Delphic Maxim 130: Do not begin to be insolent

I’ve set myself the challenge of responding to each of the Delphic Maxims for 15 minutes a day.

130. Do not begin to be insolent

I’m a huge fan of science fiction. And whenever I hear the word ‘insolent’, I think of a big sci-fi villain — maybe a Goa’uld System Lord from Stargate — saying something like “you’ll pay for your insolence”. It almost always follows a witty quip from a hero, some small remark that cuts the grandiose villain down to size. It’s a kind of galactic manifestation of tall poppy syndrome — Colonel O’Neill cuts the raging, gold-covered despot down to size: an emperor with silly clothes on.

Actually, the fact that insolence gets such a popular run in popular culture might be a sign of the times — why else would this maxim feel so dated? Flashback to Avengers: Infinity War when Tony Stark — sob — was clapping back at the magic powered super-villains serving Thanos. Or even Thanos himself. Insolence towards figures of authority, and in particular towards unearned, unrespected authority is a bit of an American trait. I suppose it comes alongside the United States’ history and culture — a nation built on the premise of throwing off authority and capricious rule, and one that reifies the individual, would naturally get a bit of a rush off insolence.

The times seem to call for insolent behaviour — which runs contrary to the ask in this maxim. ‘Do not begin to be insolent’ lines up with a lot of the previous maxims that emphasise respect for others, and insolence really is an active disrespect for others. I’m not sure how I fall on this one, because I — like many white Australians — tend to fall back on our English heritage, where there is a reasonably polite respect for authority. I’ve actually argued before that Australians have a disdain for class, but an overwhelming compulsion to comply with authority. But I suppose — there’s a difference between insolent compliance and active rebellion. Is there a way, though, in which we could see insolence as an act of rebellion?

Lately I’ve been picking my way through Michel Foucault’s lectures — currently on a book called Security, Territory, Population. This is where Foucault most explicitly does his theoretical work around the idea of governmentality — the way the regulation of conduct moves from external discipline to internalised self-regulation. It’s kind of like regulation of a person’s soul, where discipline would be regulation of the body. The word ‘soul’ is fairly deliberate too — Foucault reckons that governmentality evolved around the time of the Enlightenment out of the Christian pastorate — when governments took it upon themselves to care for the physical and spiritual (in the broadest sense) needs of ‘the population’.

Why am I diverting to describe all this? Well Foucault argues that governmentality is all about the regulation of conduct, and he thinks that people who step outside of this regulation aren’t necessarily rebelling, nor are they engaging in misconduct (at least, for the purposes of his analysis these things aren’t as interesting as what follows). What he was curious about was counter-conduct. What happens when someone doesn’t accept the terms and regulations by which they are expected to be governed. When they step outside this loop — it’s no longer misconduct, which is passive, but an active process of ‘doing the opposite of what is expected’.

I’m wondering if insolence fits into this category. If people feel that outright rebellion isn’t possible — and the fictional characters I’ve described aren’t so much rebelling as they are defending an existing freedom — then perhaps the counter-conduct of insolence is a useful weapon? It’s certainly a good way to interrupt the circuit of authority, and if there’s one thing we need in our nativist, authoritarian times it is a way to short-circuit the power of the strong man. Insolence is one way to do that.

So today’s maxim has a split identity. Insolence in the guise of rudeness towards others isn’t really on — after all, respect for the people around us is an important part of community building. But insolence shouldn’t be written off so easily. The ancient Greeks didn’t know everything, and they certainly didn’t anticipate the way power functions today. So maybe a little insolence isn’t such a bad thing, from time to time.