Power identifies itself by the effort spent effacing itself.

Evidence

Where is the subject that holds power? Against a background of neoliberalism and postmodernity, that question has become obsessive. Adorno’s words indicate a good way to resolve it: it is wherever it is working actively in order to make itself forgotten. The intense activity designed to efface it is what unfailingly singles it out: a great deal of subjective activity, involving huge efforts and enormous energy, designed to cover one’s tracks, efface evidence, and wipe out any trace of a subject involved in action. The aim is to dress all this up as purely methodical functioning, a kind of natural phenomenon endowed with a similar kind of necessity, headed only by administrative systems that from time to time correct bugs, bring things up to date, and regulate access to information. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Wilful effort is required to produce the appearance of subjectless violence.; Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651; Measuring power would destroy the institutional substitutes that sustain it (+5 more)

Related

• Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity (similarity 0.94)
• Power legitimates itself through a closed cycle of efficiency and verification. (similarity 0.81)
• Power grows stronger the less visible it is (similarity 0.78)
• Power’s proliferation stems from its congenital impotence, not omnipotence (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Power conceals itself through intense effort, not through passivity #corroborates (0.90) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 651
• Power operates partly through perception rather than explicit verbal communication #expands (0.82)