Do people actually respect him enough to do the whole "monkey see, monkey do" thing?
Its the jobtitle, stupid.
Same reason people think they have to respect moderators for the 'virtual internet brass', or like their posts because they perceive them as higher beings that have stepped down their virtual podests to talk to the common folks (sorry, but for once - there is a learning opportunity there, as in 'how people work').
I learned this way back when, when 10k people all of a sudden thought that Major Nelson was an intelligent being, worth listening to and worth defending, by the mere fact, that he spoke to them, and had access.
This is how humans work, and yes - it works.
It absolutely works.
Roughly. People want to form groups. People want to follow leaders. (Saves brain cycles.) Saved Brain cycles then are used to construct and defend why the group has so much meaning for them viciously - with no effing reason, without anyone having even asked them to. People are SUUUUUUUUUUUUCKERS for anyone who might construct for them a feeling to belong. So whatever leader figure says - is very important.
'Let them think for me - I'll then copy behavior' works on so many levels, its not even funny.
Even kind of subliminally in my case..
(Less worried, when I see stuff like that.)
Never underestimate a good piece of public theatre.
---
edit: I clue you in on even more stuff.
Moral leaders work better than political ones - for that purpose. (And to be a moral leader is the only thing Biden ever strived to be in his life, and the only thing he was qualified to, not joking...)
Do you know why the British still have the Royal Family?
Because it works.
One level on which it works is the following. You have the elected political leader of your country, summerize - what they (their party) are doing, in front of a 'moral leadership' figure every few weeks.
As a result - politics gets better. (Less partisan, less backstabby, less random sh*t made up ad hoc, ...)
Its magic.
Stephen Fry reflected on this once, and came to this conclusion. Video should be out there, somewhere..
