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Julius caesar made easy pdf5/16/2023 ![]() It is my contention in this paper that the problems which beset out industrial relations are complex to say the least that any theory based on the premise that unionists are victims of manipulation is too simplistic and that all-embracing secret ballot solutions will do little to help us. For the sake of clarity I have stated this theory in its strongest terms though it must be recognized that countless and more subtle variations can be played on this theme. Thus it is hoped that such measures would alter the balance of power to enable the rank-and-file to curb the excesses of opportunist leaders and in a flash our industrial relations system would be back on course. Many adherents of this theory have recommended as a solution first that compulsory strike ballots be held before any strike action is taken and, secondly that voting be made compulsory in all union elections. This hypothesis is of course based on the premise that the rank and file are on balance less aggressive than their leaders. A number of persons and interested groups have advanced the hypothesis that the majority of salary earners involved in such disruptions are unwilling participants in a union movement which is controlled and manipulated by a group of well organized and hard-headed persons using the labour movement for their own purposes. In Australia over the last two years industrial tensions have increased and the effects of some strikes and work stoppages have been widely felt throughout the community. Though the leaders of the French revolution must share the blame for much of the bloodshed, they were only one factor in a complex interplay of political, social, economic and personal circumstances and events. For example, one can trace the causes of the French revolution back to the death of Louis XIV and beyond. Yet when such historical events have been analysed by later generations it has become clear that the "manipulation" theory is over-simplistic. with instances of skilful leaders encouraging passive crowds. From Mark Anthony's famous speech in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", to the angry crowd of Parisiennes storming the Bastille, it is readily apparent that our legends and history are ripe. THE PROBLEM Our folklore and our history are full of instances where a crowd of solid citizens has been whipped up to a state of frenzy by a small well-knit group of manipulators using the mob for their own ends. ![]() We cannot, but agree with Gustave Le Bon's theory of crowd dynamics which conceptualizes how crowd participation extinguishes the normal psychological capacities and reduces men to the lowest common denominator. ![]() The role of the hulking inefficiency of the mob which sways easily in their judgments is superbly portrayed by Shakespeare. There are excellent 'manipulators of frailty' who makes others lend their ears in order to get things done according to their whims, be it Caesar, Brutus, Mark Antony, Casca, Cassius or the tribunes. In this context, by an analysis of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, I would like to argue that frailty, irrespective of being a man or woman, is inherent in its different manifestations in all human beings. This leads to the important question of who is to be blamed for the tragic flaw the ones who are being persuaded or the ones who persuade. Good men do incalculable harm from the best possible motive, as seen in many Shakespearean plays. Many of his characters are victims-neither by choice, nor by chance-but by 'being persuaded' to bring to fruition the buried desires in their unconscious. Shakespeare, in all his complexity, was a psychoanalyst par excellence. Frailty, Thy Name is Wo(Man): Crowd Dynamics and the Psychology of Persuasion in Julius Caesar
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