Why do we stick with the wrong leaders
Why do we stick with the wrong leaders?
Time and again, I ask myself the same question.
Why do leaders so often come to power who ultimately turn out to be a disaster? Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Ceausescu, Franco, Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping, the Kim Jong family (North Korea), Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Stalin, Mao, Putin, Trump, etc., etc. And even today, we see leaders who are once again pushing the world in a dangerous direction.
Chance?
Or will we, as a society, remain stuck somewhere?
I often wonder if many of these people aren't driven by old frustrations. Perhaps they were humiliated as children. Perhaps they were bullied, belittled, or never received appreciation at home. Perhaps they wanted to prove their whole lives that they were important. The causes can be very different.
Of course, that does not apply to everyone. Most people who have had a difficult childhood actually become loving parents or engaged citizens. But for a small number of people, that need for recognition grows into an almost insatiable hunger for power.
And it is precisely those people who often possess qualities that we admire. They are intelligent, charismatic, tenacious, and know how to sweep others along. Qualities that take them to the top. Until they get there.
Perhaps therein lies a fundamental weakness of human evolution.
Traits such as aggression, dominance, and the drive to climb the ladder were likely an advantage hundreds of thousands of years ago. They helped with hunting, protecting the group, and survival.
But in a world with nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and biological technology, those same characteristics are no longer an advantage, but a direct danger.
In Window in Spacetime, the Xanians recognized this problem a long time ago.
Not because they consider men or women more important. Nor because they reject people with ambition. But because they understand that one leader with an unhealthy lust for power can destroy an entire civilization.
That is why they investigate a person's personality traits at a young age, to prevent someone with an extreme need for power from ever holding the highest political positions. Their talents are deployed in other areas, where ambition is a strength rather than a risk.
That might sound like a restriction of freedom to us.
But the Xianians ask a tough question:
What is more important: the freedom of one person to seize supreme power, or the security of an entire civilization?
Perhaps that is where we, as humanity, remain stuck.
Not due to a lack of knowledge.
But in not daring to change how we choose leaders.
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