The Code of Kings

Hierarchy is oppression. One cannot place a person above another without engaging in oppression. One can make the oppression polite. One can make the oppression more palatable. But the ranking of human beings is oppression. To rank humans is to decide who is more or less human, more or less worthy of respect, more or less worthy of rights. And this is the foundation of the Hungry Empire. Oppression is the defining feature of civilization.

The Hungry Empire lives the inverse of the four laws (No King, No Conquests, No Dogma, Protect the Future).

The Divine Right of Kings

A would be ruler seeks to restrict and control the actions of intended subjects. They rule by divine right (or similar nonsense), and the masses are duty bound to submit and obey them. If the masses do not submit, the ruler is justified (by this logic) to use force to require obedience.

• Defend against this by:
  • Retain control of the your actions
  • Retain control of your culture

The Right of Conquest

A would-be conqueror seeks to gain control of territory and to control the movement of the intended conquered. A ruler has the right to be master over all the territory which they can take and hold. This, of course, ignores the fact that their military takes the territory and their police control it. The ruler rarely does anything.

• Defend against this by:
  • Retain control of your movement
  • Retain control of your territory

The One True Church

A would-be thought leader seeks to control the beliefs and possible thoughts of the intended victims. The would-be thought leader declares dissenting ideas to be heresy, or treason. The thought leader labels questioning as disloyalty or blasphemy. The thought leader finds no heterodoxy acceptable, there is only one way, one religion, one church.

• Defend against this by:
  • Retain control of your thoughts
  • Retain control of you ideology

Growth without End

The propagator of a pyramid scheme seeks to control the legacy, future resources, and options of their intended victims. The pyramid scheme seeks to expand continuously. It seeks to grow more this year than it grew last year. And it seeks to do this every year. Devouring the world, they would still be hungry. Devouring the universe, they would not be satisfied.

• Defend against this by:
  • Retain control of your options
  • Retain control of your legacy