I like to quote the English Catholic historian, politician, and writer, Lord Acton when he said,
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
That's what makes the American Democracy so great. There's a division of powers. No one has absolute power. Sure the President has a lot of power but as much as he wants he can't do anything he wants. Yes, Obama was able to pass the Affordable Care Act, i.e., ObamaCare, but he couldn't do it alone and it's allowed to be fought every step on the way by the opposition and may still be over turned. Even someone like Bush, generally consider a modest man, took his power for granted when he tried to appoint Harriet Miers which was roundly denounced and over turned.
The division of powers is what keeps people in line. It's not perfect but it's better than a monarchy which Americans instinctively, innately, abhors. This country was founded by those escaping prosecution and tyranny so it's encoded in the American DNA.
When you look back in history what has been the downfall of great leaders, leaders even greater than gh15, who had absolute power?
When you literally can do anything you want. Have people killed with just a word and a pen. When you can take anything and everything you want. When you are surrounded by grovelling sychophants 24/7 that never tell you the real truth. They only tell you what you want to hear. You become infatuated with yourself. You buy into your own hype. You become so full of yourself that you do start to believe you are a god. You believe that you are part of destiny and that not only are you better than everybody else, but you are divinely chosen to be better than everybody else.
The death of all all-powerful leaders is HUBRIS. That particular type of arrogance that leads one to believe and to act like they can do anything you want. That you are above the laws you make yourself. And because no one one will call you on this, usually due to fear, so you actually believe you are above everything. Above everybody else.
That's why I always said that GetBig was good for gh15. He didn't have absolute power and was called on his shit daily and was force to defend himself. GetBig brought out the best in gh15 and he was at his best when he was on here.
I wasn't the only that noticed how much he started to change when he got his own board. Got more full of himself, more conceited, more jealous of others that he thought (imagined) was profiting off his name. He became more and more like a tyrant. Forbiding certain words or subjects to even be metioned. Becoming more and more like an insufferable dictator. Barking out arbitrary orders and new rules on a whim. "Humatropin makes me hold water. It is not longer allowed on this board and no longer allowed to be discussed." Telling people where they can and cannot post and employing people to monitor other boards and report back to him the outside activities of his "pupils". You don't think people didn't notice this? Who does shit like this? It was always astonishing to me how dumb gh15 thought his "pupils' were. But how would he know any better when he was rarely questioned or challenged? He had no clue what the majority of his members thought of him. When he says things like, "Phil Heath, a pupil of mine...."
So why does this matter? How does this relate to the three groups previously mentioned. How does this relate to all these posting of pictures, threats, bounties and why it wasn't taken as seriously there as it was here. Why I didn't pay much attention to it and only deleted entries when someone brought it to my attention because I simply didn't pay any attention to it. Well, I'll tell you why.
