Buying Influence

I've just ordered a print of a drawing made by a nephew of mine. The young man loves to make finely detailed drawings of phantasy cityscapes, and this particular drawing has taken him more than a year to complete. His perseverance deserves credit, and I thought it only fair that his uncle should dish out some money as a reward. Besides, the print will look great on the wall of my ten year old son.

Additionally, there's a political aspect to my decision. My nephew sees me as his weird uncle in Porto; the one with crazy ideas about conspiracies and anarchy. I'm looked upon with suspicion by many of my relatives, so my gesture towards him will be noticed and talked about.

By buying my nephew's print I've bought myself some goodwill, which might rub off in various ways beneficial to me and my ideas about how things should be done.

For one, I'm supporting a local artist. He may be living far from me, but he's part of my circle of influence, and hence local to me and my family. This gives him the option to pocket my payment without paying any taxes. It illustrates the strength and importance of networks. My anarchist position is no longer a mere theory. It's a real world possibility.

My nephew has a quirky sense of humor in which authority is often questioned as to its legitimacy. This hasn't made him an anarchist yet. But I might have nudged him further in that direction simply by being generous towards him.

An important part in this is that I've refrained from stating anything out loud. Nowhere in our correspondence have I said anything political. Doing that would reveal my ulterior motives and render them impotent. My nephew knows perfectly well where I stand on things, and that's all that's needed to have him think my ideas over once more.

Similarly, I've refrained from asking any favors. I could do with some illustrations for my latest book on physics, and some pen drawings would be great. But this is not the time to discuss this possibility. Mentioning this would merely spoil things.

The only thing I've mentioned in our correspondence is that he might like to see Porto one day. This town has an eclectic style, with buildings often appearing to be built on top of each other. That's something he would like, judging from his pen drawing.

Cityscape