The impact of power on human behavior

A few years ago, Mostafa Alfiqy wrote an article entitled “The Price of human beings” in which he argued that high caliber jobs can affect human behavior so much that one may feel s/he has become the center of the universe and s/he may consider the people surrounding him´-or-her as helpless dwarfs. In actuality, such high caliber jobs do not change a man’s true character, but they help us recognize what is hidden from us. Put differently, a man’s true character cannot be recognized unless it is put to the test. Here it is appropriate to refer to what the United States’ 16th president Abraham Lincoln once said: nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. This means power can indeed reveal the true nature of a man’s character traits.

It goes without saying that power is intriguing and revealing. It attracts people from all walks of life. It also encourages sycophantic behavior. Once the smell of power reaches their noses, these sycophants do not hesitate to approach the source of power with the intention of testing the waters. They then begin sweet talking to him/her so that they can eventually control the person with power. The person is perhaps aware of their motives and may resist these pervasive attempts to control him/her. However, this resistance is not expected to last for a long time. The powerful person is to eventually surrender his powers. We all know that power is transient and the person enjoying it is to give it up sooner´-or-later. Once s/he loses power, he discovers that he has become alone and all those people who were once surrounding and protecting him/her disappear from the scene.

Needless to say, the person with power in the third world is not to blame for s/he is subject to waves of sycophancy and sweet-talking. These waves are so strong that they are impossible to resist without falling victim to their powerful strikes. The sycophant is defined in the dictionary “as a person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage”. These types of people have become very skillful in coning and deceiving their victims. In fact, they adopt the Machiavellian philosophy in life: the end justifies the means. This means they are so selfish and they aim at achieving their goals by any means. Once these unethical means succeed in obtaining an objective, the sycophant uses these very means to accomplish more objectives. I know a university official who wanted to achieve a bigger goal, that is, to obtain a more powerful position. He did not hesitate to employ the method he had used before. He knew that the wife of a powerful political leader was about to visit the city. He immediately prepared welcome placards and ordered the workers to hang them on the top of the trees and the posts near the road to the airport. The lady and her entourage were supposed to take this road and would definitely take note of the placards welcoming her. Suddenly, the plan was changed and the university official learned that the lady’s flight would land at a different airport in another city located to the north. The official ordered the workers to gather the welcome placards and to shove them in the trunk of the car. He drove the car to the other airport where he intended to hang the placards so that the lady could appreciate what had done for her. To his disappointment, the city officials denied his right to have the honor of welcoming the lady in their city. Therefore, he had to return home with a broken heart and spirit.

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