Chapter 2
KKK and Real Estate Agents
An unusual similarity
This chapter point out the similarities between the KKK’s deceitful practices and that of a group of real estate agents. The KKK, like some real estate agents, used to take advantage of people’s ignorance in order to perpetuate itself. They developed secret codes to communicate to each other. A fascinating fact about the KKK is that it was a secrete society with a lot of powerful members including local sheriffs and judges, and no one knew who the members were unless they were part of it. They took advantage of the information asymmetry that existed between them and the public to further their cause. Likewise, real estate agents got their own code of communication that only they understand. Like the KKK, they used to use this information asymmetry against their costumers, until the internet started to level the plain field.
The availability of information is a powerful tool. For decades, no one (including the government) could stop the KKK. In the end it’s fascinating how simple it was to bring that evil terrorist organization to it knees. The release of their shameful codes and practices served the biggest blow to the KKK. Maybe we could use similar tactics to fight modern terrorists. Sometime the solutions cannot be found by fighting battles. We should try to go on a propaganda war against terrorism in order to deter young men from wanting to be terrorists.
Further the KKK used random fear of violence as a weapon to scare opponents. According to the author, lynching of blacks had been on the decline since 1890 (1,111 blacks were lynching from1890 to 1899). Meanwhile only 3 lynching of blacks took place from 1960 to 1969. The KKK had figured out that random fear of violence is more effective than mass murdering. Mass murdering of people tend to inspire people to fight back because of the gruesome effect it has on the psyche of people. Meanwhile random violence is enough to modify behaviors but not enough to start a revolution.
2 comments:
I didn't fully pick up on the random violence being more effective than mass murdering reasoning, but it makes a lot of sense. Fear is a very powerful tool, as we have seen recently with Bush and his magical "WMD's" in Iraq which were going to be used to destroy the whole planet. And now the administration uses this color coded warning system at airports to continue scaring American citizens, and to push the reasoning behind a failed war which apparently was accomplished a few years ago. The random attack by terrorists on 9/11 was used by the Bush administration as a very powerful tool to start a war in 2 countries. The administration used this fear after 9/11 to make US citizens constantly check over there shoulders for terrorists who are supposidly scheming 24/7 until they blow us all up. America obviously had to do something after the attack, but continuing to stirr up fear in our citizens and randomly invading countries in the Middle East would not be on the top of an educated persons list...
All I know is that whenever I am in the position to sell property, I'm going to be the worst client a real estate agent could hope for. I'm certainly going to hold out for a little while and resist to take the first offer I receive. Then, I'll be the one with the information they don't want me to have.
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