Previously we had examined the leader along with their personality traits and varying ways of influencing the people that they lead. In the video and readings for today, we examined more of the follower and the relationship between them and their leaders. We begin to see the ways that the followers influence their leaders just as the leaders influence their followers.
We see in the allegory of the cave video that reality in only a perception, a point of view, merely the way we look at society. The people in the cave know nothing but the shadows and the noise they here, with they perceive are coming from these shadows on the wall. When they are finally released, their eyes are hurt by the fire and everything that they think they know is completely undermined. Would it be better for them to live with the shadows being their only reality and be content or be hurt with the realization of reality? This is the question we must ask which brings us back to the relationship between the leader and the follower. It is an interesting concept to me where the leader chooses to share and have a relationship with their followers and where they choose to lead and keep things to themselves in order to attempt to better society.
It is really interesting to think about how if cavemen only sat with the ideas in their head and not reality what would it be like. This leads me to the idea of, what is it really like in the real world because I sometimes feel like I am living in a conceptualized surrounding and if I “woke up” what would I learn about my surroundings.
I think it would be better if they were released. but it is very interesting how our perception of life heavily influences how we interact with people around us. especially if, like the freed prisoner, you were to experience something radically different than are forced back into the society in which we once lived. It would be life altering and the people around us based on their perspective of life might think you were crazy.
I believe leaders and followers have a dependent relationship on each other. They need each other to fufill their roles. I like your question about bringing knowledge to people. I think it is important to bring knowledge.
This post reminded me of what Dr. Bezio said on the first day of class: “There is no such thing as objectivity.” What a person experiences and how they experience it is unique to that single person, and the Allegory of the Cave makes this clear. This also proves that perception is the only thing that really matters.
I think that in American society we value transparency and feel angry when we believe that our leaders are keeping things from us, but you are right. It is the job of the leader to filter information to the general public. If I knew everything currently happening with the American military, I would probably freak out, showing that having a tell-all policy is dangerous to public mentality.