Friday, March 11, 2011  Link: Kinnon TV: Why do we allow toxic
leaders  Bill Kinnon puts some things better than I could ever
manage to do.  Hero worship will always be with us and toxic
leaders stay in power because, well, they're heroes to somebody.
A hero is someone who by dint of accomplishment, charisma, and
power attains glory. The hero is valuable to us because in
exchange for service and loyalty the hero promises explicitly or
tacitly to share some of his glory with us. Now we can tell
ourselves, "Oh, I would never fall for that." We do, all the
time. I've fallen for the sales pitch in numerous ways.  The
thing is the appeal of the hero and his/her glory works because
we need it. We tell ourselves otherwise but usually all this
means is we think other people have picked heroes who aren't
glorious enough. A fan of Ayn Rand will admire her and look down
on those who admire communists. The same hero worship process
for Rand is at work in the worship of Mao or, let's just say it,
Jesus. Let's consider tha