Ellenpoly,

Thanks for the info on the books.

You said, "Is it possible that we, as a species, still need to find and follow the "alpha male" as much from a need to believe that strength equals security, even over a more cerebral desire to stand and take responsibility for ones' own moral choices?"

I was telling a couple of my friends recently about my own experience of being bullied, and of the "innocent bystander" mentality of most of my work "colleagues" (most of them didn't act like colleagues to me). I would consider both of the friends I was talking to as very strong, morally and ethically, but when I told them about how I tried to redress the balance a little by putting my job and my reputation on the line and going to the top of the organisation to tell them what was happening, one of my friends said in amazement, "I could never have done that!"

So even strong personalities, with strong moral and ethical beliefs find it difficult "to stand and take responsibility for ones' own moral choices". How much more difficult is it then for other people who perhaps waver with the tide of fellow feeling at least some of the time when it comes to making choices and taking actions.

In Oz, a few years ago, a politician called Pauline Hanson appeared who was stirring up the general public about non-Anglo people in our multicultural society. She seemed to strike a chord with a lot of the whingeing, low locus of control element of our society. (Low locus of control - meaning that these people tend to place blame on others for their own misfortunes, so lack of employment could be blamed on having too many immigrants in the country "taking our jobs". The type of people who listen to talk-back radio and like nothing better than to have something to complain about and someone to blame.)

It was a major surprise to many people, though, that it was not just this part of the public which was supporting her. Many people from all levels of society were supporting her policies very passionately.

If there hadn't been a power struggle within their own political party, and if they had not been so politically unaware of how to get things done in the political system, then we could very well have had a significant number of politicians ruling our country and some of our states.

Hanson's motivation was not so much for taking power herself, I think, as for disseminating her beliefs, and she felt supported in doing this by the large number of people in the community who were behind her.

If she had been more of a power seeker then I think she would have been a force to reckon with. She already influenced Australian society in a major way but she could have changed the tide significantly.

Helen