I've always held that politicians/leaders and people in celebrity culture are kind of modern, secular versions of gods and goddesses. It's sort of the product of social/intellectual evolution and humanity's relatively newfound large-scale awareness (conscious or not) of the contradictory (if not illusionary) nature of belief in the supernatural gods we created. In a way, we all kind of subconsciously know there's no gods waiting to swoop in and create a magical utopia where everyone is in perfect agreement and perpetual bliss. Events like the American slave trade, the Holocaust, modern wars and conflicts are all resolved by people working together to end these horrible events. Natural disaster victims find relief not from divine intervention, but from relief groups feuled by the money and efforts of fellow human beings. Diseases are cured most readily by modern medicine, and fewer and fewer people rely solely (if at all) on the hopes of divine intervention to cure themselves or their loved ones.
In general, human society is moving away from rhetoric (via religious myths) and into action (via science and active society building) to solve or find relief from the problems we face. But still a certain part of all of us (to one extent or another) want to believe that there's some magical person who will come and create that perfect utopia (which is usually based on a very selfish, personal idea of what "the perfect world" should be). As a whole, we almost deify certain people who attain certain levels of power. In today's society, populatiry/fame/celebrity is probably the closest thing we have to a "real life version" of mythological gods (and I include the Abrahmaic myth in there, too) we've been accustomed to over the course of human existence.
There are good/positive celebrities out there, just like there are good and bad gods in mythology[from here on out I'm using 'celebrities' to refer to peopel who have a large audience, be they musicians, politicians, bankers...whomever has celebrity and can sway large amounts of opinions].
Some celebrities we look to for hope (like we do with certain presidents and politicians). When we get what we want from them, we celebrate them. When we see them as failing us, we crucify them (sometimes rightly, sometimes not). But in there somewhere, we expect them to do more for us then we expect from ourselves.
Some celebrities, we create strictly to hate. Maybe its the trashy reality show stars we all love to hate. Other times, we let people we know have a flawed messege become famous because we know (even if just subconsciously) we can watch them fall hard in a very public way (for example, that KONY 2012 guy..... 'member him?).
Any whichh way, we try to build certain people up to be bigger than us and we put an expectation on them that they're going to make the world better for us all by making that one movie, or writing that one poignant joke, or that one vaguely metaphorical song about curing AIDS or something. Someone who can start that one big movement, that fizzles out because it took more than a month of marching to advance the cause of overthrowing a deeply entrenched institution (be it Wall Street or whatever. OWS is an obvious target, but not the only one here).
That one big movement. That REVOLUTION. It seems like people always want that one big, Revelations-style apocolyptic dethroning of some (subjective, personally-inclined) evil, whose aftermath results in the messianic figure restoring the world to its perfect, pure glory (which never really existed in the first place).
That big march that people hope makes the powers-that-be say "Hey, wait a minute...". That one big public gesture lead by that one bigger than life figure (whose only as human as any of their followers).
Those masterful innovations that solves all of our problems, be they environmental or social or economic...so on and so forth.
But, just like mythological gods and apocolypses and paradises, none of those things ever really materialize. What we're left with is us. All of us. All of us and our ability to reason, use logic, use our abilities, and use our resources and innovations to ultimately be our own salvation. History shows all of your favourite modern-day saints have skeletons in their closet. In our current social media age, no one can honestly claim to be perfectly clean on even the most trivial level. Creating those pious, messianic figures is impossible today. (I think that's a good thing, by the way)
This all leads into the "meat" of what I want to really say with this blog entry: it's up to us, and "the revolution" (that movement that allows for the group you identify with to have a safe space) is something tat has to happen through the efforts of everybody. It happens at every parent-teacher conference. Every local vote and election. Who's choosing the people who teach your kids? Who's the person in the uniform protecting and serving your neighbourhood? Do you know them? Do they know you? Do the people you vote into office (local or otherwise) talk to you in vague jargon and platitudes, or do they really explain to you what their plans are? Do they regularly keep you informed on the progress of those plans? Do you even agree with those plans? Do your neighbours? Are you all willing to organize a conference withh those leaders to express you interest/issues in/with those plans?
In the end it's about finding the perfect-but-never-fully-perfect way to "fix the house" so that everyone living in the house has the room closest to what they want or dream of, with common amenities/utilities that adequately and safely serve everybody living there. To "fix the house" a few walls might have to be taken out (like, maybe, the Electoral College mode of electing president) to make everything work right with the new, improved structure and all its inhabitants. Those rotten beams (say, for example, institutional/systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) might need to be replaced with something better and more structurally sound. Maybe you want to replace old materials with newer, longer lasting materials made from safer, more efficent products (obvious metaphorical weight on the environmental policy side of things there, but this metaphor could extend to things like monetary policy too).
But at the end of the day, all said and done, it takes everyone being involved to work and communicate to properly and effectively fix/remake that house. The architect. The people who want their rooms and utilities/amenities a certain way. The workers who put the plan in motion and the foreman/forewoman who keeps them on task. The manufacturers of the materials used.
There's never that one person who shows up and does all of the work and makes the perfect house while everyone else involved stays home. It takes active participation on everybodys part to get it right. And it takes honesty and acceptance of one's role, too. If your nephew can't hit a nail, don't hire him for the construction crew. If you don't know what you want in terms of lay-out, don't try to force yourself on the design team just because it pays better or gives you more public exposure.
Some pop-culture activists kind of fall into this trap. The fame, the exposure, the money.... if their commitment to a cause comes from a place of not understanging the larger picture and is based more on being cool and famous. I think Michael Moore is a great example of this Just as Donald Trump is. Two very hypocritical figures who both have acheived kind of messianic status (at least in terms of being a charismatic characiture with a utopian, if not contradictory, messege. But note neither has any real plan or ideas. They're both sensationalist entertainers. They stir fear and hatred and a one-sided bias and call themselves (or let others call them) leaders.
I say that because, people have to take personal responsibility in terms of who they look up to. Look up to someone if you want, but make sure you're not giving them a title or job they don't deserve. Don't call an entertainer a leader. Don't call a faith healer/ snake oil salesperson a doctor.
If you want agood world, it's up to YOU to be aware of what's going on around you, where you can help, who our choosing to lead you, and how that project is coming along. It's about personal responsibility. It's about every body takiing the little extra time out of their day to work with others on the basic foundations of the world we want to build. It's about getting together, despite differences, to start discussing hwo to make all of this work out for all of us and not relying on the hope that that one magic personwill come and make the world perfect.
You DO vote with your dollar, every time you spend. You DO make a difference everytime you do something nice for a person. You DO make the world a better place when you channel your frustrations and anger at an unfair world into positive action instead of hate and the vitriol that comes with it.. You DO make a difference every time you take a chance to actually be a better person and/or find your proper place in the world. You DO make a difference when you're honest with yourself and your opinions and are willing to accept and give constructive criticism.
And that's it. It's YOU. It's me. Everyone else, too. I bought (and love) the album "Black Messiah" by D'Angelo, and on the in-lay, he has a bit he wrote where he essentially says (I'm paraphrasing, so go buy the album if you want his actual quote) "There is no one messiah coming ot save you. It's all of us together.. Together we save ourselves and each other." And I think that can extend to the global population in general, if the global population can just put away both the supernatural and secular messiah myths we create and sustain.