I found these readings to be really timely given the climate strike taking place on Friday. I think people today frequently forget that individual and community actions can go farther than they think. We have come to rely so heavily on our leaders to create change for us when that simply is not always going to be the most effective way to get things done. It is important that we remeber to take it upon ourselves to create change. In terms of the environmental movement, it feels like people often rely on the President and Congress to make changes to improve the health of our environment, but forget that their actions, even if they are small, will accrue and can cause change. With the political gridlock we have in D.C. it is unlikely for serious changes to be made, especially considering that there has been no environmental legislation passed since 1990, unless we demand it. We need to take responsibility for our earth and each do what we can to help save the planet. We all need to be advocates for the movements like this that we believe in.
It was also interesting to read the “Leader’s and Followers” section during a time where the U.S. is so politically polarized. The Trump Administration is incredibly controversial and people that do not agree with his politics can feel helpless or powerless. It is important to remebers that followers do not need to be submissive to the whims of their leaders and have more power than they believe. The President is still deeply influenced by the wants and needs of the people he leads. Even if Trump has a political ideology opposite yours, we still have the ability to influence his decision making by demonstrating our expectations and demanding action.
Finally The Allegory of the Cave was interesting to learn about during a time when people are asking for so much change. It illustrated to me that we can not accept the world as it is, but instead strive for something better. Though we will never live in a perfect world we can always be making progress. We should not just sit back and accept the problems that we see in the world but actually get up and do something about them and prove that the world can be better.
One sad misconception that the majority of Americans accept is that one vote would not make a difference and that “prominent” leaders must be the ones to envelop actual change within communities.
I do not agree that the President is influenced by the desires of the people he leads. I believe he is influenced by his peers, those who are just like him and share the same values and beliefs (group mentality). Therefore, I believe Trump was put at the forefront as President as a symbol, not necessarily as a leader. This relates back to one of the readings where it mentions how Americans tend to associate a “position of leadership” with leadership itself. In reality, one could hold the title of “president” without implementing effective leadership.
I think your comparison of the reading to our current political climate is really good! On many issues it seems like we are waiting for leaders to solve the issue like the Type I case in Making of a Citizen, where a doctor just gives a patient medicine for a disease. However, most of the problems we have (climate change) require actions from both leaders and citizens. If we want change, people have to take individual responsibility and stop waiting for leaders to fix it.