---
id: "codex://object/disrespectful-power"
archive_id: "disrespectful-power"
slug: "disrespectful-power"
url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/disrespectful-power/"
type: "scroll"
title: "Disrespectful Power Is Gross"
summary: "Power is a borrowed instrument. When the appetiti mistake it for the self, something inside the system begins to rot."
date_published: "2026-03-09T21:50:47.379Z"
date_modified: "2026-03-09T21:50:47.379Z"
status: "published"
visibility: "public"
language: "en-US"
axes: {}
themes:
  - "systems"
  - "structure"
  - "observation"
  - "signal"
constellations: []
tags:
  - "systems"
  - "structure"
  - "observation"
  - "signal"
keywords:
  - "Scroll"
  - "systems"
  - "structure"
  - "observation"
  - "signal"
author:
  id: "nathan-davis"
  name: "Nathan Davis"
  designation: "Archive Operator"
  role: "Archive Operator"
  handle: "@nathandavis"
  avatar: "/media/people/nathan-davis.jpg"
  bio: "Designer, builder, and curator of the Codex Archive."
contributors:
  - id: "nathan-davis"
    name: "Nathan Davis"
    designation: "Archive Operator"
    role: "Archive Operator"
    handle: "@nathandavis"
    avatar: "/media/people/nathan-davis.jpg"
    bio: "Designer, builder, and curator of the Codex Archive."
relations:
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/citizen-network-doctrine"
    slug: "citizen-network-doctrine"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/citizen-network-doctrine/"
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/node-doctrine"
    slug: "node-doctrine"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/node-doctrine/"
  - kind: "related"
    target: "codex://object/unacceptable-cost"
    slug: "unacceptable-cost"
    url: "https://ndcodex.com/objects/unacceptable-cost/"
media: []
---
disrespectful power is gross

not merely dangerous -
repulsive.

because power
is a borrowed instrument.

it moves through hands,
through offices,
through permissions
that belong
to the public body.

the appetiti live in the stomach -
those hunger-things,
those stomach monsters
that mistake the instrument
for the self.

when they are in charge
something inside the system
rots.

authority without humility
smells wrong.

it bends rules
for the appetiti.

it mistakes access
for ownership.

the tragedy is not only
the damage it causes -

but the ugliness
it reveals.

power is meant
to be held carefully,
like a tool
that can cut the world open.

when the appetiti
swing it
everyone can feel it -

even before
the wound appears.