With politics ever-present due to the elections coming up, I have been asked by Japanese friends what candidate I would like to win. (This leads to another question: Do Americans know about Japanese politics in the way Japanese people know about American?) I found myself struggling with an answer, because you only see a political candidate the way various media outlets will let you. One has to apply a level of doubt to what one hears, and stay an arm’s length away from it all to try to get a bigger picture.

In any case, my point is that you can’t whole-heartedly accept what a politician tells you, know matter how much of a moving speaker they may be or how thoroughly their speech strikes you.

I think that it may be the case where although people apply this thinking to their political views, they may neglect to do so on other important aspects. Think about what you believe in and how it shapes your life. You may adhere to a philosophy, religion, or even way of eating and think of your life better for it. But is there a leader that you admire, someone whose footsteps you are desperately trying to follow? This is the dangerous part. Are you going to do everything this leader tells you to do?

Leaders are by definition quite charismatic and easy to influence others. Because of this power, a lot of leaders have made great things happen. Think of any given political movement, and there will be a name and face attached to it. A lot of bad things have also happened. Cults revolve around charismatic leaders, and by words alone can gather many to do the unthinkable.

How do you know what to listen to and what to follow? In a philosophy/religious aspect, this is especially hard. It’s very easy to put a political agenda behind your lectures/sermons, and this sways the thinking of a lot of people. Philosophers and religious leaders are supposed to be the utmost example of your beliefs and values, and it’s hard to see them outside of anything but infallible. Which is why when religious leaders fall (and fall hard), a lot of people find themselves straying for their own beliefs. After all, if a pious figure cannot stay true to his/her own teachings, what hope is there for the masses?

I feel as though people often fail to realize that their leaders in question are humans, made of flesh and bone. They are surrounded by the same environment, grew up in the same era. They will make mistakes, the same as you and me. Their way of thinking also will not always apply to you, although it may work for some.

Take, for example, the soy movement. A lot of people swear by it and highly recommend it to vegans. But many have adverse reactions to it. Should they still try to incorporate it into their diet, to the detriment of their health? The obvious answer is no, you should find an alternate way. But if a respected authority on the vegan lifestyle told you to do it anyway, would you make do?

To be honest, this post was inspired by a conversation I had with my younger sister, who had just started going to a church I had beef with because of their militaristic agenda behind the messages (dedicating an amount of time to show off slides of a summer camp in which boys were taught to hunt, followed by visits from military generals? I don’t think so.) She told me that the sermon was about abortion, and the pastor more or less urged followers to vote for the candidates that were against it. This kind of insidious swaying doesn’t sit right with me and is one of the reasons why I left the church. But it made me realize how much power leaders have over masses of people, including my own family. I encouraged her to question what she hears and not accept everything blindly.

So take a step back from anybody you might declare yourself a follower of. I’m not saying shun them entirely–leaders are who they are for a reason, and serve as an inspiration to many–but as you would a politician, re-think about what they stand for and how it sits with you. You are ultimately responsible for your own actions, and if you compromised your own personal values in order to serve someone else’s agenda, then you might want to reconsider things. This can be applied to anybody: a pastor, a charismatic friend, a teacher. Remember that they are fellow humans, no matter how unsettling it is to see your high school teacher at a grocery store (what! Teachers don’t need sustenance!)

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