Is there any evidence that blackmail is a thing? I don't mean are there individual examples you could point to in history and even some prosecutions for it. I mean the systematic collection of 'dirt' in order to have power is a bit of a Hollywood trope. In terms of real life I think there are fewer example. Hoover's FBI had lots of files on powerful people but did those people know that and yield to Hoover because of that? MLK Jr. certainly did. But were the Kennedy's plausibly blackmailed by Hoover? Seems unlikely as their numerous affairs were almost an open secret.
The blackmail as trope makes for entertaining stories but it does seem to depend on the assumptions:
1. Literally everyone in power does horrible things.
2. These things can easily be discovered by one special person.
3. The one special person then can do whatever he wants because he just has to find who has the particular power he needs and leverage him (or her).
This makes for a great set up for fictional stories because you can enjoy the shifting of power and the stash of 'information' makes a great McGuffin. Off the top of my head there was one trashy but fun series (Ray Donovan) that worked with that premise but it shows up a lot elsewhere. I believe it was a point of the first John Wick movie, and shows up in Batman drama a lot.
In real life, though;
1. Most people are boring.
2. It's not easy to find their 'secrets'
3. Having them isn't an automatic ticket to leverage.
I was going to bring up this argument against the strong form of Webb's argument. She seems to be claiming enormous powers, and yet there's no external evidence of that. However there evidence for smaller levels of blackmail. This PBS site claims that Hoover was blackmailed by the mob:
Is there any evidence that blackmail is a thing? I don't mean are there individual examples you could point to in history and even some prosecutions for it. I mean the systematic collection of 'dirt' in order to have power is a bit of a Hollywood trope. In terms of real life I think there are fewer example. Hoover's FBI had lots of files on powerful people but did those people know that and yield to Hoover because of that? MLK Jr. certainly did. But were the Kennedy's plausibly blackmailed by Hoover? Seems unlikely as their numerous affairs were almost an open secret.
The blackmail as trope makes for entertaining stories but it does seem to depend on the assumptions:
1. Literally everyone in power does horrible things.
2. These things can easily be discovered by one special person.
3. The one special person then can do whatever he wants because he just has to find who has the particular power he needs and leverage him (or her).
This makes for a great set up for fictional stories because you can enjoy the shifting of power and the stash of 'information' makes a great McGuffin. Off the top of my head there was one trashy but fun series (Ray Donovan) that worked with that premise but it shows up a lot elsewhere. I believe it was a point of the first John Wick movie, and shows up in Batman drama a lot.
In real life, though;
1. Most people are boring.
2. It's not easy to find their 'secrets'
3. Having them isn't an automatic ticket to leverage.
I was going to bring up this argument against the strong form of Webb's argument. She seems to be claiming enormous powers, and yet there's no external evidence of that. However there evidence for smaller levels of blackmail. This PBS site claims that Hoover was blackmailed by the mob:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/the-secret-file-on-j-edgar-hoover/
And this museum website (not sure how authoritative) claims the Hoover blackmailed members of the mob:
https://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/j-edgar-hoover/