4 ms·
I do think that the "big man of history" style narrative has strange effects on the popular perception of things, creating a consensus image of "what a leader s
by captainbland 1y ago
I do think that the "big man of history" style narrative has strange effects on the popular perception of things, creating a consensus image of "what a leader should look like". But these stories of great leaders frequently downplay the human costs of their exploits, often rendering their lessers essentially disposable. So our collective historical narrative has a bit of a bias of saying, essentially, "elect someone who would gladly throw you into the fires of combat for personal glory".
This is what a "leader" looks like to many because of that cultural bias.
Of course most people question this narrative strongly today, but I think it has a role in how strong man political figures end up being supported by many despite the obvious risks associated with that.
- WillAdams 1y agoAn interesting antidote for that is to read biographies --- even those of leaders often have a section where the subject is an ordinary person, subjected to the forces of those in power --- reading a series of them in chronological order (I read those of U.S. Presidents to my children as a dry-run for an unfortunately abandoned project to do this for the entirety of world history) yields interesting insights into history and its ebb-and-flow.