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The Fallacy of Mad Max

In the movie "Doomsday" a post-apocalypticfilm set in a Scotland that looks like a punk version of the 70's movie "The Warriors" crossed with the crazy Road Warriors from Mad Max a mo-hawked leader runs a group of crazy cannibals.

But this is utter non-sense. The fallacy here is that a cult of personality would develop at all. One where people would tattoo themselves and live in brutality and violence. The reality would be very different. You see this culture of personality would require mass media to be generated. In small groups you'd have a culture of character. People wouldn't care if you look great or if you're crazy, or punk or violent. People would seek leadership in character not in personality. People like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt would be the real leaders not crazy charismatic leaders. With a lack of mass-media to celebrate this individual expression, it would be the strength of character that would rule the day.

Cult of personalty is an industrialized and post-industrialized society issue. Nobody remembers the famous actors of Lincoln's time even though they were as popular then as actors are today. The difference is today those traits are celebrated and the character of a person can ignored.

Evidence of this is how a charismatic preacher (Ted Haggard ) wailed against homosexuality and became very famous only to be found to have hired a male prostitute.

But this relies on media to carry the message. A tight-knit group of survivors at the end of the world would not likely care one whit about personality and be more interested in the kind of person they were dealing with directly. Good looking or not. Loud or quiet. Who knows? But I guarantee he or she wont look like bored teenagers.

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