Jacob Wang Week 10: Power and Leadership
Leadership is often associated with power. Off the top of my head, I can think of several examples of this in fictional works. For example, in Star Wars, Yoda is the leader of the jedi because he was the most powerful. Or in the Harry Potter series, Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard and therefore leader of the "good guys." Gandalf, the powerful wizard, is leader of the fellowship in The Lord of the Rings. Now in fiction, this all works out well and fine because the most powerful person is also somehow always just coincidentally super wise and smart.
the green guy himself link
Unfortunately, this is pretty much not the case in real life though. For example, Elon Musk and Donald Trump recently gained a ton of power, but they aren't exactly the optimal people to lead. Other powerful people, like those tech CEOs, are exploitive of their workers which does not seem to indicate suitability to lead either. On the other side of the political spectrum, the Democrats are often seen as out of touch with the common people. In one of my Current Event articles, the author describes how many of the working-class people he knows dislike the abstract far-left ideals, feeling forgotten and not respected.
In my opinion the whole point of democracy is to make the separation between power and leadership. Without real democracy, the powerful rather than the better qualified people take power. Yet, in modern day America, democratic values are undermined when we literally are forced to choose between bad and worse for the presidency. If a handful of political leaders choose the candidates for presidential elections with no regard for the rest of Americans, it is no democracy.
Hi Jacob! I found your dissection of power and its relationship with leadership to be very interesting. This might be a bit of a stretch, but what you are discussing almost seems reminiscent of the theocracy and the inability of Salem’s society to separate religious officials and beliefs from courthouses both in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in real life as this eventually led to the collapse of their society. Similarly, it could become difficult for democracy to operate if people who are popular are constantly elected to office even if they are not very qualified, rather than those best qualified for the position.
ReplyDeleteHello, Jacob! I wholeheartedly agree with the point you make about the difference between power and true leadership. It is true that the already powerful, usually the ones who have accumulated a lot of wealth, gain those leadership roles over those who actually deserve them. To be honest, when looking at political campaigns, it is unfortunately almost always the candidates who have had the most money spent on them in recent years that have won in the end. It is almost as though running for any position requires candidates to be wealthy or funded by the wealthy, ultimately causing a disconnect between leadership and the people. Money truly does play a huge role, one that is often, to the detriment of society, greater than the qualities of what it means to be a leader itself.
ReplyDeleteHey Jacob! Your connection between fictional characters and the parallels that have to our current world is something I found fascinating. Like you mentioned, I agree that often in politics or in leadership nowadays we are choosing between lesser evils, rather than actually being able to choose politicians that have the world’s best interest in mind. Yet, I believe that this shows us a lot about human nature: how many tend to listen for ideals, but ignore the stark realities of situations, especially in politics when the people are looking out for what fits their best interest. That is why I find when people go to the extremes on either side of the political scale things can go haywire. While I think it’s important for everyone to express their opinion, being overly passionate and hearing the other side is often the biggest mistake in politics. Overall, your blog brought up a very good example of how leadership is directly linked to power and how saturated leadership can often lead us in a spiral of lesser evils.
ReplyDeleteHi Jacob! I found you blog interesting because the moment I saw Yoda on my screen I clicked on it. You relations between fictional characters and real people in the United States was really interesting. I agree with you saying that our most powerful members of society don't really have leadership ideals and how they are exploitive toward other people too. You analysis on how politicians choose candidates for presidency was really something I could associate with. I feel that if they choose a president just for the benefit of themselves and ignore the needs of millions of Americans nationwide, we can't really call it a democracy anymore and that I feel its important for us to actually listen to the candidates precedents and the precedents of other people before we vote for and elect our new president. I think your blog overall was a good example for how leadership is directly linked to power and you explain it very well.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jacob! I was immediately drawn too your blog post because of the image of Yoda, as a somewhat Star Wars fan myself. I admire how you compared and contrasted fictional leaders to those in real life in our present day society. Your final paragraph brought both concepts together by defining what democracy means to you as well as your opinions on modern day politics. Your blog does a very good job at explaining leadership dynamics and how it is related to power which could threaten democracy. Great job!
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