Loved or Feared

[Gesh]

What do you think - is it better for a leader to be loved or feared by his/her subjects?

Personally, I would rather be loved. Because if you are loved, then the subjects will be more willing to do what you want, and they would even stick up for you and do things for you that you may have not even asked for. They'll follow you with a sense of pride, and that would make for a much more powerful "army" than one who fears its leader.

[bunnyfulwanderer]

I would rather be loved personally but part of me fears that fear, infact is more effective that being without the chance of rebellion...

having discussed this. it has made me think though perhaps love really is better, which makes me more hopeful.

[Gesh]

Yes, I think love is better, because the chance of rebellion I think actually comes with subjects who fear their leaders. If some third party inspires the people to take a stand, then they probably will, because they fear their leaders and don't actually agree with what they are fighting for. But if subjects love their leader, they most likely will not rebel, because, well, they love their leader and actually enjoy serving them.

[zAkAtAk]

Depends who I am leading.

[Gesh]

Care to elaborate?

[bunnyfulwanderer]

some proposed governmental system deny "right to rebel" to their subjects however. that wont necessarily stop anyone...

but the reality is it takes A LOT for people to rebel.

[Gesh]

Correct, and if a rebellion can grow to that magnitude, that obviously means the people are unhappy with their government. Which means they probably don't love them. Still, I could be wrong. This is a debate, so...

[Cortney]

Loved.

People who love you respect you and agree with you. Yes, you guys have said that fear prevents rebellion, but if your subjects love you there won't be a need to rebel. ;P

[Gesh]

I completely agree with what Cortney said. That's the point I was trying to get across in fact, but I failed to put it into simple words. xD

[bunnyfulwanderer]

true. that's why I haven't gotten into many fights. I'm darn lovable =Un.nU=

[stephen5000]

Of course everyone would like to be loved. The reality is that there will always be those that don't love you and even hate you. Therefore you need fear to keep these people in line. Things such as police, the court system, and other government agencies do this quite well.

[RabbitWho]

Loved I guess, but in modern society leaders probably shouldn't be either.

If you love a leader too much you'll never question them, and leaders are only people!

I think we all want a leader to love. That's why although there have been thousands of good people in the world Gahdni is the one we probably think of most when we're looking for an example. That's why people still love the King Arthur legend and even why we still have celebrities. They're bloody well not our leaders in most senses! But they do set the standards for everything we do.

[Gesh]

Well... I don't know, I mean, we love Dan, don't we? And people are certainly not afraid to question him when he's wrong. That is the whole point of his channel and the moon.

[RabbitWho]

I don't really know Dan.. I mean I know his videos.. and he seems like a really good kid and he's obviously intelligent and enthusiastic and a people-person.. But do I love him? That's major. I love him like I love you, but not like I love.. say... me.

I love this community a whole bunch. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts!

[Gesh]

Very good points. Still, I'm sure the type of love we all feel for Dan is very similar to (heck, maybe even more) than what people typically feel for their leaders. We know our leader on the moon more personally than we know, say, President Obama.

[Nakor]

Option #3!

Loved is definitely better than feared, but I think that the best thing for a leader to be is respected. You don't pick a leader because s/he's a nice guy, you pick a leader because you think s/he can do the job best. Of course, there are multiple kinds of respect, and I refer to the sort of respect you have for someone you admire the qualities of. The kind of guy you want in command of your squad in a fight, because you know he's got what it takes to pull everyone through. Respect.

[Philosoraptor]

I agree with Nakor, absolutely. Respect is the best possible way to lead. With respect, people don't just follow your orders out of fear, nor do they blindly follow your orders out of adoration. They simply agree with your ideas.

[MCPuppet]

As the marvelous Niccolo Machiavelli said, it is best, but almost impossible, to be both.
But if you cannot have both, be feared. If you are loved, people may still walk all over you, they may still betray you. But if they are afraid to, they will not do so.
I don't absolutely believe this myself, but I believe the idea is correct.
Respect is excellent, if you can get it, but it is really hard to lead off respect alone.
I would much rather than be loved, personally.

[RabbitWho]

Apr 4, 2010 15:58:41 GMT -5 Gesh said:

Very good points. Still, I'm sure the type of love we all feel for Dan is very similar to (heck, maybe even more) than what people typically feel for their leaders. We know our leader on the moon more personally than we know, say, President Obama.

I think i love Obama more, but he's not my leader.



This is my leader. The whole fear/love thing is fairly redundant.

[Gesh]

Nice.