The readings for this week talk about the construction of the figure of the leader that works on the beliefs of the people in order to gain power. Machiavelli proposes that autocratic regimes are founded with a leader –prince- that creates the spectacle of power through discourse and under the figure of a strength that does not fear the opposition to its regime. In this way, we can relate to the figure of the dictator as someone that is feared and that will have the power to handle what the country needs; “The answer is of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.” This resembles the figure of what in Latin America was the phenomenon of caudillismo that was a precedent for the instauration of dictatorships and that constituted the leader capable to apply “mano dura”. We can see examples of this in the figure of Fujimori and now Bolsonaro.
Elizabeth Kolbert’s article also highlights how social interaction is what shapes our reasoning. Through these thinking systems people, for example, tend to just pay attention to the information that reaffirms their beliefs, and rejects what is contrary to their train of thought. Because of this “confirmation bias” people tend then to only listen to what satisfies the opinions they have already formed; “confirmation bias leads people to dismiss evidence of new or underappreciated threats.” Part of this system is also about relying in someone’s expertise without real verification, but only for the process of socialization. This construction of beliefs then would have more repercussion in politics when “community of knowledge” that does not really manage information become dangerous.
Charles Blow’s article exemplifies these ideas with the figure of Trump and how he transcends as a figure of the “folk leader”- very much what in Latin American is known as “el caudillo”. One important thing in the reading is how in front of the folk leader people abandon their beliefs and blindly believe in the spectacle of power. For example, we saw many white women voting for Trump in spite of the sexual assault scandals around him. In this way; “Behavior that people would never condone in their personal lives, they relish in the folk hero.” As the author says, his lying and sexism don’t damage his persona, but rather add a different dimension to his figure as the outcast, fighter of the establishment and hero. Similarly, in Peru, the dictator Fujimori constructed his persona as the savior and the only powerful one to fight terrorism. For this reason, people condoned the human rights crimes he committed, and elected him for president three times.