SYCOPHANCY

                                                  SYCOPHANCY

Sycophancy by itself confers on to the practitioners, several advantages that are far beyond the scope of those persons. Sycophancy is widely prevalent in systems/ institutions/ corridors of power. It purely rests on the human tendency of ‘falling a prey’ to undue praise and eulogy associated with flattery of a very high order. What baffles us is, do such persons receiving the ill-deserved encomia fail to recognize the stark falsehood typical of such praise and fail to stay alert from the designs of ‘articulate sycophants’? The ground reality is -the one offering those systematic showers of praise and the recipient are shamelessly happy about the association.  Obviously, sycophancy -besides being tolerated is encouraged to expand and engulf the entire machinery. In due course the activity turns a systemic syndrome.   I do not mean to suggest that all members serving in the place are sycophants themselves; the few self-respecting stay mute spectators -being themselves divested of any semblance of authority, as they do not toe the line  of mindless apes in cornering opportunities without due effort in safeguarding the interests of the organization.

Understanding sycophancy appears a formidable task, as the ‘network’ and the continuity among groups of sycophants is a typical conglomeration -hard to crack or dismantle.   Till such time that the person[s] holding authority choose to ‘put an end’ to the menace, it would continue to prosperously flourish and flourish to serve   vested interests unabated.

In its infancy, sycophancy begins as a verbal process of brilliant honey-soaked diction that the ‘seat of authority’ sheepishly hangs head in willing submission to the sublime desire within. That signals ‘go ahead’ trends with immediate benefits to the player, inviting more such players to activate their skills to their  best potential.

If I may draw an analogy, I would prefer this:

It is like gently throwing a stone into an undisturbed water pond; quickly one can notice a circle [ripple] emerging from the ‘epicentre.  It doesn’t stop. But, several circles--independent ones keep arising and spreading wider. Similar is the happening from the effort of a sycophant. The calm pond is the authority in place. The stone thrown is the act of sycophancy. The pond responds by giving off ripples [effect or benefit] and the successive ripples widening out sends message that spreads in the system. Spreading ripples ‘tempt’ more stone throws from more observers.  Ultimately a very low number stay as undaunted observers -not interested in stone throw or the ripple. So, the system [the circle of players] would simply throw the on-lookers to some dry pond elsewhere. To be near this pond, stone throw is mandatory.

A great game is sycophancy.

Though despicable, I name it great for its dimension/ ramifications. There is a keenly hinged network making an edifice of it. Further, members of this network are too many to ignore or by-pass.  What keeps them in low ebb is their functional deficiency, as they seldom devote time to pick up critical nuances of work. They are preoccupied with serving the personal needs of higher -ups like ferrying children to and from school, buying rail tickets, fetching rations, besides running errands and obliging any other demand from time to time. Being under the benevolent umbrella of bosses they readily enjoy elevations, perks and other benefits- official or otherwise. Despite the ‘too-well-off’ status enjoyed, they readily submit themselves to ridiculous insubordination by personal volition, not only to the official bosses, but to their spouses as well. It is such personnel who loft aloft the banner of ‘Self esteem’ that characteristically lacks steam. In short, sycophancy ruins straight forward approaches and promotes the culture of appeasement of higher officials and seeking the same from lower cadres /general public. The first casualty is the respect that should be a part of official positions. Fast buck and the least work are the two sides of the coin called ‘sycophancy’. God save us.

Prof. K. Raman