Some thoughts that made me think of k0s and his klowns

[MonteLukast]

... actually, directly from DailyKos itself.

Something to think about next time you hear some kosbot say that our favorite Senator has no charisma. Emphases mine:

{A ground-breaking study} solidified the connection between fear, a desire to be released from fear, the likelihood that this strong desire will lead to a search for psychological security, and the strong preference to choose a "charismatic" leader in these types of circumstances who affirm our world view and cause us to feel safe.

In Escape from Freedom, Eric Fromm (1941) proposed that loyalty to charismatic leaders results from a defensive need to feel a part of a larger whole, and surrendering one's freedom to a larger-than-life leader can serve as a source of self-worth and meaning in life. Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death, 1973) posited that when mainstream worldviews are not serving people's need for psychological security, concerns about mortality impel people to devote their psychological resources to following charismatic leaders who bolster their self-worth by making them feel like they are valued participants in a great mission to heroically triumph over evil.

I don't know about you, but I read that quote and thought of America's willingness to get on-board with the Patriot Act, to give up freedoms without question in a quest for safety (relief from the fear of death-by-terrorist-attack). It also made me think of how often Bush invokes 9/11 and other fearful things (bird flu). It's a deliberate and scientific attempt to solidify the following of his "charismatic" leadership. Can you name other charismatic leaders? I certainly can - and many of them were and are not nice people.

Do people who rail about charisma, and act all confident as to whether other people have it or not, really understand the difference between inspiring and manipulating, between leading and dictating?

After reading this, I doubt it.

[sandnsea]

1. Interesting

"charismatic leaders who bolster their self-worth by making them feel like they are valued participants in a great mission to heroically triumph over evil."

Hmmm..

[ginnyinWI]

2. True

And the manipulated don't really see it.

I would disagree a little with the "bolstering self-worth" part. I see it as a simple need for security in troubled times. We band together (being social animals) for security behind a leader. That leader can be a good one, or a wolf in sheep's clothing. Guess which one is the president, and which one should have won the election!

I think this is why we are so polarized in this country. Everybody chooses a "side", believing their side has the answers. (Of course we know our side does have the answers! ;) ) Fewer people are on the fence, and more are paying attention. I know I am paying a lot more attention since 9/11. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing has mostly given me more to worry about! But there's hope as long as good guys like JK are around.

[TayTay]

3. America has gone through periods like this before.

We did it in the period leading up to the Spanish-American War when the war was hyped by the media. The problem is that you can't sustain this type of thing for all that long. (We don't have the tradition for it in the US, with a couple of notable exceptions.)

Germany, after WWI had conditions that led to the rise of a charismatic dictator. But the culture of that country was very different from America's. (They were a class-oriented society at that time and more rigidly bound by class divisions. The appeal to all the usual suspects, nationalism, scapegoating, militarism and so forth had more fertile soil to grow in.)

We go through periods like this. The scariest was during the Depression. We were ripe for a demagogue to come along and cure the nations ills with the bad old perscriptions, but thank God, Roosevelt was elected and he took the right course. (Even though, America is becoming more class bound, not les under the conservative rule of the last 25 years. Clinton reversed some of this, but under Bush it is getting much worse. People are much, much more likely to stay at whatever level they were born at than they were in the 1950's. The 'American Dream' of moving up is slowly going away.

[_dynamicdems]

4. Bush isn't charismatic. He just played to fear and to the right wing.

There is always a backlash. We had a couple of progressive decades then the right-wingers got their groove back. Bush just played to this crowd. He's not very charismatic.

John Kerry, on the other hand, well...

You see, I take the quote from an entirely different perspective:

"when mainstream worldviews are not serving people's need for psychological security, concerns about mortality impel people to devote their psychological resources to following charismatic leaders who bolster their self-worth by making them feel like they are valued participants in a great mission to heroically triumph over evil."

Hey, count me in on that, only the charismatic leader that is on a mission to triumph over evil is Kerry and the evil is *. :hippie: