Agency (your email)
In all the years I've been writing, this was the most difficult set of email I ever received.Some of you told deeply personal stories, not stories that can be shared. Some of these were about very dark experiences in the military, and from this perspective, an authoritarian environment was deeply damaging.
I also, though, got emails about a military experience that was much more positive.
I found out that we are not, collectively, a sporting bunch. There were more theoretical emails about team sports than actual experienced ones.
My own experiences color this, to be sure. There is a difference between authority and authoritarianism, and in my lifetime, authoritarianism has been very, very bad. Coaches. Priests. Policemen. Any group that had absolutely authority and little or no oversight has produced very bad things.
And yet, strangely, some people crave this. I can't explain that, because it is in such absolute opposition to everything I believe, but some people want authoritarian leaders. This legitimately terrifies me, because it's the same attitude that produced WWII.
So I tried to sort through your email to try and find a common theme. It was there, I felt, but man, it was hard to tease out, because everyone had an opinion that was slightly different from everyone else's.
I did, finally, come up with what I believe is a common perception, and it's sort of a personality version of deviation from the mean. In general, you collectively felt that the more someone has deviated from the mean, the more beneficial it is to be in an "opposite" environment.
So, for instance, a kid who is absolutely wild and unrestrained would benefit from an authoritarian environment, from the structure and discipline.
On the other hand, a kid who is incredibly rigid and unable to think for themselves would benefit from a less authoritarian environment.
I don't know if I agree with this--I'm still thinking about it--but I do think it's notable that almost all the people telling us that authoritarians serve a positive purpose are authoritarians themselves.
I can say that I'm glad Eli 17.11 didn't grow up to be one.
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