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- Chanakya on impoverishment, motivation & disaffection
Hello there!
Yesterday, we talked about Chanakya, Maurya & Corporations. Today, we'll look at the Arthashastra, which is a political treatise similar to Machiavelli's The Prince.
The Arthashastra is a text that Chanakya wrote around the 2nd century. However, it didn't become influential until the 12th century. It somehow disappeared and was rediscovered by R. Shamasastry in 1905 (love hearing stories like this).
The treatise covers far more than Machiavelli's The Prince, spanning political science, economic policy, military strategy, government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, methods for screening ministers, diplomacy, nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of a king. Much of this is rightly placed under the category of "statecraft."
Much of the text incorporates Hindu philosophy, including ancient economic and cultural details on agriculture, mineralogy, mining & metals, animal husbandry, medicine, forests & wildlife, and astrology.² It even goes into detail about issues of social welfare, collective ethics, advice for famines/epidemics, and natural disasters.
Although there is a lot of knowledge across various areas of statecraft, I'm going to focus on Topic 109 (Book 7) of the Arthashastra: causes of impoverishment, lack of motivation, and disaffection among people.
Impoverishment, Motivation & Disaffection
"Whenever good people are snubbed, and evil people are embraced, distress increases."
I chose this section because it seems apt for our current Misinformation Age. As the Granath v. Wright trial continues, I see how a culture of proud toxicity online (BTC "Maxi" culture) leads to proud yet unrighteous acts of "violence" (more cyber-bullying in words and acts) and disaffection.³
In verse 7.5.22, Chanakya states:
"... where people are fined or punished or harassed when they ought not to be harassed, where those that should be punished are not punished, where those people are apprehended when they ought not be, where those who are not apprehended when they ought to, the king and his officials cause distress and disaffection. When officials engage in thievery, instead of providing protection against robbers, the people are impoverished, they lose respect and become disaffected."
This is why we see what we see today across many societies. Why popularism has become so popular. Governments, authority figures, experts, etc. have degraded trust amongst "the people," because of revealed deceptions or wrong-doings that occurred increasingly over time.
In verses 7.5.24 - 7.5.25:
".... where courageous activity is denigrated, quality of accomplishments are disparaged, pioneers are harmed, honorable men are dishonored, where deserving people are not rewarded but instead favoritism and falsehood is, that is where people lack motivation, are distressed, become upset and disloyal."
And this, again, is what we're seeing today online with cyber-bullying, etc. If you allow for wrongs to be called right and dismiss truth as "misinformation," because it doesn't adhere to collective opinion or consensus (even if unfounded), then you empower others who have opinions but lack substantiated evidence. It empowers mob rule.
What do you think of this? Do you think this is true of online behavior today? Do you think a disconnection from physical reality has caused people to be void of the consequences of their behavior?
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