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Living Under The Empire of Fear
The Empire of Fear,
It feeds on despair.
It relies on you constantly being on the edge.
You are driven by adrenaline and fear; the cortisols ratcheted up to the max.
You are on constant high alert.
You are scared, but you have no choice.
It drives the honest to despair and others to become dishonest.
Alas, these are the values The Empire of Fear respects. It shows them that you have drive and initiative — that is, until you get caught — for example, a gullible customer writing to thank you for that unauthorised discount.
Some will get away with it, and the overlords of the Empire of Fear will praise them.
This will then set unobtainable goals that the honest will be forced to emulate.
Otherwise, they will be crushed.
This is how the Empire of Fear feeds itself. So, the fear quotient goes up, the metric you require is elevated, and the old is discarded. Alas, everything has a built-in obsolescence date. They employ the youth with more energy and vigour. They become the new barometer, so the stress quotient is ratcheted up.
You tell yourself you cannot remain quiet, so you point to the injustices of their metric…