On Soft Power and Love
Revisiting the nature of influence in politics and love.
Revisiting the nature of influence in politics and love.
When the only power available to women is the domestic sphere, women learn the advantages of soft power to navigate oppressive spaces. This careful strategy is explored in my work, La Bruja Enamorada.
Click here for an overview of this work.
Whether it is for "decolonization" purposes, as noted by the arrest of a Turtle Liberation Island activist who titles himself "Dark Witch" or Satanic Worship by multitudes of secret societies and everyday people, there is one repeating mission: To harness control when everything else seems unpredictable or even unstimulating. We see even historically, the usage of the occult to circumvent formal channels of power. In my work, La Bruja Enamorada, we see Indigenous Women under colonial rule use love spells to ensure domestic safety against oppressive regimes.
For journalists and political commentators, this is most apparent in political figures and populations who profess ideological worldviews. What sustains such sentiments politically? This can vary from culture to culture and historical time period. But we can see a recurring pattern: the devolution into language of divinity and cosmic force rather than military might as the true source of power.
For those interested in storytelling, this lens could refashion how we present rituals and the occult. Rather than use figures as metaphors or depict the usage of rituals as irrational, examining the conditions in which they are used may reframe how we view spiritual life.
We often see the depiction of scheming geniuses devising conspiracies to eliminate competitors, but such a lens is limited. These depictions overlook the less theatrical yet more effective art of persuasion when it comes to any storytelling of high society. I explore this art in my work, The Civil Machine.
For many, there is a common understanding of the 'smooth talker' whose whispers and glances hold more influence than bold propaganda or military force, yet, there is also great surprise when our systems destabilize and afflict the life of the common person due to such mechanisms pervading institutional politics.
For political commentators and journalists, many stories get lost in examining the specificities in each actor's motives rather than examining larger patterns of persuasion and rhetoric.
For those hoping to detail stories of persuasive figures, rather than focus on their actions during their rise, perhaps there is a better story in exploring the conditions that produced such talent.