New York Times
Would you “defer” to the authority of David Brooks, Tom Friedman, or Paul Krugman? That’s the funniest thing I have heard all day.
“Maybe before we can build great monuments to leaders we have to relearn the art of following. Democratic followership is also built on a series of paradoxes: that we are all created equal but that we also elevate those who are extraordinary; that we choose our leaders but also have to defer to them and trust their discretion; that we’re proud individuals but only really thrive as a group, organized and led by just authority.
I don’t know if America has a leadership problem; it certainly has a followership problem. Vast majorities of Americans don’t trust their institutions. That’s not mostly because our institutions perform much worse than they did in 1925 and 1955, when they were widely trusted. It’s mostly because more people are cynical and like to pretend that they are better than everything else around them. Vanity has more to do with rising distrust than anything else. . .
To have good leaders you have to have good followers — able to recognize just authority, admire it, be grateful for it and emulate it. Those skills are required for good monument building, too.”
Perhaps this is a symptom of the widespread belief – most recently echoed by “Jeb,” another establishment favorite – that “we’re in decline.” Maybe ordinary people are second guessing following the lead of our great sages like David Brooks because they have seen enough to discern where we are headed?
There’s that saying: “You must learn to follow BEFORE you can lead.” We should be followers of good followers, the blind led by the blind, off the cliff or into the ditch.
Did this article or opinion piece come out in the April 1st edition? Otherwise it’s completely insane.
I would rather follow the dumbest redneck in the worst Mississippi trailer park than David Brooks.
“Completely insane?” That’s the new normalcy. Sounds like “good followers” pep talks in public school.
Democracy is founded on a sham. We are not all equal. Outcomes are 90% predetermined. Brookes is a poltroon.
I don’t know if America has a leadership problem; it certainly has a followership problem. Vast majorities of Americans don’t trust their institutions.
That’s a feature, not a bug.
” The Lemming Problem ”
Actually, the Lemming thing is a myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming#Misconceptions
2 out of 3 are Jews. Is Brooks a Jew, also.
Never forget- When a Rabbi enters a room, a crime has ALREADY been committed.
Same with political editorials. Talmudic brain contamination is in the very ink of the NY Times, Jewsweek, etc.
Throw holy water on it all, and then burn it. Burn, baby, burn.
Yes, Brooks is a Jew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brooks_(journalist)
I’ll follow someone worth following. Not one man jack among that lot is.
And like our host I’d follow the dumbest redneck in the worst Mississippi trailer park over them.
Of the White liberal elite, I’d listen to a tiny handful mostly dropouts of society and a very tiny number of good ones like the late Joe Baigent.
The rest I’d figure are either fools or poison peddlers and not worth any time.
Just as a side note, the articles actual point, people don’t follow because they don’t trust is a fair one. Where its wrong is assuming that they or anyone in power now are the ones worth following.
I don’t follow traitors, failures , foes or fools and that lot is all of them.
LOL, funny how dissent was the hallmark of patriotism until the right people were chosen to take over. Now it’s tantamount to high treason.
Gotta love ’em. Otherwise you’re a naziwhowantstomurdersixmillionjews. I always got THAT part.
However, I must say that I’m impressed with the creativity exercised to come up with VANITY as the motivation behind any distrust of our new government authorities rather than that old, worn-out “Antisemite” trope. Kudos to David Brooks for thinking it up. Great job on the spin, Davey, hugs and smooches, but you and your cronies still suck at maintaining a prosperous, peaceful nation.
Not a paradox:
Neither paradox nor exclusive to American life:
Isn’t the group to a great extent a reflection of its composition in individual people? One facet of this is culture and another is sectarian branches of some major world religions like Mormonism or Sufism.
It is at first glance helpful to allow for opinion pieces at major outlets until we learn that as with the internet, real critical thought is eventually smothered by a sea of hiveminded prolethink.
My bad for the mangled markup folks.
Not a paradox:
Neither paradox nor exclusive to American life:
Isn’t the group to a great extent a reflection of its composition in individual people? One facet of this is culture and another is sectarian branches of some major world religions like Mormonism or Sufism.
It is at first glance helpful to allow for opinion pieces at major outlets until we learn that as with the internet, real critical thought is eventually smothered by a sea of hiveminded prolethink.
(fixed)
Clytemnestra: Exactly what I was going to say but you beat me to it and stated it beautifully! All those years preaching rebellion against the establishement and clamoring for freedom of speech. Now the left has become the establishment and demands full loyalty and no dissenting opinion. Amazing!
what gets me is they don’t see the need to be skeptical of our “leaders”. that is certainly not a traditional American value
I would rather follow the dumbest redneck in the worst Mississippi trailer park than David Brooks.
HW
LOL, I’d rather follow an honest fool then any of our dishonest so called elite. Honest mistakes are just that and normally survivable, what the elite are doing to is something altogether different.
@ Fr John
The priests of the holy and apostolic church roman church have been throwing holy water at “them” for centuries. In the meantime the popes, the monarchs, and Europe’s non-jewish landed gentry were running to the jewish bankers for loans, tripping over themselves to get their share of gold.
They ran to the jewish bankers willingly and lovingly and knowing fully well what they were doing.
The same thing has been going on in America since it’s founding ( Andrew Jackson being an exception).
The issues we face trancends the jews.
The world is the way it because of everyone’s thinking and behavior, not just the jews.
All the holy water in the world never stopped the popes and all the European/American/Western big-shots with working willing and knowingly with the jewish big-shots bankers.
All the ‘holy water” in the world can’t cover that up.
All the holy water in the world never changed a goddamned thing about the whole set-up in the West.
George Burns was cool. So was Lauren Bacall. Quite a few others.
We all need to examine ourselves, our own group first and foremost, make some real attempts to change for the better, than being so quick to throw “holy water” or anything else at others.
Our christian leaders are just as culpable for the big mess in the country as any jew.
Go throw some holy water at the christian big shots, see how far you get.
@ Fr John
You may want to go to Br. Nathanael’s website, ” real jew news” and read my post under an article entitled, ” congress grovels before a jewish state” to get a better idea of the set-up in this country and how all of our leading big-shots are in collusion with one another. ( i posted under “Joe”, my name).
The talmud is part of the story, talmudic thinking is filtered through freemasonry.
The christians in the secret societies love what they learn in the secret societies.
One should learn about the talmud to get a better understanding of how we are ruled, that’s all, and for no other reason.
The great majority of jews don’t even know what the the talmud contains. They are just as indoctrinated and pushed around and herded around as we christians are.
Please tone down the anti jewish sentiment.
This is too funny not to put up somewhere. Obama speaks with George Clooney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9EtKC1GUJU&feature=relmfu
Joe, being a Jew means at its base that what is White and Christian is, in general, what is creepy and bad, or at the very least what is to be used. Does this make Jews bad or manipulated? It really doesn’t matter. It just means they are not “us” and will never be “us” and it’s to the detriment of everyone involved when we forget that.
If you don’t like the jewish agenda(communism) coming out of Washington, then go to your local churhe, and/or churches, and tell the “good” christian priests and ministers to stop supporting uncle sam’s communism– tell ’em to forsake 501c.
See how far you get.
Our leaders– from the group we call “us”– love the jewish agenda as much as the jews themselves.
@Fr John and @ Landshark
You can get more info about the topic of christian leadership at ” Henry Makow” website. google “henry makow”, his site will come up.
I posted under an article under “Why Do People Hate Jews” ( june 3,2012). The article can be found under “archives”.
Again, same name,”Joe”.
I know this will come as a surprise to sparky but there are small churches who do forsake the 501c. Hell there was one who refused to marry a mixed race couple. IIRC Chuck Baldwin was staring a black robe brigade to speak out on certain issues, but he isn’t a race realist.
there is more going on in the world then one sparky in CA knows about
I didn’t say anything about “Christians” Joe. We are in agreement on that. Tell us something we don’t know.
http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com
” The Shriners Dirty Secret”
see how deep the corruption truly is.
@Stonelifter
learn something new Bam-Bam
http://www.savitridevi.org/lightning-contents.html
http://www.zioncrimefactory.com
Please keep in mind that our christian leaders are very much a part of all this crime.
Please keep in mind that the reason we now know about all this, to a large degree, is because of honest jews who want no part of it. These honest jews are alot more benefit to us than our phony face christian government leaders and christian church leaders.