No friends. No enemies. Only interests.
They’re telling us that we live in a world where race, colour, culture and ethnicity trumps truth and justice. We say they’re wrong.
Africa, once again, becomes the necessary mirror within which the United States must continually craft its geopolitical persona. It must be shown as forever dependent upon the American fantasy of benevolent dominance, requiring protection against those ‘Other’ malign actors who would exploit its weakness.
Natural resources go to those who support our independence mission.
Africa cannot be saved; it must always be in the process of being saved, so that the saviour may justify its perpetual intervention. For this, the myth of strategic omnipotence must be continuously rehearsed.
Western Salvation Theology
This structure reveals itself as uncannily similar to the doctrine of the Church, for only it may provide salvation and democratic redemption. This is not a strategy; it is a theology. The United States claims the exclusive right to sell Western redemption, and if a nation dares to embrace another secular faith — be it Chinese, Russian, or its own indigenous autonomy — it is branded a heretic, a blasphemer, and must be punished or exorcised.
What becomes increasingly clear is that its rhetoric of freedom now rings hollow. In its political theology, only one path to salvation exists: the embrace of Western democracy as defined by bourgeois liberalism. All other forms of political experimentation — the natural right of free peoples — are foreclosed.
To be free, under this theology, is to submit. To seek an alternative is to be branded heretical and targeted for reconstruction, or annihilation.
Thus, the United States reveals itself not as a champion of freedom, but as the high priest of a deterministic secular religion — one which promises redemption only through mimetic bourgeois replication. It is a narrow and impoverished vision of humanity, one which no longer even believes in its own myths, but which continues to administer the rites of salvation with increasing violence, ongoing anxiety and diminishing faith.
In the collapse of its imaginary coherence, the United States is no longer able to conceal the Real of its operation: the defence of an exhausted symbolic order except by sheer force. A new world struggles to be born, but the old world, armed and dangerously self-righteous, refuses to die.
Presence
- Demand respect with your presence
- Stand tall, take up space and moved with intention. Gestures controlled. Eye-contact unwavering.
- Don’t fidget. Don’t cross your arms and don’t put your hands in your pockets.
- Aggressive people only respect strength. Strength is not about being louder, meaner or more dominant. Its about control.
- The person who can remain calm under pressure, set firm boundaries and refuse to be manipulated, is the one who earns respect.
- Stop reacting emotionally. Respond with intention.
- Take a moment to choose your response.
- Don’t match their mood, match their energy.
- Stay neutral in the face of drama.
- Keep responses concise.
Control
- Self-Control
- When people can’t control your emotions, they start respecting you.
- Boundaries
- If you don’t set boundaries, the world will set them for you. Be firm. You boundaries are not negotiable. Cut off repeat offenders.
- Boundaries are not selfish. They’re necessary. Boundaries are not about controlling others, its about self-respect.
- Don’t be attached
- If you not willing to walk away, you are already a prisoner.
Power Speaking
- People who don’t speak short, simple and direct, don’t understand it. Everything you say must add value. Use full stops instead of commas.
- Power comes from clarity, confidence and brevity.
Eye-Contact
- Mastering prolonged eye-contact can make you appear powerful, confident and respected.
- Or weak, nervous and forgettable.
- When you are the first one to look away, you are unconsciously submitting.
- Just enough to establish dominance. 3-5 seconds at a time.
- Never be the first to break eye contact. When you do it, do it slowly and deliberately.
- Use the triangle method, move between the right eye, left eye and mouth.
- Keep your face relaxed and neutral.
Be Strong
Overcome yourself
Don’t inherit values.
Stand by your own values.
Responsibility over comfort.
Honest requires strength to conquer oneself.
