Sycophancy is a two-way road

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan
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FIRST things first, we start with an example. An influential man publishes a remembrance on the death anniversary of his beloved wife. He publishes it in the leading newspapers of the country, so that it gets a lot of attention. Much of what he writes in the prosaic ode to his wife's memory is bound to touch anyone's heart. But couple of sentences gives it away and undermines the remembrance. He writes that it was for his wife's prayers; he and his family could win the favours of a great politician father and his illustrious daughter. That injection of flattery reads like a clever attempt to make the best of both worlds.

Flattery is second nature to a sycophant. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a sychopant as a servile self-seeker who attempts to win favour by flattering influential people. Robert Greene reminds us in The 48 Laws of Power that sycophants are the great courtiers who master the science of manipulating people. "They make the king feel more kingly; they make everyone else fear their power," he writes.

But Abba Gana Shettima, a university teacher in Nigeria, has an interesting thought. He describes sycophants as gatekeepers and chambermaids in the harem of power. The sychophants guard and protect influential people, nursing their human failings with unctuous subservience. They extol these people until they become legends in their own minds. The sycophants make flattery oxygen for his clients, who depend on them for its uninterrupted supply.

At this level, the sycophants make their mark. This is where they know they have mastered the art of sucking up. Then they get busy to consolidate their position, and get down to real work. They start using the influence of influential people and build their own sphere of influence.

That dispels any doubts that these brown nosers are parasites. They lean on stronger people to live and thrive in their servile ambitions. Although at times, flattery can be a misunderstood case of inordinate adoration for great lives. Some people are ready to do anything for those whom they worship and admire. In 2004, when Sonia Gandhi refused to become the Prime Minister of India, a former MP named Gangacharan Rajput held a revolver to his head, threatening to shoot himself unless Sonia changed her mind.

It's possible that people get carried away by emotion. But sycophants wear their emotion on their sleeves and use it for personal gains. Every emotional outburst for them is an opportunity to enhance their self-interest. They calculate the time, place and audience to maximise return on their investment. Gangacharan didn't eventually take his life, but he got what he wanted. He was able to draw a great deal of attention.

Sycophancy must be one of the oldest professions like prostitution, both being in the business of living by gratification. Traced back to its origin in Greek, the word sycophant meant someone who brought all kinds of charges, but proved none.

In this context the word entailed false accusation, malicious prosecution and abuse of legal process for mischievous or fraudulent purposes.

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Another explanation has it that the word meant one who informed against another for exporting figs or for stealing the fruit of the sacred fig trees, whether in time of famine or on any other occasion. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, claims that this explanation cannot be substantiated. Instead, the word may refer to the insulting gesture of "making a fig" or to an obscene alternate meaning for the Greek word sykon as female sex organ.

Sycophancy has existed in ancient civilisations such as Indian and Chinese, which are 2,500 years old. Indian writer R.K. Narayan quotes from Shakepspeare's Hamlet to show that sycophancy was prevalent in Elizabethian England. Hamlet points to the sky and asks Polonius if the cloud has the shape of a camel. Polonius is quick to agree with his prince. Hamlet then changes his mind and says that he thinks it looks like a weasel. Polonius readily concurs. Hamlet now likens the cloud to a whale and Polonius promptly affirms.

There are two types of sycophants. The yesman is a sycophant who says yes because he wants to win favours. He hangs around powerful people, full of energy to please them. One example of yesman is modern corporate culture, where "boss is right" is the collective chant, and the failure to comply with "team-spirit" seiously impairs career prospects.

Another type of sycophants are the cowards who can't say no because they are afraid of reprisals. For example, when a military adviser suggested to Hitler that Moscow couldn't be taken, he was instantly dismissed. But when another adviser lied to Hitler that the German troops were marching on the streets of Moscow, he was promoted.

The modern-day sycophant lives somewhere in the middle. He finds it rewarding to flatter his superiors and risky to challenge them. So, he chooses to live within the bounds of saying yes and not-saying no, being realistic not idealistic, going with the flow and making hay while the sun shines. He is the product of his time when what one stands for is no longer the mark of a man. Flexibility, not firmness, is the new credo of human character.

From a moral inflection, sycophancy has turned into a social infection. It has become the new religion of self-seeking people, who create little gods on earth to worship so they will attain salvation and success in this life. And, it has become contagious. People find it more convenient to compromise with power and authority instead of contesting against them.

The master of satire, Jonathan Swift has the last laugh. He tells us, "It's an old maxim in school that flattery's the food of fools." That means a flatterer is an insult to the intelligence of the flattered. It's also true the other way around.

The presumer of false glory is no less ridiculous than its purveyor. Both are equally pathetic, each a sucker at the other end of another's charm.
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Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a Columnist.

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