Friday, June 8, 2018

Loving Our Leaders?

'Loving our leaders' is not a condition with which we are much afflicted in Australia. For the most part, they are regarded somewhere below used-car salespersons and paedophiles.

We might aspire to admiring our leaders, or respecting our leaders - should they earn such admiration and respect. But 'loving' them? I don't think so.

No matter how worthy of respect and admiration a leader might be, loving them seems an inappropriate response. Somewhat sycophantic. Somewhat blind. We are told, after all, that love is blind. Love or devotion to a leader strikes me as a kind of secular idolatry. Sometimes not so secular. The kind of language that some people use with respect to their political leader(s) borders disturbingly on religious fervour, which is not something I admire even when directed towards a divine being, let alone an earthly one.

However inspiring our leaders might be (we wish!) 'loving' them strikes me as a kind of pathology. Sure, love them, if, you know, you love everyone - yada yada yada. Love them in the abstract, if you wish, as you might love humanity - yada yada yada. But singling them out for some special kind of devotion? Spare me!

1 comment: