ABC Of World Leadership

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 12 November 2024 ABC Of World Leadership: Aggressive, Belligerent/Bellicose, Combative Leadership Which Is So Palpable Across The World Political Spectrum. Today, We've Leaders Like The Erstwhile War-Mongers Henry Kissinger (He Got The Nobel For Peace In 1973!) And Bush Sr/Jr. Mentioning Their Names Is Of No Use. Why Are These Leaders So Fond Of Aggression And Violence? "Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I'd like to see you living in better conditions." Persian mystic Hafiz Shirazi was spot-on while describing and downplaying fear. Fear is the root of all evils. Sociologists and philosophers like Auguste Comte, Pierre Bourdieu and Talcott Parsons believed that because of the hoary-old ingrained fearfulness of mankind, we're so violent and negatively reactive. A fearful existence is a throwback to our cave-dwelling past when neo-humans and neanderthals, living in precarious conditions, resorted to violence to eliminate their perceived enemies. The same inveterate fearfulness in humans has percolated down to the deep-seated belligerence of mankind, not just of a few world leaders. We still wage wars and accumulate ammunition, however sophisticated they may be, just to defeat our (modern) enemies. The lingering fear or apprehension that if we don't attack or become aggressive, the 'opponent ' will overcome us. So, having recourse to pre-emptive aggression, stemmed out of atavistic fear, has become our destiny and primal nature. We fallaciously believe out of fear that violence or aggression could be our only way of survival on earth. This makes us resist and resent love and pacifism, mankind's binding glue. It's fear that gave birth to all sorts of superstitions and shenanigans. The unfounded fear created gods, devils, fairies, angels, religions and what not. We're hoist with our own petard, having concocted all these things out of deep fear and now we've become slaves to them. Only when the mind is completely fearless, can humanity surge and stride ahead. Until then, it stays at the mofussil or pre-historic level. Remember the famous words, " We're impaled on a spear/ My dear, it's known as fear. " All these leaders who're fomenting unrest and dissent all over the world are actually fearful people. Their aggression is a facade. It's a front. A columnist in a French daily analysed Benjamin Netanyahu's aggression as a pre-emptive stance to hide his fear. Fear and uncertainty often create a violent streak in an individual. The leader becomes a despot and tries to suppress what he perceives as a threat to his existence. Violence is always an existential need for a morally weak and fearful leader. This is obvious in India. Though there's no denying the fact that these leaders are particularly aggressive and violent, humans in general have also been belligerent in all ages. Violence and aggression are in our DNA. I remember reading somewhere a historian's estimation that, in the past 3500 or so years of human history, we had seen only 268 years in which no major armed conflicts were known to have been fought around the world. This is only 8 % of recorded history. Only thing is, that estimation didn't include any details of specific years. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/abc-world-leadership/d/133685 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism