What's different now is that while political leaders used to

John Avlon once declared: “What’s different now is that while political leaders used to give talking points to talk radio, now talk-radio hosts are giving talking points to political leaders. It’s all part of the suffocating spin cycle we’re in. In media, politics and publishing, the conventional wisdom is to play to this base.” These words reveal a turning of the wheel in the affairs of men, where those once seen as the heralds have become the masters, and the leaders themselves bow to the voices of the crowd.

In the days of old, kings set the tone of their realms, and the scribes echoed their decrees. But now, as Avlon laments, the echo has become the command, and the rulers bend their ear not to wisdom but to the tempest of voices that roar for attention. This is the spin cycle, a whirlpool where truth and falsehood are tossed together, where the noble art of governance is reduced to mere performance.

Recall the fall of Rome, when the Caesars feared the voice of the mob more than the judgment of the Senate. Bread and circuses became the currency of rule, for leaders no longer guided but were guided by the cries of the people, manipulated by those who knew how to stir the crowd. The empire that once conquered the world fell, not by sword alone, but by surrendering its soul to spectacle and conventional wisdom.

So too does Avlon warn us: when media ceases to challenge and only reflects, when politics ceases to lead and only follows, when publishing ceases to seek truth and only profits from division, then culture itself is in peril. For no great civilization has ever thrived by merely echoing the loudest voices. The shepherd must lead the flock, not be driven by it.

Let the wise remember: leadership demands courage, not compliance; vision, not mimicry. The voices of the people are to be heard, but not worshiped. For when those who hold the staff of power bow to those who wield the microphone, the harmony of the polis is broken, and chaos begins its reign. Avlon’s words are not merely an observation—they are a warning for our age, a call to break free from the spin and return to truth.