There’s a scene in the James Bond film From Russia With Love, where super-villain Blofeld is looking at his three Siamese fighting fish in the tank before him. Blofeld says to Colonel Klebb, the main antagonist of the film, “Siamese Fighting Fish. Fascinating creatures. Brave, but on the whole, stupid. Yes, they’re stupid…except for the occasional one such as we have here, who waits. Waits until the survivor [of a fight between the other two] is so exhausted that he cannot defend himself. And then, like SPECTRE, he strikes”. Blofeld is the head of SPECTRE, a transnational crime syndicate with aspirations for global dominance. Blofeld’s plan is to fan the flames of the Cold War conflict between Russia and the United States, and then defeat them both once they’re exhausted from the long battle. It’s a classic divide and conquer strategy.
Divide and conquer is a very old tactic for ruling or conquering peoples. The Romans were particularly adept at it, but it’s been used across the world. It involves dividing peoples and pitting them against one another, so they become weaker through the loss of unity and the loss of numbers. The different groups are made to believe that another group or groups are their real enemy, and their energies get directed and spent on these internal battles, while the conquering force sits back and watches the squandering happen. Freud discovered something deep within the human psyche that he called the “narcissism of minor differences”, where we easily create in and out groups based on the most minor differences. This truth was spoofed brilliantly by Monty Python in the movie The Life of Brian. Freud basically discovered our tribal ancestry, which always sits dormant within the psyche, and which can be easily activated given the right conditions. This is partly why we’re so susceptible to the strategy of divide and conquer. A vast stretch of our evolutionary heritage was spent in this tribal mind, and that tribal mind lives on within us.
Over the past decade I kept having the gnawing feeling that the divide and conquer technique was being used against the peoples of the West, in particular within the acrid culture wars of the United States. It was during the 2016 controversy over whether transgender people should be able use the bathroom of the sex they identify with, that a voice within me finally said- “This is red meat. Someone is tossing the red meat of controversy into the ring one after another, so that various groups will continuously tear each other apart”. This doesn’t mean that the bathroom controversy doesn’t have real questions that need to be thought through. It does. But these ‘controversies’ seem to be endless, an uninterrupted stream of outrage provocation. At the time of writing the latest controversy in the US is about whether another flag- such as the LGBTQ flag in particular- should be flown along side the American flag. Let’s get ready to ruuumbbllle! And the Tweets and opinion pieces start flowing all over again. Who’s feeding this constant fire? For what purpose?
That’s what I want to explore in this article. I’ll begin by discussing the divide and conquer technique, and note how it’s a tool favored by narcissists and psychopaths. I’ll then give one horrible but telling historical example of how it gets used by nations states to conquer others. From there we’ll look at how divisive behavior is warned against in both Buddhism and Christianity. And lastly, I’ll look at how the subject of divide and conquer is treated in the drops of QAnon. One of the most consistent messages of Q is that those who ultimately rule us are intentionally dividing us along the lines of race, class, politics, religion, sex and culture. This division is spread via a media that they largely own. I think this is something that people on all sides of the political spectrum might want to consider very seriously. It sure makes sense of so much of what we see in the world today. I’ll finish with a discussion of the Fable of the Bundle of Sticks, and how it might be critical intelligence for the times ahead.
According to the psychologist Dr. Paul Babiak, psychopaths in the workplace often use the divide and conquer technique as a way to pull workers apart and control them. In his book Corporate Psychopaths, Clive R. Boddy agrees, saying that divide and conquer is a method psychopaths use to climb their way to the top of an organization, weakening their competition by creating division and strife along the way. Its well known in the literature around narcissism that divide and conquer is also a favorite tactic of narcissists. Sadly this often shows up in families, where a narcissistic parent will create conflict and division among family members. This “weakens and isolates them, making it easier for the narcissist to manipulate and dominate. The narcissist divides through various means. He sets up an environment of competition and terror in which individuals are trying to avoid attack, often at one another’s expense. He favors some and scapegoats others, breeding mistrust and resentment between siblings or between his spouse and children. Such dynamics can also play out in a work setting, where a boss uses the same kinds of tactics to control and manipulate his employees”.
It’s clear from this literature that divide and conquer is a ploy used by ruthless and often sick people. What would this look like at the geopolitical level? While there are many historical examples of how divide and conquer has been used as a tool of conquest, the example of the British in India is a particularly illustrative and repellent one. In an article in Al Jazeera, Indian politician Shashi Tharoor writes, “The creation and perpetuation of Hindu-Muslim antagonism was the most significant accomplishment of British imperial policy: the colonial project of "divide et impera" (divide and rule) fomented religious antagonisms to facilitate continued imperial rule and reached its tragic culmination in 1947”. Almost a million people died during the horrible Partition of India in 1947, the logical outcome of this flamed antagonism, with another 17 million displaced. This was a small price to pay for the British rulers, who “had been horrified, during the Revolt of 1857, to see Hindus and Muslims fighting side by side and under each other’s command against the foreign oppressor. They vowed this would not happen again”. Lost lives don’t matter to psychopaths. Only power and control do. History is strewn with the wreckage of divide and rule tactics.
Many of the great religious figures/founders of history understood that this kind of divisive behaviour was toxic and destructive, and they warned against it. In the Magga-vibhanga Sutta, the Buddha says, “And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech” (SN. 45.8). And why should we abstain from this kind of speech? According to the Buddha, “For the person who transgresses in one thing, I tell you, there is no evil deed that is not to be done. Which one thing? This: telling a deliberate lie. The person who lies, who transgress in this one thing, transcending concern for the world beyond: there's no evil he might not do” (Itivuttaka 25). There’s no evil that he might not do. Strong words of warning from the Buddha.
In Christianity the devil is known as “the father of lies” (John 8:44). The root of the word diabolical means, “pertaining to the devil”. The devil is diabolical. Some argue that the root of the Greek word for diabolical (diabolein) means to cut, tear, divide. The devil sows division. When Jesus prays for his disciples before he’s arrested and crucified, he asks that they “may all be one” (John 18:20). His work is the opposite of the devils, his work is to unite and bind. As Jesus famously says, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25). Division means death. The Book of Proverbs says that there are seven things detestable to God, including, “a heart that devises wicked schemes”, and “a person who stirs up conflict in the community” (Prov. 6:16-19). Paul also warns against divisive behaviour when he says in Romans, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause divisions” (Rom. 16:17). It’s the spiritual forces of darkness that employ division as a tactic to rule and destroy. The Bible is clear in many places that this behaviour is diabolical and to be avoided.
One of the central themes in the QAnon drops has been that those who rule us intentionally divide us. Division and fear are the two greatest weapons they use in controlling the masses. Q implores that we find unity again so that we may break the spell of our Mephistophelian masters. I want to look at a sample of Q’s writing on the themes of division and unity. I’ve cut out some sections of the drops that surround these themes, because the other content can be complex and distracting without proper unpacking. But I’ve put the drop #’s, so if anyone wants to view the full drops they can do so at https://qmap.pub. It should be noted that “patriots” refers to anyone in any country that wants freedom from the global network of corruption that has most nations in its grips.
Drop 1750- July 29, 2018
They do not want you asking questions.
They do not want you thinking for yourself.
They do not want you UNITED.
They want you to live in FEAR/DIVIDED.
They want you asleep.
They want you blind.
The message must bypass the MSM.
It is the only way.
People UNITED hold the power.
Think election 2016.
Power shall be RETURNED to the PEOPLE.
Q
Drop 1646- June 30, 2018
You have a choice.
The choice has always been yours.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
THEY WANT YOUDIVIDED.
THEY WANT RACE WARS.
THEY WANT CLASS WARS.
THEY WANT RELIGIOUS WARS.
THEY WANT POLITICAL WARS.
THEY USE THE MEDIA.
THEY USE HOLLYWOOD.
THEY USE POLITICAL LEADERS.
THEY ARE LOUD.
GROUP THINK.
PUBLIC SHAME AGAINST THOSE WHO CHALLENGE
DARK TO LIGHT.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
GOD BLESS PATRIOTS AROUND THE WORLD.
THINK FOR YOURSELF.
TRUST YOURSELF.
COURAGE.
TOGETHER.
Q
Drop 2174 – Sept. 15, 2018
They want you DIVIDED
DIVIDED by RACE.
DIVIDED by RELIGION.
DIVIDED by CULTURE.
DIVIDED by CLASS.
DIVIDED by POLITICAL AFFILIATION.
DIVIDED YOU ARE WEAK.
TOGETHER YOU ARE STRONG.
WE, THE PEOPLE.
WWG1WGA!
Q
Drop 3018- March 9, 2019
The Great Awakening.
Attempts to DIVIDE will FAIL.
Patriots have no skin color.
Q
Drop 2994- March 6, 2019
PEOPLE ARE PAWNS IN THEIR SICK GAME OF GLOBAL DOMINATION.
PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED TO PREVENT A RISING OF THE PEOPLE.
PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED AND TAUGHT TO FIGHT THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF THE RULING CLASS.
RACE VS RACE
RELIGION VS RELIGION
POLITICAL VS POLITICAL
CLASS VS CLASS
SEX VS SEX
WHEN YOU ARE DIVIDED, YOU ARE WEAK.
WHEN YOU ARE WEAK, YOU HAVE NO POWER.
WHEN YOU HAVE NO POWER, YOU HAVE NO CONTROL.
STAY STRONG, PATRIOTS.
STAY UNITED, NOT DIVIDED.
YOU ARE WHAT MATTERS.
YOU, AWAKE, IS THEIR GREATEST FEAR.
Q
Drop 1252- April 23, 2018
MSM has you brainwashed.
They want you controlled.
They want you enslaved.
They want you divided.
They want you dependent!
Why do we look at skin color?
DIVISION.
IT’S TIME TO UNITE AND FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM.
TOGETHER, we are STRONG.
APART, we are weak.
PATRIOTS HAVE NO SKIN COLOR.
Q
Drop 828- March 3, 2018
Stay TOGETHER.
Be STRONG.
Get ORGANIZED.
Be HEARD.
FIGHT the censorship.
You, the PEOPLE, have ALL the POWER.
You simply forgot how to PLAY.
TOGETHER you are INVINCIBLE.
They want you divided.
They want you silenced.
MAKE NOISE.
We are WITH you.
MAKE IT RAIN.
Q
This is just a sampling of Q’s messages regarding division and unity. And if we look at the world around us, the divisions outlined by Q are indeed enflamed everywhere. This is particularly the case within the identity politics world of the (postmodern) left, where the narcissism of minor differences has untold dividing lines to work with. You can see this in an article such as this one in The Root, which claims that, “Straight Black Men are the White People of Black People”. Or in the recent incident where the Jewish pride flag was not allowed to fly at a pride parade. There’s endless division across the board in our world today. Endless bickering and infighting, endless outrage, endless cancel culture, endless battles over cakes and bathrooms and flags and guns, endless apologies uttered by the 'offenders', bottomless opinion pieces, torrents of Tweets, boundless blocking, deplatforming, undermining, malice and hate. We’ve become addicted to this outrage, and poisoned by it. We’ve become weakened, disoriented, and broken by it. Maybe it’s time to take a step back from it, and consider that all along we’ve being played like a mighty Wurlitzer. Who are our real masters? Who owns Hate Inc.? Are we being manipulated by diabolical puppet masters?
Maybe we need to think once again about the power of unity, despite the real differences between us. There’s a fable found in many cultures that’s been called the Fable of the Bundle of Sticks. It’s found in Babrius’ collection of fables, in Aesop, and is associated with the lore of Genghis Khan. In the fable “An old man has a number of sons who constantly quarrel with each other. As he nears death he calls them to him and gives them an object lesson in the need for unity. Having bound a bundle of sticks together (or in other accounts either spears or arrows), he asks his sons to break them. When they fail, he undoes the bundle and either breaks each stick singly or gets his sons to do so. In the same way, he teaches them, though each can be overcome alone, they are invincible combined”. This same wisdom is found in the Book of Ecclesiastes- “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl 4:12).
A house divided against itself cannot stand. Through unity we find strength, the strength to take back our world from those who rule it from the shadows. Our real enemy is not cis men, or white people, or- fill in the blank. Our real enemy is the global crime syndicate that has stolen our nations, controlled our media, fomented endless war, and siphoned off trillions our wealth, while we fight over the scraps, oblivious to who is directing the play. Well sheep no more. Millions are awakening to how we’ve been played, and that’s growing every day. May the curtain continue to be pulled back, so that a glorious new world may be unveiled, one where divisions are healed on an earth reborn.