Prestige, an appearance-projected quality, of a person, or work of art, that exercises
instant domination on the mind.
It works as a mesmerizer, paralyzes one's critical faculty, infuses you with awe, fear
& respect, without need for the other party to prove itself in any shape or form.
Furthermore, its effect is induced by the mere act of exposure, passes under the radar,
and stealthily causes us to turn highly gullible to the thing in question.
During the past centuries, judges had to wear certain uniforms in order to achieve prestigious
radiance.
Wigs in particular symbolized authority, and a mere peasant he was, a judge without his
wig.
The same premise escalated to encompass certain looks, titles, fashion trends or job status
that seem to elevate a person's worth in the eyes of others.
Whenever we think of a minister, super-model, or a favorite musician, the image that of
a semi-god comes to mind who has everything but an ordinary life alike ourselves.
A closer look would reveal the process by which these ranks acquired prestige, and that
is, an accumulation of repetitions of identical judgements on the latter.
Many renowned inventions & historical events had been documented and passed on from generation
to the next, with no attempt to verify their legitimacy.
As Gustave put it: "every one ends by repeating what he learnt at school, till there come
to be names and things which nobody would venture to meddle with."
For instance, electricity seem to have been discovered long before Nikola Tesla, and that
he was but its mere developper thereafter.
Since the opposite is propagated widely, there are many other contributors to the field that
you'll always remain clueless about; like Alessandro Volta, prior to Tesla, inventor
of the first electrochemical battery.
Worse even, some people have never heard of Tesla, and relate all credit to Edison who
in actuality stole most of Tesla's ideas & inventions and accredited them to his name.
Same goes for George Washington and the countless unmentioned names whom without their aid,
his vision would've never seen light.
This is known as icon-worship; to relate a marked accomplishment to the doing of a single
so-called pioneer to relieve the populace from thinking.
Repeated, favorable judgements imbue the icon with prestige, which enchants the crowd to
look no further to verify their knowing.
A process excessively used in politics to gradually inject the crowd with certain ideologies
to keep them under grasp.
Like the prestigious & widespread democratic dogma that conventional education raises the
intelligence and prepares men for life.
In this obedience-based chicken-house, success is granted to who's best at the reciting by
heart of condensed text-books.
The child's ability to criticize, his stance, are most welcome, but only if related to the
task at hand.
Why should he question anyway? the test will have nothing to do with what "he" thinks on
the matter.
What stands before the unconscious mind that warmly greets any extrinsic symbol, is your
critical thinking layer which hinders or allows the latter at will.
Since this system of education rarely calls a student's judgment into play, and fosters
the quote on quote "fit-in to succeed", that layer deteriorates over time, while parts
of the brain responsible for reception take the upper hand, which would result in a less
critical, ultra suggestible mind.
For so long this critical ability has remained undeveloped that any attempt to make use of
it would prove strenuous, hence the need for simplified truths.
Such method of instruction rewires the brain to warmly welcome either constructive or destructive
influences, which accounts for the numerous "unwanted" popular beliefs you ended up carrying
to adulthood inadvertently; Like the idea that illness is for vaccines & pills to cure
and that we can't do anything to heal or prevent it on our own through lifestyle changes, or
how governmental institutions are to be trusted blindly in matters of increasing one's prosperity
or job-security.
I have nothing against schooling, provided the person aspires for self-education apart
from it.
Otherwise, if there's anything it does good is prime for such positions which require
minus one self-direction or personal initiative.
Prestige renders an author a truth-teller, a book a masterpiece before you've even read
it.
How many of you had once bought a book merely because it's stamped a best-seller, or because
the cover was compelling.
We all did at times, and the fact that "some" best-selling books out there are complete
garbage supports the latter argument.
Furthermore, you're very likely to let your guard down & assimilate as truth what you
read or hear just because it's well-known.
The rationale? if something sounds cool, then it must as well be true.
A work is more prone to scrutiny when still unpopular than after it has garnered a bulk
of positive reviews.
For this very reason that the prestigious should be subject to the most questioning.
A paper titled "official study" does not automatically make it an axiom.
An article written on a neatly designed website doesn't make it legit.
This is not to say become a stubborn skeptic, but simply cross-check first-hand and maintain
exposure to conflicting views, to make an all encompassing opinion
A few words to wrap this up; I'd say prestige can be a double edged sword.
From one end, just by being aware of it, you could somehow consciously control its affects
on you, in a sense to dig deeper, to turn alert & distrustful of superficial, appearance-projected
qualities, ready-made knowledge or unfounded political dogmas.
From another, you could make use of its powers yourself in persuasive endeavors, I'll leave
the ways of application up to you.
"The special characteristic of prestige is to prevent us seeing things as they are and
to entirely paralyze our judgment.
Crowds always, and individuals as a rule, stand in need of ready-made opinions on all
subjects.
The popularity of these opinions is independent of the measure of truth or error they contain,
and is solely regulated by their prestige."