Yes. Some are worse than others. But the bottom line is this: there are no world leaders. There are simply people in positions of power who think they are important. In any country, once the system is in place, one that can glorify some individual, then you can be pretty sure some obnoxious self-centered a-hole is in the top position or will be soon.
What these “leaders” do is determined by their egos and what they can actually get away with.
As I write this, Xi and Putin are parading around, posing as powerful allies and claiming they are working to bring stability to the world while the West (they say) threatens to destabilize it. They are actually saying that Putin — who is threatening to invade Ukraine — is some kind of hero of stability.
What these clowns care about are their own ridiculous selves. Look at Boris Johnson dancing around trying to hold on to his office. Actually sort of apologizing. (Politicians hate to apologize!) And what about Putin, who has those who challenges him poisoned or killed or tortured?
These so-called leaders are boastful people, blustering people. And scared people.
Biden, of course, has a different circumstance and he’s a genuinely more empathetic human being. But, he rose to power in the United States, which elevates people who take corporate money and who play ball with the ultra-wealthy. He probably wants — somewhat — to help people. But he’s pragmatic and instead continues to compromise on things, like selling drilling rights on public lands — so oil companies can make a killing while killing all of our grandchildren.
Even the big shot billionaires who get attention (like Elon Musk) or try to keep a low profile (like Koch) are really nothing much. Whatever else they do, they are still mostly out for themselves. But their self-interest in unenlightened. Because they are smart enough to understand that they are corrupting governments, glorifying themselves, and either letting the planet be destroyed by fossil fuels or actually speeding that process. The children and grandchildren of billionaires will be subjected to the same conditions of a hostile Earth as everyone else’s.
Billionaires aren’t geniuses. They are, at best, clever morons.
We need to open our eyes. What we focus on, where we put our attention matters. It’s time to forget about “leaders” and billionaires and start focusing on looking after one another, and saving the Earth. Starve the useless leaders of attention. Starve crazy and cruel people (often ordinary people who support awful leaders and awful system) of attention. Let them keep each other company.
This frees us up to be better people. To focus on fixing things, to try to do something better. Maybe contribute to the collapse of bad leaders and bad systems by our nonsupport. Because, really, what can any of those “powerful” clowns do on their own? Without ordinary people doing pretty much everything for them, they are helpless babies.
The power is all ours. Scientists and engineers figure things out and have the talent to implement them. So do doctors and medical researchers. So do cooks and waiters. So do YOU.
We DO things. WE have the power. Ignore the men behind the curtain, except maybe to pull the curtain back and expose the pathetic impotent men behind it. We are the people who ACT. Time to stop following orders, to stop propping up the status quo, and time to stop letting others frame the issues and set limits on discussion.
Think. Decide. Act. Try things and when they don’t work, try something else. Make the world a better place. It’s OUR world. It doesn’t belong to a few thousand self-centered fools who think they own it. It’s ours.
