The Philosophy of The Bigshot And Why Wise Guys Are Dangerous
Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. -- Christopher Morley
Don't wait until you are a big shot to do big shot things. -- Tony Evans
Part I: The Inverted Roles
Our orthodox perception of bigshots and their followers is often a big mistake for what we see is what we are often imprisoned to. We do not necessarily understand the pain that fuels people to become bigshots. We do not necessarily understand the pain that fuels people to follow those who call the shots in a community, in a family and in any other form of human organization!!
Sometimes, the bigshots and their followers don't even know entirely themselves why they do the things they do. Often, human reasoning remains unconscious, making things we do in life a journey towards self discovery.
The Relations of Fantasy and Depravity
As Sigmund Freud has suggested...
Our fascination with gold is related to the fantasies of early childhood.
Why do we fantasize in the first place? We fantasize, often, out of distress. We fantasize and dream of lofty ambitions out of our own depravity. Of our own internal struggles. Of our own agony. Of our own depression. Of our own thirst and hunger and apatite...
In the world of fictional villainy, the bigshot becomes one often because of a traumatic, tragic backstory...
Bane has a deep depravity that compels him to rule Gotham city after he ruled the hellish prison of Pena Duro. Being a helpless child who grew there, to rule with fear is what allowed Bane to survive both that prison and the criminal underworld of Gotham. To survive, he rules by subjugating others.
Mr. Freeze's primary goal is to save his wife, Nora. He does what he does and works outside the law and society in general because he seeks to restore his fatally-ill wife back to health.
Scarecrow is ironically a very honest intellectual, who perhaps might be too honest for his own good. His lack of pretending as an intellectual makes the entirety of Gotham a test subject for the research in his field. The character's real name is Dr. Jonatan Crane and Dr. Crane is an ex-professor of psychology. Logically, people become intellectuals because their biggest depravity is their own ignorance.
In Star Wars...
Darth Vader is consumed by deep rage and regret for not being to defeat the Sith like he intended to. He is the Emperor's chief enforcer, however he is also his greatest slave. He is deeply consumed by guilt and shame by the fact he helped his greatest antagonist defeat the Jedi order who raised him. Always being an emotional man, the narcissistic Palpatine couldn't do anything but subvert his moral alignment out of his own sick and twisted depravity.
Palpatine took away his former life, made him an outcast both in his Empire and in general, the famed war hero he was as Anakin, turned into a shell of his former self, a dead inside man under a mechanical suit that was made not only to sustain him but also to cause him pain. Consumed by pain and hatred and many other negative emotions, Darth Vader sought revenge against Palpatine and was finally able to dispose of him.
An anti-villain, Vader was Palpatine's greatest rebel, despite being the Rebel Alliance's greatest foe as a one man army.
Boba Fett's ultimate depravity was revenge against the Jedi Mace Windu who killed his father, Jango Fett. However, the fall of the Jedi Order, including Mace Windu's, meant that he already has that depravity cut out for him. As such, he simply resumed doing most of his life what his father did as well: Be a bounty hunter, or in other words, a paid mercenary and hitman.
He is a simple man because his greatest psychological depravity has already been solved. Despite failing to kill Han Solo himself, it was, likely nothing more than a mere job he was hired to. Unlike Vader, Fett is an emotionally distant man who treats his job like an actual butcher would: With emotional detachment.
Count Dooku, like actual pirates, was disillusioned with the Jedi Order, who deemed them corrupt and therefore undeserving of any legitimacy. Being an anti-villain too, Dooku sought to reduce corruption, only to be corrupted by Palpatine himself, long before Palpatine corrupted the man who would grow up to be Vader.
Both Dooku and Vader deviated their perception away from the galaxy's established matrix because that society was did not appeal to them. Being horribly misunderstood by that society, that's how you unintentionally turn your own fellow allies against yourself. In both their respective cases, they were disillusioned from the Jedi Order specifically.
Part II: Why People Rise to Power
People rise to power over others, as we can logically deduce, because of their own personal pain. They become bigshots, or in other words, the top leaders, because of their pain. Their pain prevents them from moving on and accepting reality like many other simple folk would.
People who have power over others are complex individuals because they need help. The means to get that help matters less than one might think, in this context. The very fact that we need help and help others stems from some kind of depravity. Some kind of weakness. This weakness isn't always known or told.
The bigshot's weakness may often be repressed and denied by their mind. As such, our literal understanding of altruism is always false to a degree, because everything people do, they do out of their own depravity. As such, any interaction is always a conscious or unconscious interplay between egoism and altruism.
Depravity Subverted For the Greater Good
Those who are deemed moral paragons and those who have moral greatness are usually those who are the most troubled. Like with Bruce Wayne, whose parents were killed by a robber, some people may seek to rectify problems, like saving people from themselves. These people do it because they understand that they do not live in a vacuum.
When you understand and accept that you do not live in a void, who you are and what disorders you have, may matter less to you as they should.
When it comes clear, then the help you may get from others you might use not for exploitation or destruction, but in methods in which more than yourself is seen.
Villains and anti-villains are always troubled beings. However, the villain redeems himself, AKA turns into an anti-villain, because he or she understands the greater fabric of reality. A reality that exists outside themselves.
Returning to case examples:
Mr. Freeze in an anti-villain, AKA an antagonist with redeemable qualities, because his purpose is already clear, and involves his terminally-ill wife. From the very start he deems it fit to cause terrorism for the greater good that is saving his wife from her own illness.
Darth Vader is a redeemable villain because deep inside he cares for his son, Luke Skywalker. The pain inflicted on Luke by his slave-master Palpatine sparked an inner light in him. By hurting his son whom he wished to rule by his side, Vader finally gained the courage to destroy the very Sith he was raised and educated to destroy. Ultimately, he managed to do what he was told to do as Anakin: Wage war against the enemies of the Jedi in the name of peacekeeping. For peace, one must prepare for war.
Troy, the obscure villain of Suikoden IV, is a redeemable villain because he makes it a habit to be merciful and compassionate towards the weak. A mysterious man, he serves under the colonizing Kooluk Empire. However, following his own moral code, he was seen protesting against a weapon of mass destruction that literally nuked an island nation for the sake of establishing a Kooluk Base there.
Being mysterious, his origin story remains hidden in the shadows and we might never know why he chooses to pity those he deems as weaklings.
Although mercy can be considered impractical, as people should ideally help themselves before helping others in the first place, one could reason that some anti-villains have this pity-based code of honour because someone who was/is dear to them, had an unfortunate event/series of events.
I am an anti-villain similarly to why Troy is. Troy is nicknamed "Child of the Sea God". I am the apprentice of a late master whom I saved. She sought recognition and relevancy from the world for her merits.
However, she never got her victory, as she was a difficult person to be around. Seeking her own despair, I saved her from herself. Being regarded irrelevant and unseen as an autist, I began resenting the very society I am a part of.
As such, I've built an underground apprentice dojo meant to rectify the world through the Philosocom Article Empire.
The fact that my late master was as distressful as she was, changed me forever and I couldn't bear the thought of partaking in society the normal way. As I still try to learn how to be normal, forgiving the world for traumatizing me will always be difficult.
As such, how I return to myself is by rectifying the very world I am in, as my own late master has instructed me in her final years. By helping others, I help myself. When I rest and recover from my philosophy-related fatigue, I can work on this site far batter, thus helping you, far better!!
Conclusion of Part II
People seek power over others out of a desire that may be hidden or otherwise. Out of logic that may be hidden or otherwise. You need to understand that, in order for you to be honest with others, you first must be honest with yourself. You cannot be reasonable with other people if you cannot be reasonable with your own motives, or depravities, of interacting with them in any way.
In other words, you must not conceal your dispositions with those you are helping. Otherwise they will be angry at you if they are... well... wise-guys.
Final Part: The Danger of Wise-Guys
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than smart. -- Guy Kawasaki
Wise guys are people who don't care about your privacy. They would ask a lot of annoying questions and bother you unnecessarily. They would focus on justice, but in a very narrow kind of way. The way they would do it is annoying and is mainly serving their own obscure need to argue and/or debate with you or those who are affiliated with you.
That motive is not always known, and most of the time is not known. As such, the term "wise guy" is not a praise but a sarcastic way to tell you you're foolish. If you don't understand it, or even if you feel praised by it, your foolish behavior can be used and exploited.
Why Armchair Philosophers Aren't Often Wise Guys
The armchair philosopher may be called as such not because they are not academically-trained. They may also be called that because they don't necessarily venture outside their homes (or armchairs) to inquire and apply their philosophy.
Wise guys can be seen as wise fools. And fools in general can, in layman term's, get whacked.
Furthermore, many esoteric philosophers are not deemed philosophers but practitioners of their own ideology.
Let us look at case examples...
Philosophers like Socrates were wise guys. Socrates' own Socratic method of research, costed him his life.
Yukio Mishima may be considered an ideologist more than anything. However, he can still be seen as an attempted revolutionary who tried to put into his ideas into practice, and found out they weren't accepted by anyone. Unable to cater to the understanding of others, and dying because of it, can make him be regarded as a madman.
For not being able to ground themselves in reality, due to their own idealism, the guru Gandhi and even some more contemporary political activists may be seen as wise-guy individuals or wise-guy organizations.
Innovative people in general who have wild ideas can be deemed wise guys who are detached with the reality around them. That's because they are too busy making plans and ideas like masterminds would do. That includes myself and this whole concept of Philosocom.
In my case, however, I begin to recognize and appreciate normalcy the more I study it.
Final Words
Over the course as the head of Philosocom, I've spent much of my time exploring the intricate relationship between power, psychology, and morality. As we delve more into this topic, it turns clearer that individuals who ascend to positions of power are often driven by complex, often hidden motivations/logic systems.
It's easy to judge those in positions of authority, as the power of domination corrupts absolutely. However, I believe it's essential to approach them with understanding, while not involving ourselves too much, if we deem it too risky.
Many of these individuals have experienced much trauma, which shaped their worldview and actions. While their methods may be questionable, it's important to recognize the human element behind their behavior.
Of course, the abuse of one's power over others is a serious issue, especially nowadays. As such, it's crucial to hold those in authority accountable for their actions. However, to quote Mr. John Duran:
Never beat yourself up over motives.. That's the job for courts to do!
However, it's equally important to promote ethical leadership and to encourage those in higher positions to use their influence for the betterment of the world they are a part of.
As we understand the intricate nature of the human condition, we can also understand its complexities. As such, we can better navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by power dynamics in our own lives and in the world around us.
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