[August 27, 2017] Occasionally I run across someone who takes a new perspective on things; combining ideas that have been discussed before regarding leadership and how leaders should help educate others. That is the case with Ami Horowitz, documentary filmmaker, who recently released a video on income inequality and combined it with the topics of socialism, Venezuela, and the United States.1
In his latest video Ami Horowitz2 interviews several young millennials in the East Village (a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York) on how much they “value” income equality. While asking questions about how much it means to have income equality (as opposed to what they might consider “evil” income inequality), he mixes it up with some comments about Venezuela and how those same values have pushed it to the brink of economic disaster.
A link to his short video, less than 3 minutes, on YouTube (see link). I recommend a quick view to get the full flavor of how he operates. It is the job of leaders to make an impression on others, to educate them in the good and proper ways of society, and to educate the ignorant. This is what Horowitz is doing for us … along with being entertaining and witty.
Horowitz presents those being interviewed with some innocuous comments on how Venezuela’s decline has made its citizens have to wait in queues for hours just to get the basic necessities. To some of the young folks that is just a small price to pay to obtain the goal of total equality. One young man in the video manages to get in a comment about inequality and the link to global warming.
In Venezuela people are starving and there are lines for picking through garbage to get a small bite to eat for one’s family. Socialism is not all about the rejection of income inequality, more it’s about the elites getting everything and the common citizenry living in poverty.
“[T]hat is what socialism is all about: great wealth and power for a handful, poverty and humiliation for the vast majority.” – John Hinderaker, President of Center of the American Experiment
There is, surprisingly, little animosity for the “unequal” United States from those interviewed. They have, however, allowed their intellectual laziness to overtake basic common sense. It would appear they would rather live in a dictatorship, eating rats and garbage than live in a capitalistic country like the U.S.
That is easy to say when they are dining at the Brindle Room, Huertas, or the Momofuku Noodle Bar in Manhattan (by the way, truly exceptional food) and where violent crime is low. I’ve found that when people actually begin to experience those things they advocate, they frequently reassess.
Sometimes it’s simply better to keep one’s mouth shut, otherwise – like my mother said – people will get the idea that you are an idiot. Ami Horowitz is an educating leader.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
——————-
- A special shout-out to John Hinderaker at PowerLineBlog.com for making me aware of Ami Horowitz and his filmmaking. You can see his comments on this video here (see link).
- See Ami Horowitz’s official webpage here: http://www.amihorowitz.com/