Why Do We Fall for Populists?

OMG it has actually happened. I thought that somewhere along the line people would wake up and reject this idea. May has departed and BOJO has arrived and amazingly Trumpy says that BOJO is the British Trump and that we all love him….help….!!!!

Somebody once said something like, ‘those that want to be leaders should never be allowed to do so’. This was something that I didn’t really understand until I began working with managers. Oh my, there are some awful managers out there and many of them are supposed to be looking after our health and our wellbeing. I now feel that those that want to be leaders should be automatically banned immediately from applying. 

There is a part of me that feels we should just stop talking about Brexit, after all what is the point?  There is also the part of me that is both intrigued and annoyed with it all. I am appalled at what a total mess our leaders have made of the whole Brexit business from Cameron onwards. We have had disaster after disaster. May seemed so weak. Corbyn on the opposite bench has just been avoidant. Now we are in such a sad state and we now have yet another leader and we still haven’t resolved Brexit.  The big question will BOJO be able to do so?

I am very clear that I think Brexit is one of the stupidest things we could possibly do. I do not think that the EU is perfect and I believe that it needs reforming and developing. However the idea of people coming together and working together makes total sense to me and fulfils the aims of the European project that is creating the peace and not yet another war.

As I watch the mad people take over the asylum we have Putin, BoJo, Trumpy and Kim. The egos of the world have come out to play. Trump has managed to get Iran stretching its muscle and Korea is wondering what to do next. The Chinese are at financial war with Trump and most of the Arab world has turned its back on Qatar. I could go on but I will climb off this hobby horse.

Okay, to me to looks like this, leaders by definition should be there to lead. With a big bit of hope and a good wind they may will lead us in a positive direction. The problem is that to be a positive leader you need to have insight and empathy. Around me I can not a see a single leader who has insight and empathy.

The spectrum of psychopathy begins with those around us who lack insight and empathy and are generally insensitive people and ends with murderers, mass murders and, sad to say, some politicians. For someone to say something or tweet something and then completely deny that they did, does not suggest a person with insight. To feel able to lie about the funds that would supposedly be freed from EU contributions and used to save the NHS does not suggest insight. And to be a socialist leader who has got splinters in their bottom because they are unable to get off the fence does not suggest insight.

I think that we are in the era of the successful psychopaths and they are now taking power. Because these psychopathic traits of insensitive leadership are gaining in popularity they are now on the rise. We find them in organisations and the public services at all levels of management and leadership. This draconian approach to social interaction and management moves clearly away from the socialist models that developed after the last war with the NHS and the welfare state. This all suggests to me that society, in the normal ebbs and flows of social change, is lurching to the right. When this happens it can so easily lead to fascism, nationalism and isolation. This is exactly where we were, in Europe, before the Second World War. After all that horror ended we thought that we had learned that lesson. It was then that we created the United Nations, and eventually the EU.

This is one of those times in the social cycle when we need a leader to appear. A real leader who has both insight and empathy and can truly represent the ideals of all humanity and not be stuck social or religious factionalism.

My favourite phrase of…

…if we all look a few each other we will all be okay… 

…is needed now, it is just that we need an inspirational leader to lead it!

Take care and be happy. 

Sean x

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