Done with delusion of ‘strongman’?

In the 2015 Ukrainian TV show Servant of the People available on YouTube the lead character Vasiliy who teaches history in high school breaks into a rant before an electionmdashfirstly about how people think maths is great but history is shitThis is why Vasiliy says we repeat history There is a grain of truth there when you consider how we might be among the first generation of global leaders with no practical experience of WWII likewise the Partition in India for that matterThe personally lived horrors of both wouldrsquove restrained politicians who took on leadership positions in the decades right thereafter No such frightening memories anymore apparently Surely the citizens must know betterBut Vasiliyrsquos rant is more specifically about how voters repeatedly elect the same kinda political leadersmdashldquoall they know is divide people and multiply their wealthrdquo A fellow casually recording this rant on the phone posts it onlineIt goes viral So much so that lay Ukrainians decide to crowdfund history teacher Vasiliyrsquos nomination for national elections Literally overnight Vasiliy played by actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy becomes the President of UkraineIn a popculture meta moment with no parallels in history this TV show itselfmdashmainly about the comical pageantry of being lsquopresidentialrsquo also that rant video withinmdashconvinced people so much that they in fact elected produceractor Zelenskyy 41 with no political experience as the actual President of Ukraine in 2019When this happened I remember friends laughing about how a standup comedian top artiste in my books had become head of state in Ukraine As against what sort of leader you may askThe serious lsquostrongman leaderrsquo I guess That millions across geographies seem to prefer The sorts usually 70 and plusmdashwith fragile male egos to match potential physiquemdasha snarl on their face perennially trying to look like theyrsquore in command incessantly roaring to pose as the lsquostrongmanrsquoExcept a modern governmentrsquos job would be to ensure an equitable and just implementationdistribution of law and opportunities That future generations could outsource to Artificial Intelligencemdashdevoid of lsquogeostrategicrsquo jargon blind to bigotrymdashand perhaps realise better results Strongmen leaders take lsquotough decisionsrsquo apparently Only that they hide behind layers after layers of security cover fully bulletproof Who are these lsquotough callsrsquo directed against anywayBy their actions and silence sometimes they expose in particular the young on the streets putting their futurelives at stake to injure kill or get killed often in the strongmanrsquos name Endangering unsuspecting citizens overall as if everything was some sorta video game people merely collateral damageVladimir Putin 69plus exKGB and the Ukrainian former standup comedian Zelenskyyrsquos Russian counterpart would qualify as lsquostrongmanrsquo leader As do several across the globe Itrsquos a thingmdashthis fascination for men with God complex Some of whom donrsquot looktalk thus which is marginally betterFor thatrsquos a sign of civilization anyway that you at least pretend to do the right thing rather than scarily claim to be unhinged altogether Empathy is all one may look for in a leadermdashbe that the office boss or the school teacherprincipal Other skills can presumably be learntAs Jon Ronsonrsquos journalistically proves in his book The Psychopath Test the opposite is the case More top leaders than yoursquod imagine across the spectrum actually pass the psychopathrsquos test starting with an inherent absence of empathy of courseMaybe just maybe from this complete lack of empathymdashmistaking meanness for honesty expressing hate in bulk as braverymdashemerge people who are plainly evil UnsureOr as the African proverb puts it mildly ldquoThe child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmthrdquo Who knows wersquore mentally trained to ascribe motives to all crimes and an insatiable greed for unbridled power to certain leadersSome could place nuclear weapons on highalert or standby as Putin did As he went to war against Ukrainemdashexcept that he didnrsquot He sat home Like all leaders doWars are inevitably about feisty old men talking and unrelated young men dying isnrsquot it All Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 have been forced to stay within the country sincemdashto fire rifles handed to them hit the road learn to make Molotov cocktails and fight their Russian lsquocousinsrsquoItrsquos definitely not what they dreamt ofmdasha better professionalpersonallove life is what might have constituted their reverie now that they had even survived the goddamn virusItrsquos time to survive humans This is the big news from Central Europe Similar episodes from North Africa or the Middle East arenrsquot as much The entire Afghan government under the protection of Americans fled the very second the Taliban took control of KabulOf course situations are differentmdashstandup comic Prez Zelenskyy a rare head of state at least pretended to be in the war stayed put with his helmet on shoulder to shoulder with his compatriotsturnedsoldiers against Putinrsquos armyThe singular fear is that among everything wersquove come to accept as the lsquonew normalrsquo this isnrsquot yet another Or will it portend the end of a fascination for delusional lsquostrongmen leadersrsquomdashexamining the price of their power No clue Sorry for this rant thoughmdashcanrsquot help noMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper