Charisma

Charisma

Famous people, and by that I mean people you see in the press and on TV, are always banging on about the importance of charisma – star quality. You hear about it on all the ‘talent’ contests on TV – sometimes they call it stage presence.

I have a problem with this word and that is that the word ‘charisma’ does not carry with it any moral judgement. charisma dos not imply goodness. In fact, it is often quite the opposite. Used car sales people are charismatic, so are door-to-door sales people.

So are politicians, need I say more? Film stars have charisma too, but what good do they do? Politicians have a dreadful record and media people in the UK are being investigated for mass child abuse. Politicians, after the expenses scandal, are also in the spotlight for child abuse – see Dolphin Square.

All these people have charisma, they are all charismatic, would we have been better off without them – yes!

Sir Jimmy Savile was charismatic, so was Gary Glitter, Sir Cyril Smith and Sir Rolf Harris… Notice all the titles? They were not born with those, they were awarded them. Why, for Heaven’s Sake?

How is it possible that no-one knew what was going on?

Was their charisma protecting them? Yes, it was, so is charisma good thing? And if not, why are we promoting it in the media all the time?

It seems to me that a lot of people who have charisma use it for their own selfish ends.

I would rather people called me a ‘nice bloke’ than charismatic, because at least the former holds a moral judgement, whereas calling me charismatic lumps me in the same group as the parasitic, paedophile rich and famous, not all of them are like that, of course, but then I’m sure you know what I’m getting at.

Regards,

Owen

Podcast: Charisma