Sun Tzu’s ‘attack the weak’ saying refers to democracy at work

SOME time ago, I stood in doubt when I heard the words of a pundit, “when the fullness of time comes, faith will decline”.

I was not certain about the message at the time, but the full weight of this fact can be observed now by reflecting on what is happening around the world.

The actions of some people are scary. We do not fear movie characters, but human beings.

Their patterns of thought have hurt the hearts of people so much that the loss of patience has resulted in a loss of faith.

For instance, when Donald Trump vied for the most powerful office in the United States, many feared democracy would fall.

But time was in his favour, and now with the “fullness of time”, it is long past time to see that it is for real.

American democracy has reportedly fallen due to Trump’s “abysmally low standards” and his basically poor performance”.

Having taken the highest seat of office, he chooses not to take professional advice on policy.

His interviews show false information, information gaps, bluffs and lies.

An abysmally low standard in performance is the breeding ground of the chaos theory, because it helps democracy fall apart, where experts and professionals are divided in conflict, sidelined or intimidated.

Those who remain are likely to be of low standards, or below those who lay the steps to autocratic rule.

Sun Tzu’s ancient thesis on the aggressive game of deceit and corruption speaks of “ways to win: nibble the way, do not attack the enemy on the higher ground, but winning is not always honourable”. This is the expansion of self-interest.

Sun Tzu’s ideology was used, and we see how a propaganda war was waged and won, how real issues were masked by accusations and character smearing, offence camouflaged as defence, outwitting the professionals and cutting deals for self -gain.

This shows Sun Tzu’s art of war as the prevailing thought in action. It can now be implied that Sun Tzu’s saying, “attack what is weak and exploit”, refers to democracy and the institutions of work.

Sun Tzu believed that democracy and institutions of work could be weakened by affecting work and taking professionalism to a low standard.

He suggested one-sided propaganda to win the masses.

We need to fear that these low standard will propagate his ideology, and bring government systems and the people closer to being “victims” in favour of the wrongdoers, criminals and the self-obsessed.

Then, will the words in the Bible, “God is with the meek” still hold true?