>>509252359The Empty Throne is the name I give to this system of rule by symbol. To understand it, we must look at the social behavior of mountain gorillas. The social structure of mountain gorillas is that of an alpha-harem, with peripheral males. The role of the alpha is to be like a pillar for the rest of the group; its members look to the alpha for reassurance. The alpha obtains this role by demonstrating strength, and an ability to command and control, with gestures, with posturing, with his imposing presence. When the alpha dies, the group is thrown into disarray until the new alpha ascends, but this can be an especially perilous time.
The social structure of humans is the same, but we have made a modification. You can still see the old alpha-harem hierarchy represented in the corporate suite, where the CEO acts like the alpha, the admins and support are all female, and then in sales there are a lot of men that are the peripherals, vying with each other to replace the alpha. But on a greater scale, humanity has replaced a living man as alpha with a symbol. This was done to address the problem a group faced when their alpha died:
"The king is dead, long live the King!"
You see in monarchies a bridge between the alpha groupings of the past and the empty throne system we have today, where the symbol power completely replaces the man. Now, the symbol power cannot be sustained on its own. It must be maintained by priests. Today, these are your experts, your economists, and your preening political class. They are doing everything in their power to keep their god alive, as they directly benefit from this arrangement, but the result is that peripheral males are losing their opportunities to compete, to become alphas, to ascend the hierarchy. Seeing this, the priests of the new age feel threatened to see the growing discontent, so they throw every psychological trick they can at young men to keep them from toppling their system of control.
