Americans are strong advocates for individuality and
equality. This is why I think we have so many societal problems in the world
today. In David Brooks’ article “The Follower Problem,” he argues that America
has a followership problem. Brooks says that our self interest in authority
results in our refusal to deem anyone worthy of leading the country, because we
think that we are just as smart as they are. I agree with Brooks’. I believe
that Americans have an issue with authority and judges anyone in a leadership
position, because naturally we think we know it all. Americans always judge
people of authority, thinking that people in charge would almost always abuse their
authority. But, some system of authority is a requirement of all communal
living. If we were to routinely be a community of civil disobedience, what we
call civilization would cease to function, leaving us to fend for ourselves in
a world where only the strong would survive. A good example of this would be a
protest that happened in charlotte a few weeks ago. Protesters marched in
charlotte for an African American who was shot and killed by law enforcement.
The protest lasted for a few days and left many parts of the town
destroyed. After the third day of
protesting, law enforcement and National Guard were on duty to deal with the
rowdy crowd. This is an example of having an authority figure to follow.
Without having “rules” to follow, and people to enforce those rules, our society
would cease to function and everyone would be forced to fend for themselves. Brooks
says in his article that our devotion to equality, that all people are equal
and deserve equal recognition and respect. This is where I believe that theory
dies. As Americans, it is hard to define and celebrate greatness, and to hold
up others who are superior to ourselves when we naturally think we know it all.
A great example of this would be the presidential elections. Americans have
their favorite candidate running to become the leader of the country. How we
pick this leader is based on morals, values, and knowledge. We “follow” the
candidate that has the same views as ourselves. We pick the best, and the rest
are all awful people. We judge the other candidates on the things that we don’t
like about them. The main problem America has is our inability to think
properly how power should be used to bind and build. Brooks says our country doesn't have
a leadership problem, we have a follower’s problem, and before we can have
these great leaders again, we have to re-learn how to "elevate those who
are extraordinary," and "trust their discretion
(businessinsider.com).” To have a good leader you have to have good followers.
They have to be able to recognize authority and be grateful for it.
Works Cited
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your view point. In the beginning stages of this country, we were proud to be a free people; however, we still understood that we needed people in different authority positions to keep this country grounded and civil. We knew we needed mediators and speakers for the people as a whole. In the days of Washington and Lincoln, this country understood and knew what great authority and leadership looked like and they respected them. Over time, I believe we have taken the idea of being “free” and abused it.
The definition of freedom is the quality or state of being free: as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action and liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In today’s society, people believe that being free is doing whatever you want without any consequences. Like you mentioned with the protests in Charlotte, NC; people acted based upon their assumption of the situation at hand. They acted out regardless of the consequences that would arise during and after. I believe they took advantage of their freedom, and used it as an excuse to destroy a city and then say they were trying to make a point. Freedom gives us the right to stand for what we believe and speak out based upon those beliefs, but it doesn't give us the right to act inhumane and destroy things to get our way. There are many rising occurrences that are taking place in our country today that show how our lack of respect for authority has changed this nation and how being uninformed has only divided us. I truly do believe America has a follower problem.
Well said Ashley! I agree with your stance on America needing rules and authority, but at the same time, we as American citizens of many races need to have the proper respectable and professionional people of authority to protect us all. As you mentioned about the protest that occurred in Charlotte, I think that it was something that needed to happen in a peaceful manner. The judicial system has shown a lot of unjust for people of minority, and as they say that American people are followers, the protesting against the police showed just that. I was in support of the protest when it was done peacefully, but when it took a turn for the worst, and became violent; they lost my support. You had peaceful leaders leading the protest in Charlotte, and then comes an individual who is not trying to protest in peace, who now leads the protest to rioting and here comes the followers who wants to break peace and riot as well. America is truly a follower/leader country. A lot of racism still exist simply because of all the racist people who want to continue to follow the same ignorance, instead of becoming a leader to put the past behind us all, and take a stand become a leader in hopes of having the "followers" follow the new lead to end racism. What good is authority when the people that are placed in that position are crooked leaders with ulterior motives. Rules are rules, but let the consequences of breaking such rules apply to all or none.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your stance on if we as Americans have a leadership or a followship problem. I like your example of the Charlotte protest a couple months ago, the protesters completely became monstrous in my opinion. Who in their right minds would go destroy a town and buildings that had nothing to do with the shooting of the man or the officer that shot and killed him. There was almost nothing peaceful about this protest in Charlotte until the National Guard got involved, many colleges did a moment of silence which did a lot of good instead of bad for the community, especially for African Americans. I also like the example of the presidential election that occurred at the beginning of November. I like that you mentioned how all of us as Americans pick the candidate we see as the best fit, and most of the time their is a divided understandably. I like when you said we have the inability to think properly on how power should be used to build and bind us all as a whole. Many people have problems when it comes to law enforcement, I do however understand some of them do misuse their power over us and it can turn out bad. However I do know that you are supposed to listen, comply and move on when you come into contact with law enforcement but for some reason people have a problem doing just that. Not only do I think we have a leadership problem due to being lied to about so many things but we also have a followship problem because we as Americans do not know how to think for ourselves, we follow the crowd even sometimes into the wrong direction.