Author: Johnathan Breckenridge

Williamson article discusses the evolving aspects of leaders in the 21st century. In the professional world, things and ideas are rapidly changing and improving. Williamson provided six themes of leadership. The first one I found interesting which was “Leadership is no longer the exclusive domain of the ‘boss at the top’. This idea that anybody can lead from within a group is a core feature of a democracy.

I think the most important aspect that Williamson covers is that a leader must bring out the best in everyone. As a leader if if your followers do not feel a sense of self worth then nothing else really matters. In theory you can be an effective but demeaning leader. However, the most effective leaders that Williamson discusses exerts some form of effort to ensure that their followers feel valued.

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Allison Archer covers an interesting relationship between the media and politicians. This relationship has always been interesting to me. It is as if the media sometimes plays the devil’s advocate. They push and poke at politicians to make quick decisions. This many times results in a frustrated politician. However, after reading this article I began to realize that the media is essential.

In the United Sates today politics are very polarized. Although the media contributes to this, the information is more important. The media having a love/hate relationship with politicians is essential to the people of the US. If it were not for the media, we would not be able to say…determine who the best candidate is for a position. The aggressive media can sometimes be the best as it forces politicians to think.

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In the US I feel that we talk about the civil war and the world war’s much more than the Vietnam. This is odd to me because the Vietnam war was a pretty catastrophe heavy war. In the video I got a sense of the social movements that took place during the war. The anti-protest’s against the war spilled over into much grander issues in the United States. The “unjustness” of the draft caused issues within the United States to be highlighted.

The Civil Rights inequalities was one of the major issues. I feel like the Civil Rights Movement and leaders became stronger because of this. If the African Americans in the US were not being treated fairly, then why should they serve this country? I think the intersection of different movements here is neat. The anti-draft and Civil Rights movements fed off of each other for their arguments. Both groups provided more reasons not to go to war, and not to follow the leader-the United States.

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Last evening I went to hear Michelle Norris talk about her project-The Race Card Project. This began as a simple exercise of just defining race in six words. Now it serves as a platform for people around the world to talk about race. During the talk she showed us daily work that she does as she goes through the archives of responses. One thing I noticed was that every card made me feel a different way. The fact that she lets people’s cards to be seen by others is an important aspect to her project.

Her process of beginning a social experiment/exercise was a cool aspect to me. It was a first hand example of a social experiment and how to apply it. She grouped the different responses into categories. Although this is a sensitive topic to discuss she included racist cards as well. I think the inclusion of these cards is almost a reverse way of getting her point across. She talked about although we think one way, it is important to understand that people think differently than us, but understanding the reason they think that way is where people should look.

 

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Anthropologist, Dr Hirsch talked on the International Criminal Court. She talked about how the ICC is a global type of security. This was interesting to see leadership at a global level. Those who sign the preamble are responsible to the ICC to help prevent things like genocide. The overall purpose of the ICC is to be a safety net and alliance for countries incase a (member) country cannot handle a global threat. Hirsch talked a good bit about the resistance to the ICC, particularly the United States. The main reason for resistance is military concern. An important system of leadership within the US.

This resistance from the United States has been seen recently as well. The US is beginning to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. In recent history, the US has been a leader globally. As Hirsch talked I began to wonder if the US can maintain that dominance if they are critics or unwilling to agree globally. The US obviously is not in the ICC along with countries like China, Libya, Iraq, and Qatar.

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The lottery passage was very intriguing as I compared it to society in the United States. A lottery is something that is used to strip any social prestige. I think it is an effective way of randomly selecting people. As the people in that community understood their tradition of the lottery I think you can compare that to the draft in the United States. As US citizens we understand the obligation we serve to our country if we are selected. It is a very democratic practice if done fairly.

The Omelas are unique people and quite honestly I think it would be very interesting to live in their society. The Omelas are people who are obviously a tight nit group of people. Through their own culture and rules they have achieved happiness. In this society it is clear that everyone has their own duties to the community to make it function. This was a common theme I found in both passages. They both analyzed how the followers of a community do their part.

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This reading was very intriguing as it looks at multiple other factors that possibly went into the decision to free slaves. The revolting aspect is the most intriguing aspect to me. At some point one group of people will lose control over the other as it grows. The thought of a civil war led by those who were enslaved is very practical. Furthermore, this would completely reshape how America would be built.

This idea is somewhat reverse of machiavelli’s fear of the leader. The uprise of the slaves was the concern. Along with Nat Turner’s rebellion were many others. One revolt often overlooked is the one led by Newton Knight in Mississippi. Newton is also a distant cousin of mine that my grandfather has personal journals from. In many of those journals, he talked very optimistic about the slave rebellions and how they were soon to become liberated through rebellion.

 

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This lecture covered the process in which feminist have fought for equality in Virginia. She began by explaining the long history of patriarchy and the control that white men had. Shockley emphasized that feminist were not only fighting in the north but in the south regions in the United States. However, with the amount of money that white men and anti-feminist organizations had it was a struggle in the south. The changes she explains came from within Virginia, not from a federal level.

These feminist started to organize marches on the Equal Rights Amendment, reproductive rights, and violence against women. However they ran into problems and conflicts amongst one another. Looking radical or not when addressing legislature was a key argument as many women believed that they appeared too radical. This was the same issue in the civil rights movement (MLK vs. Malcom X). Furthermore, they were not one cohesive group. The process in which they became a cohesive group within Virgina was a process. This process took years as the discussed many of the conflicts at general assemblies. This process compliments the idea of servant leaders as many of the women that came to power in this process were servant leaders.

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This reading gave me another viewpoint to look at the foundation of America. While I do not think it is to the same degree today, the wealth in America is the primary causation of any political or social change. This article shows that the poor have been working for the wealthy’s good. However, the wealthy get the most benefit out of it. For example, the mechanics who tried to promote a genuine democracy.

Fighting for a true democracy has been a goal of the middle and lower class Americans for years. All across the world countries are run by some form of patriarchy. With a patriarchy comes different degrees of power. Is it possible to have a true democracy in hand with a patriarchal system of power? I don’t believe that it is 100% attainable. One can come close to balancing the powers, however with some form of unequal power there will always be so much “the people” of the country can influence.

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Miller talks about two different inequalities right off the bat. I think this is a really unnoticed idea in todays society. With temporary inequality we look at it as generally a positive thing. For example, parents raising children and teaching them manners. Permanent inequality is based off uncontrollable characteristics such as race. However, many times society is so polarized I feel we can not make the distinction between temporary and permanent inequality.

Finding that distinction is very crucial. For example, a teacher can be teaching a kid that he or she is already inferior. When the two inequalities intersect, I think it can lead into mass permanent inequality. These kinds of inequalities are hard to find as they are done in a covered up way. Distinguishing between healthy temporary leadership and unhealthy permanent leadership is important to stay clear of possible tyrannicide and dictatorship. These articles made me wonder if we have all been under permanent inequality, but we just do not know how?

 

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Transactional and Transformational leadership are two of the forefront ways of leading. Transactional leadership is relevant very much every four years. The elections are prime examples of Transactional leadership. The candidate is promising things that he/she will do in hopes of a vote in return. Many times politicians are scrutinized for making these promises and not following through with them. In our democracy it’s all about just getting into office it seems like.

Transformational leadership is one that I am more familiar with. Becoming a captain on a sports team is a great example. The captain leads the team, however they will be held accountable by the rest of the team. When the captain grows, the team grows. The concept of accountability is then created within the team.

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Humility is an interesting characteristic when talking about leaders. Ruscio points out that in todays society humility is often forgotten as leaders should be confident and bold. Showing humility as a leader can be the most effective approach to convey your ideas. Humility helps connect the leader with the followers and vice versa. One of MLK’s most essential attributes was that he was humble. The words and imagery that come to mind when I think about him are quite humble. The first image that comes to mind is him writing his Letter from Birmingham Jail.

The example of George Washington addressing his soldiers is a great example to portray what humility can accomplish for a leader. First, it is very effective because Washington was a pioneer in the founding of America. He used the stage that he was on to establish a very important relationship with people he never even personally met through his humility. Second, it is very effective simply due to the fact that humility is one of the hardest attributes to have while being a militaristic leader. However, his humility made him that much more of an effective leader in the war.

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This video is applicable in many ways today. The biggest theme I think is perception. In a society of so many unknowns, how do we really know what is true or right? This relates to a theme we covered in 102 about questioning authority. There becomes a time in which that the community must hold authority accountable to keep them true. If the community does not then what we all know will be false.

The prisoner who escaped out of the cave was a leader in that community. He took a step that nobody had done before which is charismatic. However, he became more of a leader once he went back to the other prisoners. He endured the burden by knowing these prisoners were seeing something that was not true. As a leader I believe you run the risk of carrying that burden of a community.

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To be chosen by God to be a king, or to be the voice of God is a pretty far fetched idea. However, I find that it was rather common in earlier times when the church and state were not separate. Both Charles I and James established that they were an extension of God. This is a red flag when it comes to tyrannicide. This is not necessarily true in the church, but when a king has these ideals.

Charles I was truly a Tyrant. His ideals with God, and the manipulation he used to try and create a civil war. In addition he was using this to his own benefit. The speech he made before his execution ran along the lines of a narcissist. Narcissism and tyrannicide go hand in hand. With one you usually find the other.

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Tyrannicide is an interesting topic to discuss in the United States in the year 2019. With all the security around the highest position of power in the Country, the president, I would never think of the President being killed. This is just the most “cliche” scenario for Americans as we all know it can happen on many different levels of a contemporary patriarchy. The David George article revealed how natural Tyrannicide is and how countries have been established on this ideology. This is a topic today, particularly in the United States, that is not discussed very much today but is an event that can take place.

The article by Andrade informs of a more recent view on Tyrannicide. While killing a Tyrant is always controversial, if it benefits the country or society as a whole it makes sense. Whether or not it will work is not guaranteed to succeed. As Sammy mentioned in is post about the killing of Saddam Hussein it can result in arguably a worse scenario. All in all, it is a concept that humans have lived off of for hundreds of years. There is something to note about Tyrannicide if it still a prevalent topic in todays society.

 

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Charisma described in these articles helps with the understanding of the rise of some leaders and others not so much. A recent example is our President Donald Trump. Trump utilizes emotional expressiveness quite well due to the rhetoric he uses. He is very straight forward and simple which appeals to many people. Another example of Trumps charismatic leadership is his speeches at his rallies. His choice of words during those have been criticized by many, however the crowd was responding positively to his speeches so therefore Trump decided to use rhetoric that not many presidents have ever used.

Contrary, President Trump does not fit some of the characteristics of a charismatic leader. As tapes were released of Trump talking about women during the election, his first impression as a presidential candidate were not great. He was judged as credible or honest. Donald Trump is an iterating leader to look at in this aspect. There have been claims that he is similar to Hitler, and others comparing him to Ronald Regan.

Micah Breckenridge

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Hero Josh Hamilton

Leader-Ghandi

Micah Breckenridge

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