“About the Current Moment” № 2 (74), February 2008
Authority as an obstacle for personal and social development
At the end of January – beginning of February 2008 “Russia” TV-channel has two times shown the film “The Fall of the Empire. The Byzantium Lesson”, filmed by “the pastor” archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov, who has been raised to the rank of V. V. Putin’s “personal confessor” by mass-media), and who has got a cinematographic education. According to the concept of Byzantium history stated in the film, in the history of Russian Empire – USSR – post-Soviet RusZionia those cultural and political mistakes, which by Tikhon’s opinion have brought Byzantium to ruin, have been repeated in many aspects. The main mistake (in his representation) is the of Empire people’s apostasy of the so-called “orthodox faith” that caused numerous mistakes – consequences of that “principal mistake”.
In press (which in present RusZionia, as in 1980-90th, is still overwhelmed by the spirit of liberalism so the West is “all light in window” for them) all the discussion on film was reduced to the following. Reproaching Tikhon of tendentious interpretation of the history of the Byzantium society and its mutual relations with the outer world; indicating several actual mistakes and discrepancies; charging that the film groundlessly tries to convince RusZionian people that the West is the pathological enemy of Russia during all the history.
Actually the film has the indisputable advantage which hasn’t been noticed by liberal critics. It states the question: What defects does the so-called “Orthodoxy” have? The defects, since which the Byzantium society, based on the “Orthodox” worldview and world-understanding , wasn’t able to solve actual social and state problems in proper times and tried to find ready receipts at the West during thousand-year history of “East Rome empire”? In fact the, the same repeats as well in the history of Russia, which had accepted the “main treasure” of Byzantium – the so-called “Orthodox faith” (as it is stated in the film).
Without answering this question or without accusing its inconsistency perspectives of Russia's revival as the society self-sufficient in the aspect of meaning of life – are vague. I.e. “the Time of Troubles[1]” as a crash of the historically formed culture may repeat.
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“A crowd of people behaves like a herd of rams. It blindly follows for one or two leaders not reflecting at all who these leaders are and where they conduct the crowd, writes ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Unusual discovery has been made by scientists from Leeds University. They conducted a series of experiments: volunteers were to wander in a big hall without talking one to another. Some persons were chosen from the participants. They were given more precise instructions about the route they were to keep. (For the full Russian text look ).
The published report has shown that “the informed minority” (only 5% at all) can set direction for a group of at least 200 persons. Remained “herd” unconsciously follows leaders. Researchers approve this as precise parallels with the behaviour of groups of animals.
Examinees developed common decision during experiments, though they were not allowed to talk or to communicate with gestures. In most cases participants of experiment were not realizing at all that someone was conducted them.
That study has some in common with investigations of scientists from Utrecht University.
They proved, that the majority of people prefers to follow the leader, even if their conductor himself does not know where to go”
(“Scientists found out, that people can be ‘rams’ and blindly follow for one, which became the leader: (in Russian)).
It would be an exaggeration to tell, that scientists from Leeds and Utrecht have made discovery. Because since ancient times it is known, that the behaviour of group can be indistinguishable from herds and packs of animals. However it is known as well that it can differ…
So the obvious achievement of both research groups, useful for their participants, is that scientists got some grants or “sawed the budget”.
And the mass-media informing about these “discoveries” have benefited the society by stating a question once again: Is the described herd-pack behaviour of people in the society a norm? Or does it show that the individuals, who behave like that, haven’t actualized themselves as real Humans due to some defects of culture which they have grown in?
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Indeed, such behaviour is specific for people not only for psychological experiments spent indoor, but also for real life. It gave the basis for V. G. Belinsky to write: “the crowd is assembly of people living by tradition and judging by authority...”[2] This phrase in COB (COB – is transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for the Conception of Social Security) became an actual interpretation of the term “crowd” describing the certain way of life of a society – crowd-“elitism”, at which the society consists of two differently organized crowds – so-called “common people” and more or less authoritative “elite”. The same phrase contains the substantial description of such public phenomenon as “authority”: an accepted source of information; a conclusive statement or decision that may be taken as a guide or precedent; the power to determine, adjudicate; a person in whom authority is vested[3]. And though the word “authority” is not Russian, but came from the West, it has got accustomed in Russian language. And it is adequate at the present historical stage of Russian culture development: i.e. personal subjective images connected with this word correspond to the phenomenon, and for the majority of people its meaning “stands to reason”.
The definitions of the word “authority” placed above show, that if society doesn’t not represent the crowd (according to definition by V. G. Belinsky), there will not be an authority. That is, social phenomenon of the authority accompanies another phenomenon – the crowd.
Some faultfinders of COB during all the time after “The Dead Water” was published in 1992, stated displeasure on definition of the crowd, especially in regards to that in COB the so-called “social elite” is described with the same term.
These attacks are based on that according to faultfinders’ opinion it is possible to distinguish the “true elite” and “pseudo-elite”, which mimicries under the “true elite” and appropriates its name – “elite”, in the social structure.
Just several years ago altercations on this question were typical mostly only for those web sites and web forums on which participants were familiar with COB and well-grounded or groundless considered themselves to be adherents of COB (at least for that period of their life). And at present: