Loyalty: The Price We Pray For

Following on from a comment I made on Facebook, the question of what loyalty is and where it lies has come in to mind. No one has questioned my loyalty thankfully, but in the process of replying I found many a problem to identify with, thus I felt the urge to write them all down here.

Prologue:

I was having a problem with uploading photos, and was using the Hotmail SkyDrive- otherwise I would have had to send lots of emails- but finding it all too awkward to give the receiver access for they don't have Hotmail. So I got grumpy and said we should have a universal device or web-based system for all these social websites we use so that whatever network we are on they can all work together: Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, Bebo, and Myspace to name just a few of the social websites out there. The problem is it would make a monopoly or destroy competition completely. However, life would be more simple if there were universal items and standards. What's wrong with increasing the ISO regulations to include web sites.

The question then was what can I do if I am loyal to the most true one (having written on Facebook my problem) I don't like Facebook or much of the social network system, I enjoy Blogger for it's simplicity and unique discussion focus that my readers I know and don't know, get to enjoy (at their peril!) my 'unharnessed' complicated mind and thoughts, whilst also being able to soak in their own voices.

And so in replying with the item below, I had my dilemma about Loyalty, where do we stand with each other:

Quoting Shakespeare on Loyalty: Cassius: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings". Why should we be held ransom to a monopoly in one hand and non-universal options in the other. I don't use Fb as much as Blogger. What justifies loyalty? My loyalty lies with everyone. The truth will set you free, or a universal option will. After all is Fb true & truly loyal?

Main:

BBC Pictures March 2010

Man's best friend. Loyalty comes at a Price.

What I'm trying to get at is you can either have a monopoly or competition, it's almost like Capitalism versus Communism in the most stretched of thoughts, with potential for George Orwells 1984 to play a part too. But also, you don't need truth for loyalty you just need belief, and that carries you.

Friends, family, work colleagues. Money, love, relationships, our own personal gains and wants, the want to help others, help yourself. What does Loyalty really mean to people? Where does loyalty stop? Is it contractual, is it a bond made before you become friends, is it how friendly you are, you're expression in different groups.

And in the quote I shoot myself in the foot, if my loyalty lies with everyone, have I just said I'm loyal to no one at the same time? What does this say about me, when in all fairness I work as hard as possible to please everyone. For I can't be loyal to everyone as I know the difference between right and wrong. Loyalty therefore if caught on the negative side of life, the criminal side, may make you loyal, but it's a bad thing, a bad judgement. Loyalty therefore can be a bad thing.

Or is it? Loyalty can be good, if you are loyal to you're volunteering sessions, charity groups you support, and you are contractually bound to be loyal in the best possible way to the people you work for. Loyalty is a form of power held over us whilst we think we are of equal measure.

By definition Loyalty is

• The State or Quality of being Loyal
• A feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection
• A feeling of Allegiance

Is this the very reason why society does not work properly? No one cares and looks to better there own groups and leaves the ones at the bottom of the chain to rot? We are always looking to develop and expand- the whole issue is because we want to grow we don't want to sustain what we have. After a while, what we have is not good enough and a new thing catches our eye. Or am I over simplyfying our wanton urges of materials and money?

Loyalty and Trust works together? Right or Wrong?
An apt way of looking at it
In the words of M: He'd be a pretty cold bastard if he didn't want revenge for the death of someone he loved. If you were James Bond, where would you're loyalties lie then, King and Country and forget everyone else?

Taken slightly out of context but the point is we all have feelings and motivation for something however small it is. If someone is not loyal to you, you're likely to be upset. Marriage is about Trust and life long "contractual" loyalty to them, because "you love them and you only have eyes for them" etc, for my few years of undertsanding of what love is all about.

If we lived in a world where we only wanted to sustain what we have, had a harmonious equality of life from economic to social well being, what would it be like and how loyal would we all be?

Epilogue:
Wouldn't it just be better to remove social networking and instead rely on our fundamental knowledge of telephones, email, post and face to face contact. Social networking is slowly corrupting us whilst changing the way we operate in society. Everyone is wary of there public voice on a personal page. We no longer can be relaxed, it is a form of National ID for anyone to see, and once again, its another surveilance technique used to watch our everymove. So much for personal time and freedom. "Welcome to the Machine", a living status quo of George Orwells prediction. Democracy? No, Controlled Freedom. Loyalty to none and only one.

Cassius: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings".
Loyalty to the higher powers, trust and loyalty, control and freedom, monopoly and competition, easy access and hardship all working together.

Trusted Loyalty, Controlled Freedom, Manipulated and monopolised competition, easy access for complicated and harder problems to work round. Loyalty: The Price we Pay for not fixing the obvious problems and profiteering on the weak.