There exists a common view that belief in oneself, hard work and determination will enable one to be very successful in life. I have a hypothesis, that such view is just a convenient and powerful tool for controlling the masses of people and extracting amounts of energy out of them, sufficient enough for maintaining the growth of organised production, therefore, make profit for the few. The reasoning behind this hypothesis is linked to, what I call, the difference between voluntary and involuntary slavery.
Involuntary slavery is where one group of people gains control over time and energy of another group(s) of people by means of crude force or cohesion. In such case, the slaves live in complete and full awareness of their social position and, driven by suppressed and wounded spirit, inevitably tend to rebel against their masters. Thus, under the involuntary slavery system, the masters find it difficult to control the slaves, since the latter will always try, in one way or another and sooner or later, to break away from their social position and even take revenge upon their masters for the hardships caused. Involuntary slavery is essentially unsustainable.
Voluntary slavery, on the other hand, is a very effective, very powerful and very sustainable system. The key distinction from the involuntary slavery system is that, under voluntary slavery system, the slaves live in a practical illusion with respect to their social position. They wholesomely believe that they are free. Free to speak, free to move, free to choose. They think they have freedoms, while in reality they have obligations. Obligation to their employer to perform, obligations to the financial institutions to pay installments, obligations to the governments to pay tax. It is much easier to control the masses and extract the required energies from them, when the masses think they are making effort out of free will, instead of when they realize that they are forced, by some mean or the other, to make that effort.
Inevitably, in a social system of voluntary slavery propaganda, of one form or the other, is the key instrument for enforcing the will of the masters. And what better propaganda there is than the one, which effectively promises the slaves that, if they continue to make effort (and thus give the masters the energy they require), they can realistically achieve the same, or almost the same social standing.
The system of voluntary slavery does not even try to smooth out the view of the respective position of the masters vis-a-vis the slaves. On the contrary, it promotes that position by promising the slaves the possibility of achieving the same. In this also lies additional advantage of the voluntary slave system over the involuntary one. Under the latter, the slaves are made aware from the start, that they have little or no chance of becoming the masters and have to make do with what they are, while under the former, the slaves are made to believe that every single one of them can effectively become the master if they just continue to be determined, work hard and believe in themselves.
Of course, it is easy to see, that it is impossible for everyone to “become a master”, irrespective of the amount of determination, effort, and belief in oneself. And yet, most of us, continue to be fooled and coach ourselves on an ongoing basis, that we must strive, we must work hard, we must believe and then success will definitely follow.
Finally, because of the basic laws of probability few do make it, of course. But this just reinforces the system and gives additional boost of motivation for the remaining masses. It is possible, we must just believe in ourselves, work hard, etc, etc. And indeed it is possible, it is just highly improbable. Like playing a lottery: few win big but millions play their whole life without ever winning anything significant. But while few win and change their social position, the rest keep playing, and that means exerting the energies required by the few for keeping the machine going.
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