It doesn’t take a football fan to know about the plight of Rex Ryan. The garrulous N.Y. Jets coach is rivaled only by Tim Tebow in his ability to create a storm of controversy merely by flapping his gums. I’m talking Butterfly Effect level chaos here. Tebow, simply by being himself, inspired hundreds of thousands to chant for him every sunday and even more miraculously, to believe he was actually a decent football player. Heck, the dude had me fooled for a time. I was first in line calling for Rex Ryan to start him at quarterback. The fact is, both Tebow and Ryan possess that magical elixir called personality, and if you have enough of it, people will follow you anywhere. When the Jets owner announced to a full locker room that Rex would keep his job the place exploded with cheers. Dude didn’t even get to finish his announcement. The players were so swept up in their emotion for their leader that they nearly picked the once-fat man up and carried him off like a Polish bride.
Football players aren’t the only ones to wow the masses with personality. Charles Manson not only drove people to kill for him but he also inspired musicians to cover his music and created a cult following that continues even today. This is all about personality, and the more compelling ones personality, the more likely they are to be followed.
Here’s the thing though: just because someone is great to be around and inspires you to do things doesn’t mean those are necessarily the right things or that they are necessarily great people or even competent leaders. Rex is beloved, so he kept his job. Whether or not this was the right choice remains to be seen.
Some Thoughts:
- My eldest has taken to being a bully to his younger siblings. He is playing up their unfounded fears of the house–off all things supernatural, really–to make them frightened to even poop. This is of course normal Alpha male/first born behavior. Still, I’m strongly driven to showing him the first Paranormal activity and telling him this is real stuff that happened to real people that we know. That oughta fix him… or put him in a fear-induced coma. Is that child abuse?