Chris just sat there shaking his head for a few minutes before continuing. "I don't know. I'm confused. They way you describe protection and empowerment they sound like they would contradict each other."
"Very good, Chris," Anthony exclaimed. "Very good indeed. You are exactly correct. You cannot protect and empower someone at the same time. In order for the power of the collective to exist, the power of the individual must be surrendered.
"Just as an over protective parent destroys a child's ability to deal with life on their own, you need to make sure your protection of the women and children of this kingdom does strip them of their power.
"Life is a balance, and your oath is a big part of making you understand such balances. To protect and empower may seem easy enough, but it is no such thing. One of the many ways that liberal elites confuse empowerment is that they see it as the individual makes their decisions for them selves; in theory this is true, but in practice they couldn't be more wrong.
"Let's say a union were to actually perform the proper role that it should in empowering its members. Would it do it by letting their members decide for themselves what they should learn? Of course not. Unions need to make sure that their members learn the things that will make them valuable to employers. If they make them valuable, then they will make them powerful.
"Put simply, people who are valuable are people who are powerful. No big mystery. So, do you have a better idea of what you need to do to carry out your oath?"
"No," said Chris. "No, I do not. My father was a shop steward for the I.A.M. You make union leaders out to be evil people, and I can't reconcile with what you are saying with what I know these people to be like. I cannot believe that they are trying to harm the members they represent."
"I never said they were evil, Chris," responded Anthony. "I don't believe that they have done what they have done because they want to harm their members. They just have no faith in the power of the individual. They firmly believe that without the power of the collective their members will be harmed. If the power of the individual is destroyed by their actions — and to some degree they do know what they are doing — then so be it. It is what they believe is necessary to protect their members.
"This is also why they can't make it through our crucible. Without a belief in the power of the individual, they can't see how personal development that is not coupled with some recognition from a support group, such as a diploma from a university, could ever be beneficial.
"As you will come to learn, a major difference between our kingdom and labor unions is that we believe the opposite of what they do. We have no faith in the power of the collective. We only believe in the power of the individual, which is why we demand the men of our kingdom to foster it in our women and children. And as they foster it in others, they learn it for themselves.
"You need to see that the vast majority of the difficulties that the individuals of this country are faced with, have nothing to do with enemies that are out to destroy us, which is the only time the power of the collective should be considered. We believe that when you resort to the power of the collective, you end up making people into enemies that never should be.
"So let's try it again. I hope one day you will have kids. If so, what do you believe you should do to empower them?"
After a brief pause, Chris said, "I want it understood that by answering your question, I am not conceding the point about unions harming their members."
"I don't expect you to," replied Anthony. "I only expect you to empower the women and children of this kingdom."
"Well, I know you have talked negatively about college, but I think that would be a great source of empowerment," said Chris.
"Not really," replied Anthony. "Like unions, they should be, but they aren't. The vast majority of children — and I do mean children — who go to college are more interested in getting grades than they are with gaining knowledge; more interested in receiving a diploma than they are with acquiring the confidence they need to succeed in life.
"A very sad fact is that the four years a person invests in college has a very poor return on that investment. I look at most people who thought their college education was good for them like I would look at someone who invested $100K on a business, got back $50K, then said 'Woohoo fifty grand!'
"Let me ask you. How much information that is offered at a college can only be attained at a college?"
"Probably not much," conceded Chris.
"Not much at all. In today's information age, relying on a college to gain knowledge is down right ignorant.
"There is no question that knowledge is power, but not all knowledge has the same power. Another serious problem with colleges is that they are predominantly run by liberals. I have already demonstrated that liberals have no grasp of empowerment, so to believe they have put together a curriculum that will empower their students stretches credulity. Any empowerment that occurs at colleges is by accident; not by design."
"I find what you're saying very hard to believe," said Chris. "Sure. I didn't go to college, but I don't think I did the right thing by not going. Why is it that everyone believes that going to a college is a good thing?"
"Two reasons really," replied Anthony. "The most important is the power of false rewards, and colleges are just filled with them. There are many false rewards in life, where a person can convince themselves they have achieved something when in fact they have achieved nothing. And there is no bigger nothing than the grades handed out in colleges. What exactly do grades — in and of themselves — get you?"
When Chris could only shrug, Anthony continued. "That's right. Nothing. Yet at the same time it fills you with a sense of accomplishment. That is the lure of false rewards. There are many highly seductive false rewards in life, such as the things that casinos do. They allow enough winners to occur to convince people that gambling can actually pay off. Yet it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that casinos are not in the business to give away money. You must be constantly aware of these things in order to be an empowered individual.
"What most people don't understand about colleges is that the knowledge that will benefit them the most is the knowledge they would learn on their own without coercion, or false rewards like grades. Even the degree itself is a false reward because all it will do is get your foot in the door of your desired career. It actually contributes nothing tangible to your success.
"The other big reason people believe that going to college is a good thing to do is that most people, particularly liberals, are very bad with connecting the dots on what causes things to happen. They see things like studies that show how much more money people with degrees make than those that don't have one, then assume that the college degree is what caused this. We don't. We believe the evidence points more to successful people are more likely to go to college, than it points to college making people successful.
"If you are a young foolish child coming out of high school, a for more empowering decision for you to make is to join the military. Our young need to start making adult decisions, and taking on adult responsibilities as soon as possible. Decisions that delay adulthood, such as going to college, will actually hamstring them in the long run.
"I'm sure you have heard the saying 'practice makes perfect?' We believe more in the lesser know saying 'practice makes permanent.'
"Although, we don't believe that college is a waste of time for everyone. Assuming the person going college is an adult — such as after four years in the military, and knows exactly what they are looking for in college, so that they are pursuing knowledge they would have otherwise sought even if they knew they would not get any grade for it, then college can be very empowering.
"Yet I can assure you, if you raise a child in this kingdom to believe that they need a college degree to succeed in life, you will have failed your oath."
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2rwfjb/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch05_to_protect