The Authority Principal - Jeremy Locke

Check out the video, and subscribe if you so desire. Also on Instagram @beardedheretic.

The authority principle describes the behavior of people who live under the rule of law. The authority principle shows that people obey anything and anyone that they believe is an authority. Though the who, the why and the what have changed in history, the behavior of people is the same; they obey. When people are taught that obedience is principle, they obey. When they are taught that the source of worth and knowledge is found in another person, rather than in themselves, they obey. This is the rule of law, and it teaches people that their will is subjective to the will of law and those who control the law. Examples of authorities are governments, bullies, mafias, thieves and kings.

People obey authority in their lives either out of fear of violence, or because culture conditions them to accept obedience as proper and good. Authorities always use both tools. The most successful authorities do not have to use violence as often because of the strength of their cultures.

Both culture and violence enforce authority. Under authority, people have obeyed law to the atrocities of history. The murders, raping and looting under chieftains, kings, emperors, communism and Nazis were not perpetuated by small groups of men. They were performed by thousands and even millions of peoples. These people would not have committed such egregious evils on their own. If a random person had commanded them, they would have refused. So why, at the behest of a perceived authority, do they obey?

Obedience to authority is the authority principle. People will obey authority no matter what is asked of them. They obey because they have been lied to. They have been falsely taught that principle is found in law. In history, it is difficult to imagine why some cultures are so much more violently depraved than others. Authority is the reason. Cultures with the least influential authority are the most peaceful, and by definition, the most free. Cultures with the most influential authorities are the most violent, and by definition, slaves.

Anytime you are compelled to act in obedience to authority, you are being influenced by this principle. Evil uses the authority principle to condition people to obey without questioning what, why or whom they are obeying. Destroying your identity to gain power over you is the modus operandi of evil.

• Jeremy Locke, The End of All Evil