submission! If they did, they would not have given you a mind to begin with! When you cannot see any wrong in your leader, you ought to visit the doctor for you may be suffering from mindless submission confused for loyalty!

No people can succeed and take charge of their own destiny if they engage in the Nazi Führerprinzip where mindless submission to the leaders is the bedrock of all operations. Hitler once claimed: “In this hour, I was responsible for the fate of the German nation and was therefore the supreme judge of the German people.” Similarly, we have our own evil Yahya declare that “Daykabi man ma koh morm” (I own this country). No leader should be made to believe in their own misguided hype of confusing themselves with a god because it leads to tyranny since they don’t feel answerable to the people. Any leader that demands mindless submission is nothing but a tin pot dictator, no matter how fancy they may dress their dictatorial tendencies in intellectual hubris or fanfaronade occultism. No worthy person should allow him or herself to just be a Yes Sir man or woman, and keep clapping and dancing at everything a leader says as if they are some demigod. No one should be in the business of trying to control another human being so they simply nod along to all you say or do. That is mindless submission and not loyalty. When the tides turn against such a leader, the mindlessly submissive just find another patron or keep yearning for the whip of their old master. Ring any bells?

Join The Conversation
- Advertisment -spot_img
- Advertisment -spot_img