Memoirs of a fallen Sith - divide et impera

Han, Reign of Gaozu year 1, Luoyang, Imperial Palace

“How then, does your philosophy concord with the ignorant to be able to train them?”

“In order to train man, we must first, recognize man as an irrational and emotional creature. By using symbols of emotional significance as analogues to concepts we wish to impart in his training, the ignorant may be tamed to become civilized.”

“But there are thousands of symbols that may, or may not, have emotional charge based on regional peculiarities. How do we impose our symbols onto the numerous regional variations?”

“There are certain symbols and concepts that are more commonly shared between communities, even with the Xiongnu. The concept of kinship bond and family, for instance, is a widely shared symbolic concept. Another is the strange compulsion towards an obligation to satisfy one’s debt. Also, the oft observed tendency of men to segregate themselves into regional and factional tribes.”

“How do you propose we harness such symbols?”

“Your Majesty’s court can emphasize the value of the family as a unit, extoll those who satisfy their debts, and encourage certain fragmentation within the Han society.”

“Would not such policies encourage more regional loyalties? Would not such policies undermine central authority?”

“Not necessarily, your Majesty. It depends upon how the map is drawn.”

“I don’t follow.”

“What is it that separates man from the beasts? What is the divine spark that elevates man, so far above mere animals? What attribute in man made him such a dangerous and troublesome slave for the Qin?”

“His intellect? Perhaps his desire for freedom? Maybe opposable thumbs, ha ha ha!”

“Words, your Majesty.”

“ . . . words? Explain.”

“More precisely, the ability of man to condense complex, abstractions into simple packets of sound and convey said packets in intelligible form to another man. In fact, sound is not even necessary in such complex information transfer; mere logographs on bamboo shoots would suffice to convey intended meaning for another to decipher.”

“How do words help us train the ignorant?”

“What is the extent of Han dominion, your Majesty?”

“To the north the Qin wall and to the south the border with Nam Viet.”

“And you are certain that the eight eastern kingdoms obey the command of Han unquestioningly?”

“ . . . it is not politically feasible to incorporate the east into the central bureaucracy. Even if we could subdue the eight kingdoms by force, we do not yet possess infrastructure within our bureaucracy to handle such influx of territories. What are you suggesting?”

“A mere demonstration. With a few words, I have reduced the territory of Han by two-thirds via reorganizing certain conceptual variables. Words are not mere mechanism of information transfer; words are tools of perception formation. At times, words can be used as weapons to disarm armies, to dismantle empires, and destroy ideas.”

“You are suggesting that we . . . reorganize the variables that define the symbol of family and tribe.”

“Precisely, your Majesty. Specifically, we suggest that the Han stress the vertical relations within a family structure over the horizontal.”

“Thus, your Confucius’ emphasis on filial piety.”

“It is no secret that Confucius was extremely attached to his mother. Some may perceive such veneration as being . . . comical. Nonetheless, his adoration served as a nucleus in formulating the principle of filial piety, which will be useful to your Majesty, if he were to transfer the position of the Confucian mother to that of the emperor.”

“Aha ha ha! How would my being a mother be useful as a ruler?”

“Have you noticed anything odd regarding Confucian filial piety? The duties ascribed flow in one direction only, towards the parent - in the case of Confucius towards his mother. There is no injunction towards paternal piety, your Majesty. The expectation set by our philosophy prescribes duty of the son without any reciprocal demand. Such arrangement, in settings other than the family unit, we may even term servitude. Consider, your Majesty, the vast pool of loyal and dutiful servants such social philosophy can train for the Han. One generation of indoctrination in Confucian piety, and your subjects will think they were born as slaves.”

“ . . . what of the impulse towards obligation?”

“A second conceptual tool to further legitimize their enslavement. The justification for Confucian filial propitiation stems from the gratitude of being given life by the mother. A crushing debt of which the children can never fully repay. An analogue can be conceivably formulated to the state, in form of the motherland of Han, from which your subjects germinated and towards whom your subjects owe their allegiance.”

“How do we perpetuate such connections?”

“In order to appropriate this symbolic concept, the Han must identify and emphasize an existential threat to human civilization, from which the Han subjects are granted safety and life.”

“The Xiongnu.”

“A convenient muck that can be used to unify your subjects.”

“You don’t perceive the Xiongnu as a threat?”

“They are a dire threat to the safety of your empire, your Majesty, but I’d rather we continue our discussion of training the ignorant, with your permission, of course.”

“Fair enough. And what of the fragmentation of society?”

“Man finds his identity in conflict with and separation from his surroundings. Despite the Taoist claptrap of the universe being oneness or some such nonsense, we experience the world in contrast, your Majesty. There is no North without the South; no pleasure without pain; no light without darkness. Even without intervention, men will segregated themselves according to the most arbitrary peculiarities. By providing officially delineated divisions within society, we can channel this inherent divisive force into more organized structures, with which we can stabilize and unify the Han empire. We will channel the divisive energies of your subjects into four competing social castes and undermine the would-be regional loyalties that threaten Han central control.”

“Rather than the eight kingdoms squabbling for advantage, we would only have four broad castes . . . your policy will divide localities against each other, impairing their ability to effectively resist central authority and becoming more dependent upon the Han to advance their regional caste interests.”

“Rather than identifying himself with a region, your subject will begin to describe himself in terms of his caste. To further the interest of his caste, he will unhesitatingly oppose the viability of regional and local autonomy.”

“What of the castes? Would we not be contending with unified influence of these castes against central authority?”

“Your Majesty thinks too highly of the non-existent organizational skills of your subjects. The only class of subjects that is of concern would be the aristocracy; but our social divisions do not acknowledge the existence of one. The existing aristocracy will simply be dissolved into the first abstraction of the social order.”

“How does ignoring the aristocrats rob them of their power?”

“We do not ignore them, your Majesty, but refuse their very existence in the abstract model of our society. How can someone define himself within a class that does not even exist as a thought? He will belong to a diffuse collection of subjects defined within a class that has no regional reference. Your subjects will no longer primarily identify themselves in reference to wealth, influence, political position, or family lineage, but will conceptualize the aforementioned variables in terms of their social caste defined solely through social duties, or occupations.”

“What are these social duties?”

“Shi, nong, gong, shang. In that order, your Majesty.”

“Shi . . . Aha ha ha ha! Of course, you’d place yourself at the head of this new social order! Scholar, Farmer, Artisan, Merchant . . . why the peasants as the second highest rank in your social order?”

“The peasants are not as much elevated in status as the other two classes are diminished.”

“Why diminish the artisans and technicians? A state and society is improved by their technical innovation and discovery. Shouldn’t we encourage training of artisans and advancement of technical knowledge?”

“Artisans and technicians have the unfortunate tendency of being impractical and unrealistic. They are usually too engrossed with technical minutiae to appreciate the complex sociopolitical context involved in governing. At times, the artisans’ belief in their technical miracles blind them to the human element in society, causing them to be as idealistic and farcical in their approach to sociopolitical problems as Mozi’s ludicrous and futile attempts at peace during the Spring and Autumn period. One of Qin’s major error in governance was placing artisans and technicians in positions of power.”

“And how did the innocuous merchants offend your sensibility that they are placed at the bottom of your social order?”

“Innocuous . . . the merchants are insidious pests, when not controlled, that eat away at the very foundation of social order. Their very existence is an affront to Confucian social order, your Majesty. If it were possible to eliminate their function within the proper operations of your kingdom, I would advise their extinction.”

“How do merchants pose a threat to the Han?”

“What is the a priori assumptions of a mercantile exchange, your Majesty? The interested parties of the transaction are on equal status because the exchanges settle all debts. Without obligations and debts, there exists little to bind men in social ties. Furthermore, for merchants, nothing exists under Heaven that can not be commodified. Left to run amok, merchants will attempt to sell the very air we breath, own the rain and the rivers, and buy government ministries and appointments. Merchants infect social sensibility with their poison of horizontal social interaction, autonomy from social matrix, and commodification of the sacred. If allowed to amass enough resources, Han will no longer be governed by the Liu clan, but rather by a conglomeration of mercantile usurpers.”

“How does ranking merchants at the lowest social hierarchy prevent mercantile excesses?”

“By establishing and cultivating the social perception of merchants as being lower than the common farmhand, we can effect the following three social consequences. First, your most talented subjects will shun mercantile activities leaving the merchant class to be populated by the rejects of society, perpetuating the perception of merchants’ low reputation. Second, legal censure of upstart merchants and forcible confiscation of their property will never incur wide public resistance; in fact, even arbitrary seizure of mercantile property for use by the treasury will not be negatively perceived by the majority of your subjects. Lastly, the social stigma of belonging to the mercantile class will inevitably limit the potential of their political influence by imposing negative self-perception of their identity as being merchants.”

“Will my subjects embrace Confucian thought without question?”

“By emphasizing allegorical examples, rather than formal philosophical principles, we can access your subjects’ irrational nature, your Majesty. Apocryphal tales stressing filial piety and vertical relations can have significant impact on acceptance of such principles they exaggerate, due to the seemingly truthful underlying message because parables engage emotion rather than reason. Any philosophy presented in rational, principled treatise will be vulnerable to assaults by reasoned and logical counter-arguments. Present an argument that primarily engages the emotion and the irrational centers of man, and few can formulate effective counter-arguments. It is no secret that Confucius frequently used an infuriating gesture, of putting his right index finger onto his left palm, to indicate the ease of his comprehending the will of Heaven to silence arguments against and objection to his arbitrary set of rules and rituals. As juvenile and sophomoric as his tantrums may seem, they were quite effective in censoring all dissent within his acolytes.”

“Why would his acolytes blindly accept such illogical arguments?”

“Having indoctrinated into the Confucian cult, his acolytes feared social ostracism and peer embarrassment of being labeled obtuse by their master. Much of Confucianism is supposedly man’s natural tendencies elucidated; once such premise is accepted, then any who deviate from its instruction can easily be categorized as either being obtuse or being inhuman.”

“We use man’s social tendencies to censor his objections.”

“Yes, your Majesty. There will always be those who incline towards autonomy from social pressures, but few are such men; and such few can easily be contained or subverted. Most will align themselves to the prevailing sentiment. Your Majesty can subtly encourage the spread of Confucian thought, simply by favoring those who espouse Confucian virtues to government bureaucracy. Your subjects will be keen to note the change in rules of the political game, and the Confucian bureaucrat will nominate other Confucians, partly from his subconscious desire to perpetuate his philosophy and influence. As the aristocrats reshuffle themselves into the scholarly class, your lower subjects will likewise mimic their betters. The obtuse methods of the Qin, burying philosophers and burning books, are entirely unnecessary.”

“What of the social occupations not specified in your philosophy? What of the military and the security apparatus?

—to be continued—