Romania’s Education Minister Daniel David has explained why some Romanians are attracted by messianic messages and leaders. It’s because they are in a ‘period of emancipation” thinking they are important than they actually are.
In this stage, they no longer value institutions, or traditional hierarchy and are searching for a “special leader.”
“At the moment, in Romania, I think the main cause is related to the fact that a large part of our society is in what we in psychology call a phase of emancipation. When you are in the process of emancipation, you are not yet emancipated, but you are in the process of emancipation, you begin to consider yourself more special, you begin to consider yourself more important than you are, you want your voice to be heard.”
“And you follow various things. Either to be in positions of power, or to overthrow the institutions, to change the, and put your people in positions of power. And if you still accept someone as a leader who inspires you, they must be a special leader,” Daniel David, a psychology professor said.
He said people who think they are especially important “no longer value the institutions, the bosses. After all, why would you have a boss if it wasn’t you? And you pursue various things: either to be in positions of power, or to overthrow institutions, to change them for others, in which you can put your people in positions of power. If you accept someone as a leader who inspires you, they have to be a special leader, that is, because you are special, the leader has to be more special.”
This compares to a settled, classical democracy where “this special character does not matter so much”, the emphasis being on competence.
“In this phase when you are in emancipation and you become anti-system, there you look for someone who, if you are special, as I said before, that one should be more special,” he added.
“If you want good administrators, good functionaries in the political area, they are considered ‘the system’ and must be changed… taken down and either we must come, or a leader with special skills and qualities must come,” he added.
