We Have Lost Our Leaders

A look at the big picture

Take a look around you — we seem to be ambushed by the problems that faces our national and global society and we must urgently address.

For example:

All of these issues are pretty non-controversial. They are not matters of opinion, but rather assertions of fact.

But if we look to our available leaders, a different and far more nefarious interpretation emerges. Statements of fact are projected as opinion. Opinions serve as the basis of division and separation among people who share common and real problems.

Leadership

The system of our current leadership has become a tool for turning our problems into my problems.

The people who disagree on the scope and solutions are branded as enemies. The causes of the problems are ignored. People are turned against each other, rather than collaborated with.

So who are our available leaders?

Good question indeed! It used to be that our society had a diverse and meaningful range of leaders. Some were political, others were religious. Still others were civic and community-oriented. Some were social, intellectual and the rest personal.

We sought voices and opinions for our problems from the people that oversaw various aspects of our everyday lives. There people were responsible and to some degree, accountable for a sense of justice and reason to preside.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with having leaders. They are the folks who, because of experience, insight, or wisdom, can provide guidance. They help society move forward in the name of progress. Leaders also advise against mistakes of the past that can hinder progress.

There was a time, not very long ago, when we listened to what a religious figure had to say. Or what a philosopher reasoned to be correct. Or how a renowned historian interpreted our situation and its connection to the past and its relation to the future.

Russian Leaders Matryoshka {Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Brezhnev, Khrushchev, Stalin, Lenin, Nicholas II, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great and Ivan (The Terrible)}

“Celebrity leadership”

Now our leaders are derived from a clutch of celebrities. The George Clooneys and Matt Damons of the world serve as our special envoys to human rights and humanitarian issues. The Glen Becks and Chris Matthews serve as our moral compass to ‘fix America.’

Who gave these people, (with little education, virtually no relevant experience or insight into the world) the right to serve as our leaders and project their voices onto us on issues of any importance?

If we trace it back, most of the power of celebrities has emerged with developments in tools of mass communication. Technologies have allowed information to be made accessible in a cheap and popular format. When the digital age appeared, outlets of media communication gained even further prominence and market-driven authority.

These outlets shape how people gain access to information and thus were informed and aware of the world around them. In the interest of media, it became critical to make the audience dependent and in a visceral way, addicted to its catering to base and primal instincts.

Media proliferation

Within a generation, there has been a proliferation of more and more media outlets. The outpouring of these services is increasingly self-serving and profit oriented. Our leaders of old, who were more moderate, were lost. Those leaders who adapted and catered to the system, gained in prominence, power and influence over the users that couldn’t imagine a lifestyle without them.

The age of discussion, debate and compromise among the leaders who knew us, was long gone. They were supplanted with slick moguls who worked and skewed the apparatus towards their end goals and motives.

In most cultures of the world, money is just a tool. In the U.S., it is a belief system where more money has become tantamount with being more right.

United States two dollar uncut 32-subject (32-note) currency sheet

Not conspiracy creep

All of this may sound like a conspiracy theory: one that ostensibly may not hold journalism in very high regard. But to say that misses the point.

It is not the fault of journalists for evolving with a changing and unforgiving system: There is no one source of blame that glorifies sensationalism, creates disparity, preys off extremism, and eliminates debate.

It is not just the audience to blame: They no longer hear the voices of leaders they were accustomed to to guide them through tough times.

There is always a gradual creep in the system: It takes a long time for people to adapt to not seeing something. And before they know it, they forget about it.

Sober up

What time is it:

It’s time to sober up from the slumber of complacency. Things have gone off-track, need a realignment, a mid-course correction. That is the situation we face now. Back in 2008, a lot of people thought that Mr. Obama and his election to the presidency represented an ushering in of such a revival.

Some few years on, it is clear that Mr. Obama is just a linear progression of what preceded him: That any elected candidate nowadays adjusts more to the ways of the office rather than the office adjusting to the visions of a politician.

In 1980 when the French philosopher Jean-Paul Satre died, he was given a grand funeral. A crowd of nearly 50,000 people lined the streets of Paris to pay their respects and bid farewell to their intellectual champion and hero.

In this day and age, I can’t imagine Americans being moved to grieve any intellectual or moral leader in this way. Princess Diana, yes. Michael Jackson, yes. A. civic, local, religious or intellectual leader? Never. This is a statement in and of itself.

Brooklyn Bridge {as seen from Manhattan, New York City}

A call to action

Our call to action is to demand change and insist on reform from the ground up. This process can help us realize that our nation faces common problems, and that solutions draw on compromise from all of those who can make a difference.

Only then we can tune out elements of the media that try to polarize us. We should engage each other rather than stand in opposition.

The Chinese have a proverb, “Burn down the bridge and you can lead the people anywhere.” We’ve burned enough bridges already. Look into the eyes of your fellow humans and build new bridges.

All that we hold near and dear hangs in the balance of this engineering feat. Start this journey together and new leaders will emerge to bring bearing on the path ahead.

Solomon Nabatiyan, Ph.D.
Columnist
Secretary of Innovation
“In imagination & creativity we trust…”

If you enjoyed this column, please subscribe to our Email list

© Copyright 2011 Secretary of Innovation, All rights reserved