The Power of One

Around the late 1930s, the dutch inhabited south Africa along with the British. These dutch settlers were known as the Boer. Some time ago, there was a war between the British and the Boer (known as the Boer Wars), where there were incidents of some British attrocities against the Boer women and children, so ever since the two groups have not been the best of friends. I am not 100% clear on the politics, but I believe the Boer were sympathetic to germany and hitler against the British, but offcially were aligned with Britain.

Into this background comes an English boy growing up in South Africa who is sent to an all-Boer boarding school. After some traumatic experiences, he eventually leaves to apprentice to a German intellectual who is interned in a prison by the British for the duration of the war. The boy is allowed to visit the prison and because of his African language skills, he helps the African prisoners and begins a campaign to unite the African tribes in revolt by falsifying himself as a mthyical figure in order to get others to follow him. Later in life, he leads a campaign for education and equal rights and fights the apartheid system (official policy on racial segregation), using the continued myth to inspire the Africans to change.

The investing lesson here is that a story stock can carry great weight among ignorant people who dont do any analysis. Inspiring motives of greed and fear can cause investors to do things they wouldnt normally do. In the case of this story, it was benevolent leadership, but in the stock markets, the motive is much less altruistic. News and perception have a powerful influence on stock prices.