BrPsr

One thing I've noticed about #Dune discourse on Twitter is how some people confidently repeat Herbert's warning about "charismatic leaders", as if it's such a simple message to grasp, yet seem to completely miss and/or omit an important distinction. I constantly see "Paul is the bad guy...don't you understand Dune? Herbert is warning us about charismatic leaders" The warning isn't JUST about the leaders themselves. It's about the PEOPLE who follow them and the terrible things they're willing to do in their name, whether the leader wants them to or not. Paul becomes the figurehead of a religious movement that eventually grows beyond his ability to control it, but the Fremen are/were ideologically radicalized, long before Paul arrived. They have their own religious convictions, their own motivations, and are so ideologically radicalized that they're willing to commit atrocities in his name, even when those atrocities go against his wishes. It's the idea that people can be so fanatically devoted to someone that they essentially abandon their own moral judgment and justify just about anything in that person's name. It doesn't even have to be Paul. They're just waiting for anyone who fit the mold of prophet to give them the "go ahead". Once again, the danger being not simply what a charismatic leader might do with power. It's what THE PEOPLE are willing to do FOR that leader, even without being asked. The people parroting it often times don't realize....THEY'RE the Danger.