| Or just a dumbass? We report. You decide. |
When it comes to leadership in the Church of England, the former Bishop of Norwich once reportedly said: "If you want to lead someone in this part of the world, find out where they're going. And walk in front of them." Rowan Williams, who celebrates five years as Archbishop of Canterbury next week, could never be accused of doing that.
 Then he's not a leader, is he? There are other ways of leading, of course. For example, you can lay out a destination, explain to everyone else why it's desirable to go there, then blaze the trail. Or even just head in that direction with the rest of them, each doing a part in the trailblazing. But if you simply decide on a destination and you're either unwilling or incapable of explaining why you go there, or if it's the wrong destination, and you head for it, you're not leading. You're wandering. And if you have no destination at all, you're just fond of dithering and vaporing and ajusting the lighting so your forehead looks higher, you're not even making it to the "wandering" category. You're a poseur. |
| They call him the Wanderer, The Wanderer, He roams aroun' and aroun' an' aroun', Until he gets dizzy. |
| "Vogue. Vogue. Strike a pose..." |
The episode says as much about the personality of the archbishop, say observers, as it does about the knee-jerk tabloid proclivity to judge first and inquire later.
Part of the problem was not what was said (sharia justice has been arbitrating in civil affairs of British Muslims for 25 years) but the way it was communicated. The sentiments were woven into a lofty speech that was not easily boiled down into snappy headlines.
Therein lies the conflict: Williams is a public intellectual, ponderous, studious, and given to rich, convoluted peroration, which doesn't always sit happily in the era of sound-bite journalism...