I have noticed a phenomenon. Some people have the knack of disregarding anything that might suggest that they are less than perfect. They have the ability to rationalize their behavior in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong. Any amount of logic is wasted because it doesn't fit their thought process. Usually it comes across as arrogance. I don't believe this problem is entirely their fault. I believe they have fallen prey to the Pedestal Principle. The pedestal principle has two ingredients. The first ingredient is the tendency for people to look for something greater than themselves. The second ingredient is pride. John does something good because it's the right thing to do. Jane notices and complements the action. John enjoys the complement. John repeats the action because he enjoyed the complement. John gets more complements. People start noticing that John is special. John thinks he is worthy of complements and forgets people are complementing the action. John starts thinking he is quite special. John gets arrogant and Jane notices. Jane brings it to Johns attention. John gets upset. John doesn't talk to Jane anymore because she doesn't understand, get it, have the vision... etc. John finds new friends who won't correct him.
This is an example of the Pedestal Principle, people who start out with good intentions that end up horribly wrong. We tend to put people that do the things we wish we would do on a pedestal. We lift them up as examples of living as we want it. I've heard it said; you can learn a lot from someone's heroes. We lift up people who have attributes we would like to have, whether it's a rock star, sports star, actor, politician, or preacher. We put them on a pedestal, but we don't mind when they knock themselves off, and show they are human after all.
Jack is an actor, he's just getting well known. He's been out celebrating, maybe a little too much. He gets pulled over. The officer comes over and starts to ask for Jack's license. The officer recognizes Jack. She asks for his autograph, chats for a while then tells him to go straight home and don't do it again. This happens many times over the next few years, soon he feels he is above the rules. Jack gets in an accident and ends up killing someone. Instead of jail he gets community service. He goes to a high school and gives acting classes. He gets fawned over by adoring fans and thinks "this didn't turn out so bad." "How the mighty have fallen." How many times have you heard about some famous person getting into trouble and thought how could they be so stupid? I believe it's a direct result of the Pedestal Principle. These people have society putting them on a pedestal so often that before long they believe they deserve to be there. We have actors threatening to leave the country if we dare to elect someone they don't like. Now think about this, an actor is someone who reads something someone else wrote, in a way that another person tells them to. Usually they are what they are because of their physical attributes which they (at least initially) had no control over. Why would they think we care? Because there are magazines devoted to following their every move. TV shows talk about their latest companion. Paparazzi make their living stealing pictures of their life. How many of us could live under that and come out untainted? One of the highest complements they get (usually false) is "success hasn't changed them".
Michael Jackson can go on national television and admit sleeping with children. He can say there is no better way to show love to a child and be surprised when there is a backlash. Normal people were stupefied that he could be so stupid. But think about it, this guy lives in a protected environment. More than likely he has no one around him to reprove him, he has no friends to say "hey Mike don't be an idiot". He has employees, they aren't going to stick their nose out and risk their job.
The Dan reads the news (at least an actor has to fake emotion) and we make a hero out of him. He starts to think, yeah, maybe I am special. Some guy comes along and claims the Dan is biased, well that guy has to be punished. How dare he! The Dan didn't start out thinking he is the sole purveyor of truth. He was elevated in his working environment and had nobody to chastise him.
John is a good x player. He's a starter on the high school team. There is talk of scholarships for college. He's not very good at math, though that is not a problem because his math instructor passes him anyway. He has learned his first lesson in pedestal advantages. John has a great senior year. Colleges are fighting over him. They pay for him to visit, they wine and dine him while he's there. He picks one, they assign him a tutor to help him with his school work. They set up classes that will ensure he can keep his grades up. He has girls he doesn't know giving him their phone number. His grades are low because he doesn't go to classes. His coach talks to his instructor, his grades get raised. I remember reading a story about some high school hockey players that molested a couple of girls on a bus. The girls reported it and the town turned on the girls. They received death threats. What impact will that have on the boys. The message is clear to anybody that thinks about it. If you're good, you can do what you want with no consequences. This team was in the state tournament. What would have happened if they had a losing season? The town was put on a pedestal because of the hockey team, so they had to protect their position no matter what it took. Destroy a couple of girls but protect their position on the pedestal. What if they had kicked the boys off the team, lost, and proclaimed doing what is right is priceless. The Dallas receiver tells the cops "don't you know who I am" when he gets busted for drugs. He fully expected to be let off the hook. Why? Because throughout his life he got breaks, he wasn't held to the same standard everyone else was, let alone a higher standard. What is the redeeming value of sports? To make us feel like we matter because our town is a winner? I remember when good sportsmanship was important. The stars knew kids looked up to them and they wouldn't do anything to be a bad example. Now we have sports figures making more money than a school full of teachers and pushing the bottom of the envelop. We hear that phrase a lot "I'm pushing the envelop". Usually it's the bottom of what's acceptable. And they're proud of it. Any grade school kid can be vulgar and obnoxious. We don't have enough people pushing the top of envelop.
While watching American Idol I was amazed at how many bad singers thought they were good. In thinking about it I thought of the Pedestal Principle. Our society has elevated self esteem to the ultimate good. Parents have put their children on a pedestal to avoid hurting their feelings. Anything they do is fine. The school is wrong, their child is perfect. That teacher would have no problems if they understood how to deal with little Freddy. The school can't hold back students because that would hurt their fragile little egos. Has anybody asked what is going to happen to these kids when they get out on their own? They won't be able to keep a decent job because those employers don't understand they need their alone time, or why are they being held accountable for their actions now when they never were before. The school won't hold the child responsible so they feed them Prozac or Ritalin.
Some pastors have a constant battle with the pedestal principle. If the church is growing then people will tell them how wonderful they are and God is blessing. They might start to equate their decisions with God's. The one's criticizing aren't being very "christian", or they are seen as criticizing God Himself.
The first step is being the kind of person others look up to. The adulation may be deserved. The cause could be anything. I know of someone who started by xxxx. Their motives were pure, they wanted to help others. People noticed and praised them for it, which is the second step. Pretty soon the praise became more important than xxxx, third step. The xxxx suffered and some people tried to warn them. They couldn't admit to making any mistakes, so the messenger had to be wrong. They think they deserve the praise because they are such a fine person, they have come to the fourth step. The last step is where their decisions are equated with God's decisions, anybody that questions them is seen as questioning God.
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