In reading Machiavelli's The Prince there were several interesting, and outrageous statements made. I had a couple in mind until I came across this particular example and nothing else seemed comparable as the most disturbing piece of advise. "Besides, a prince will never lack for legitimate excuses to explain away his breaches of faith." and then, "the man succeeded best who knew best how to play the fox... you must be a great liar and hypocrite." What a disturbing bit of information that is, telling a man that in order to be the best prince he can be he needs to be a great liar and to play the fox, being a sly slimy liar basically.
I think that to be in a position of power one definitely needs to be a smooth talker in the sense of having a way with words and being able to keep the attention of the audience as a whole, but I don't necessarily think that entails being a liar and a sleazeball. The sad thing is that many politicians today are the exact epitome of this. They will say anything that they feel would get you on board with them, and then once they hook you BAM out comes the switch of hand, and their true agenda comes out. I think that to be an effective leader, one who has a hope of leading for a long time and truly making a change/difference in your area integrity is the biggest thing that you have going for you. Sure you can catch people's attention for a short time with empty promises, and other lies but eventually the truth comes out and hopefully the people can see that and rectify the situation.
I think this is how many of our politicians conduct their careers. How many leaders have we had in the past that are considered good leaders but led a life of lies and hypocrisy? Clinton for example, he had how many affairs? All of which he denied. JFK is another one, he was also unfaithful and lied about it. It seems honesty is a hard attribute to come by in a politician.
ReplyDeleteGreat thought. That is a very outrageous statement made by Machiavelli. If leaders do not exercise honesty and integrity it makes it difficult to trust anyone, and then that just leads to a lot of confusion. I agree that while being a great speaker and persuader can make a good leader, there is nothing that can replace the qualities of being honest and doing and being what you say you are.
ReplyDeleteI think Machiavelli is correct in his assertion. How else do we have politicians that match it today?
ReplyDeleteI do hope that the ideal is different, however, and that we can someday learn to choose honest men to lead us.
Well, all that Machiavelli says is true and is applicable today. Especially in politics. Corruption is everywhere and there is a lot of side dealing. It's what happens when people get power, they want to keep it and will do almost anything to keep it.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at how much Machiavelli focuses on being about a lie and cheat your way into power. I assume because it dishonesty is so rampant in politics that one needs to learn how to be even more dishonest in order to make it.
ReplyDeleteI think you are so dead on about a lot of good leaders being smooth-talkers. I think it's crazy how easy it can be to be deceived by hearing what you want to hear. It reminds me so much of the devil's tactics which is pretty crafty. I think this post was very informative! Thanks!
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