Charm. Desperation. Sensation. Patience. Mirrors.
Not many people know this, but I actually went to college thinking I was going to be a dentist. That idea lasted about half a semester. Mainly because making high school kids think they should know what they want to do with the rest of their lives is a cruel joke. Anyway, I am always scared walking into a dentist and have strong emotions about it, so I’d like to use that as a base to paint two scenarios:
Scenario 1- You go to your regular biannual cleaning appointment at the dentist, it’s a standard 20 minute procedure, but he finds a cavity, so proceeds to amend via a filling or crown. You leave annoyed because you had plans for lunch after but the needles and drilling killed your vibe.
Scenario 2- You wake up with excruciating tooth pain, run to the first available dentist (because yours is on his annual St Tropez holiday), he tells you he has to perform a double tooth extraction (to fund his own trip to St Tropez) otherwise you will suffer and eventually lose all your teeth. He proceeds to do it and numbs the pain with liver-damaging pain medication, then you praise him as the greatest of all time for taking you out of your misery. When you check back with your regular dentist, he explains you didn’t actually need that procedure and could have kept your teeth, but you don’t care because new guy was there for you when your dentist wasn’t.
New guy came into your life at a time of desperation and great pain, gave you what you thought you needed, was the only one there for you seeming to understand your agony, and so you put him on a pedestal and called him your hero, regardless of the long-term consequences of his actions. Your regular dentist had a normal life, solving normal problems, during normal times- your judgement was harder on him. Now this is a very simplified example (and maybe not a very good one), but imagine transferring those emotions to the political and economic landscape.
The word ‘hero‘ comes from the Greek word ‘hērōs‘ which means protector or defender. It is usually attached to concepts of honor, integrity, honesty and good. Structured storytelling necessarily matched it with a villain in order to represent the eternal struggle of good versus evil. That villain assumed traits like malice, arrogance, selfishness, and evil so that the hero didn’t have to. Over time, humans via movies, novels, theatre, and even historical narratives have been conditioned to seek a hero in the face of powerful evil characters. Hollywood amplified this with a constant stream of blockbuster superhero movies, which today are the highest grossing movie franchises of all time. This hero/villain dichotomy meant to represent good versus evil is the root of many problems and mass delusion.
Let’s elaborate. Is it really a coincidence that so many of the people in history considered “villains” first started out as a hero to their people? Think Hitler, Stalin, Saddam. Now these 3 are similar in many ways, but I think the most critical similarity was their charm. An ability to capture people with their words. Which also happens to be the con artist’s modus operandi. We may not think of them as charming men today, but many did at their time. Charm can be both admirable and dangerous. Charm excites and hypnotizes. It captivates and deceives. It impresses and oppresses. It’s an incredibly effective influential tool. So when an economy or country is simmering with dissatisfaction, charm becomes powerfully magnetic and electric. Like pouring water in a simmering pan of oil. Notice that all three of them represented the revolutionary political party of their time, the parties meant to overthrow the ‘oppressive status quo’- this is fertile ground for a hero to abound. Through their words, each of them was able to rise within the ranks of their respective parties by captivating their people. All appealed to (and emphasized) a deep insecurity and frustration within the people that then idolized them. All promised future greatness, implying present misplaced inferiority and the need for a hero to elevate them. They painted them a picture of desperation, and cast themselves as the courageous saviours and loving fathers.
Desperation calls for immediacy, which disregards proper diligence, and fuels the frantic search for courage and leadership. Desperation breaks down the foundations of order that we build within ourselves over our lifetimes, and introduces disorder whereby anything can attach to us. Like ripples that turn into crashing waves, charm can turn fragmented desperation into unified sensation, and the “hero” rides that wave of momentum to wherever he so chooses. Atrocities are overlooked for a while, and even justified. Actions that defy the original proposal are excused as human error, as small missteps within a long and honorable marathon. The individual feels like hope replaced despair, and for a small while it feels like a win. Until of course, time reveals the truth.
What people actually need in desperate times is a leader and lots of teamwork. Differentiating between the perception of a leader and hero is essential for how circumstances may develop. As mentioned, hero means defender and protector, a martyr of some sort. It creates an unhealthy dynamic of dependency between the hero and the people. This breeds dogmas, allegiances and blind spots, and de-emphasizes accountability. The hero gets a free pass on a lot of things- that is not usually the case with a leader. The word ‘leader‘ comes from the Old English word ‘lædan’ meaning to go before as a guide. Therefore, if you are mislead, you change your leader. If we go off track, we follow a different guide or pave our own path, until we find our way. Accountability is expected when evaluating a leader, this keeps the leaders in check, and people’s emotions in check too. The moment a leader transforms into a hero, people neglect rationality and are overcome with passion- remember heroes are subjective. Heroes and villains can be interchangeable, depending on the circumstance. The idea of a hero is also inherently divisive as its use to represent “good” in stories assumes an external evil, or villain. This can distract from true progress as people get caught up in an us-vs-them mentality and focus too much on attacking the villain.
It’s necessary to note that a hero is supported by lots of propaganda and marketing to emphasize and validate the desperate circumstance, depict the honorable traits of the saviour, and to differentiate him/her from the chosen villain. Since a hero is a construct made to represent all that is good, it requires curated optics and branding (because humans make mistakes). In today’s world, both traditional and social media are the new mediums of propaganda. Decentralizing social media does not necessarily end propaganda, because it still allows anyone today to capture the sentiment that would get them a following and play into that rhetoric. Social media is now every individual’s personal propaganda machine.
First, to be clear, I am not against the concept of a hero, my mother is mine. I think all good parents are heroes. As are teachers, doctors, and poodles.
It is great to recognize our personal heroes that protected us, inspired us, and are a force of good in our lives. It honors them and keeps them motivated. The danger comes when a mass of emotionally triggered, unrelated people in a desperate situation deem one person their hero and follow them blindly simply because the hero chants their purpose. I don’t think you should follow anyone blindly, let alone a stranger in a time of desperation, where opportunists and manipulators roam. There have been and will continue to be many heroes in life, and I think labeling them that should be done retrospectively, in order to avoid getting caught up in the irrational image of it built up by centuries of storytelling.
Many consider Satoshi Nakamoto a hero for introducing BTC and offering an alternative to the legacy financial system. Considering that Satoshi is anonymous, this is an interesting one to discuss. Satoshi does have the traits of a hero in many ways, the fact that *she* chose to be anonymous seems honorable, and deflects from the worry of an egomaniac taking over. She does however still hold 1,000,000 BTCs worth over $22B at the time of writing, and can possibly reappear and wreak havoc, but let us assume that will not happen. The beauty of what Satoshi did in my opinion was not just the genius of her whitepaper, nor the monetary revolution she invoked, but the way she introduced it to the world. The BTC whitepaper was released right in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis, a time of great desperation. Now, we mentioned that in such times people seek out a hero when they should seek leaders, but what we didn’t mention was how each individual should react at such a time. To me the answer seems to be obvious- patience. When you are bursting with emotion, what is the first thing you should do before taking action? Calm down. Everyone knows this and has experienced it, emotions clog your rational mind, so it is unwise to make decisions or take action when they are heightened. Additionally, in times of uncertainty, the right course of action is unclear, so you’re better off waiting a while to collect more data before reacting. This doesn’t mean you should miss out on all opportunities that come and require immediate action, it just means that you shouldn’t act under extreme emotions.
Satoshi quietly released a whitepaper, no marketing, no propaganda- she just posted it on a forum as a seed to be cultivated… or not. Patience was designed both into the adoption of BTC, as well as into the development of it. Because it wasn’t marketed, it took years for adoption to gain momentum. Because you can only introduce a new block of transactions every 10 minutes, it took years for the chain to develop- it was brilliant. Satoshi seems to be a true hero. Of course I say that with caution, as her anonymity leaves room for anything to happen and the hero/villain dichotomy can yet be fused. Calling her a hero also gives rise to what we’re seeing already in the crypto industry- BTC maximalism. Whereby only those words spoken by Satoshi and ideas put out by her matter, everything else is to be disregarded. This of course is a dogmatic approach, and probably is not how Satoshi intended the whitepaper to be interpreted. The fact that BTC inspired Ethereum and a whole world of crypto cannot and should not be disregarded, heroes are meant to defend liberty after all. I prefer calling Satoshi a genius or innovator, although she might actually be a hero.
The cool thing is that Hollywood actually understands this. In most of the superhero movies, the hero is depicted with human error and human emotions, similar to what any of us might experience. That is because the real hero is the audience, the real hero is you. That is why they keep introducing superheros with different racial and social backgrounds (cc. Ms Marvel and my awesome cousin), so that you the observer can relate. The point is to inspire and motivate you to become a hero to others in your life. Because we are all part of a whole, and protecting each other is protecting ourselves. The Greeks knew this too, their heroes represented humanity. That is why Odysseus suffered from his pride, while Hercules dealt with the repercussions of his impulsivity. So the next time you seek a hero, the next time you put someone on a pedestal, step up yourself and look into a mirror.
What you seek is seeking you.
Rumi
As people deal with the current uncertain sociopolitical landscape and decimation of the global markets, expect to see a lot of desperation. With that, auditions for the role of hero commence. My point in writing this post is to hopefully highlight the necessity of staying patient and rational amidst the desperation. Whether it be in the US, Europe, or my beloved Kuwait, many around the world are facing mass dissatisfaction, power shifts, and utter chaos. Do not get swept away in the upcoming auditions. Maintain clarity, evaluate patiently, choose love always. Love to all.
*I choose to consider Satoshi a “she” not because I believe it to be true, but because I can 🙂
Anwaar's Chronicles of Corona 