"Say, do we love him?" my wife asked me as we watched which MK speak on which panel. "No," I replied nonchalantly. "But you know him personally!" she said. "That's right, that's why we don't like him," I replied. We went to see Disney's Aladdin. When Aladdin enters the city as a prince, the Genie introduces him in a song to please the masses of the kingdom: he is as strong as ten men, he sent a hundred thugs to meet the Creator, he has golden camels and many animals, and he is handsome.
The genie's ruse works, even the king falls under spell. Only the princess and Jafar are not enthusiastic about the procession. "Do we like Aladdin?" I ask myself, after all, only fifteen minutes ago he was a wanted criminal in the Agraba market. Can some beautiful clothes and stories build a prince? In the end, Aladdin becomes a real prince, and there are fireworks and happy ends. And of course, no one asks what Aladdin's tax policy was, or what his social or security doctrine was. He took the princess for a ride on the flying carpet, and that should be enough for us to accept him as a leader. We went back to see the news and Olmert was there. We didn't want to be the princess being taken for a ride, so we turned off the TV.
We tend to attribute human emotions to politicians and other celebrities because we project from our immediate surroundings onto the television screen. Millions of years of evolution have not prepared us to treat politicians any differently from the tribal chief of yesteryear. For most of human existence in the tribal period, even if there was a hierarchy, there was a certain symmetry: we will listen and love the head of the family, and he will take care of us and feed and love us back.
But the TV is not symmetrical. If we love the politician, it does not mean that he loves us. And while it's hard for us to admit it, our relationship with leaders is different. We give them votes, and they are supposed to give us policies in return.
A well-known American saying goes, "Never meet your heroes," never meet your heroes. The reason is that you will always be disappointed. Because heroes, and this of course refers to politicians who are keyboard and screen heroes, are terribly mediocre, cynical and self-interested people, and in democracies they are merely the result of the vectors acting on them.
Michael Berry, Wall Street's famous prophet of doom, predicted the 2008 crisis. Those who listened to him then, benefited. The rest of the world went into recession, and he became famous in the movie "The Money Machine". A few months ago, he predicted another collapse. Since then, the market has risen by several tens of percent, and he and his customers and fans have probably lost many billions.
Heroes, and I mean, of course, politicians who are keyboard and screen heroes, are terribly mediocre, cynical and self-interested people, and in democracies they are merely the result of the vectors acting on them
I chose something far away for example, because it's not a specific column against some former champion, senior professor or omniscient panelists. The problem lies in the principle of falling in love with politicians and leaders, not in a political indictment of any of them.
People love prophets of wrath, especially in the shadow of the terrible Holocaust that befell us, but these prophets were wrong about many other things, and the policies they propose do not look at the heavy costs. All the people who interpret the war for us, from the Knesset stage or from the air-conditioned studios, are certainly more wrong than they are.
Israel needs far less leadership, keyboard heroism and commentary, and more real policy discourse. Those who promise us outrage, hope or leadership turn out to be salespeople. Leadership is not a commodity, and love of the masses is not a passing currency for the merchant. Israel needs economic, social, and military policies, which must be discussed and debated in research institutes, the Knesset, academia, and parliaments in the (no less important) cafes. The extent of our love or loathing for leaders is irrelevant. When we decide what policy we want, we can choose representatives to implement it. Not the other way around.
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