Ethos & Character
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18
A Smart note about persona
Ideas often do not persuade people, but character does. Character does not enhance argument, it is the argument (Baumlin & Baumlin, 1994, xii).
Being a good person is a good argument. We will follow a good person. We will vote for a good person. A good person’s ideas have weight. That’s one way of thinking about this idea.
We can also think of character and ethos in terms of persona, particularly in today’s political environment. Do we really vote on ideas anymore in America? Arguably, Donald Trump won in 2016 on his persona…not on his ideas. Not as a good person, but as a manly person. His masculine ethos trumps any argument about ideas for many of his voters.
Similarly, Biden also ran on an alternative persona built on moderation and rationality. To many voters, his ideas weren’t as important as this persona. They wanted a different persona in the Oval Office. Perhaps his agenda now lacks support because many voters didn’t vote for his agenda…they voted for his persona.
Maybe this is why American voters are so fickle. The moment our social and economical realities fracture a political persona, we decide we need a new one. Instead of testing ideas and examining their worth and application, we jump to the next persona. “Gas prices are high…we need a new persona.”
Related Notes
5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Choosing an Ethical Creator to Imitate
Being a good creator means being a good personmedium.com
5 Ways to Craft an Inviting Profile Page for Creating Your First Creator Community
What space are you inviting people into?medium.com
Ethos as Becoming
A smart note about charactermedium.com
Charisma & Authority
A smart note about charismamedium.com
How Real Is Your Creator Ethos
… and what the Ancient Greeks have to say about.medium.com