When I was a teenager, I didn’t have a lot of heroes. But I did admire Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. I didn’t even listen to punk rock that much! But its “Dare to be negative” philosophy really appealed to me.
One historical figure I admire is Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Mahatma. He was an example of what Max Weber called “charismatic authority.” Granted, he was a kook even by India’s liberal standards. He was the sort of guy who slept with young women just to test his chastity! (He occasionally failed.) But it took a kook to force the British to leave India. In some ways his ideas were ahead of his time, as in his disapproval of conspicuous consumption.
I’m not religious myself, but I sometimes admire religious figures like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
What politicians do I admire? Back in the 1980s I admired New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Today I admire Bernie Sanders. He’s a genius who’s managed to stay half inside and half outside the system. (If he’d won the Democratic nomination, he’d probably have trounced Donald Trump!) And Jeremy Corbyn and Jagmeet Singh also seem to be men of principles. I also admire Ralph Nader. (So sue me!)
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