"It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don't put psychotics in high places and we've got the problem solved"

In this quote, Tom Wolfe explores a common psychological coping mechanism that individuals utilize when faced with the atrocities devoted by leaders: the tendency to identify such leaders as ridiculous or psychologically unsteady. This technique provides a sense of comfort and simplicity to an otherwise intricate and troubling reality. By attributing their actions to insanity, we distance ourselves from the uneasy fact that such habits can emerge from ordinary human motivations and structures of power.

Wolfe recommends that if we can restrict the issue to a matter of psychiatric examination-- believing that these leaders are just "mad"-- then the solution appears straightforward: prevent those with mental disorders from ascending to positions of power, and the world will be safeguarded from their harmful decisions. This perspective discharges society from much deeper introspection by indicating that the presence of "psychotics" in authority is an aberration rather than a symptom of broader systemic problems.

Nevertheless, Wolfe's words imply a critique of this comforting idea. He challenges us to acknowledge that the failings of leadership are frequently rooted in social, political, and cultural contexts instead of just private pathology. Leaders who commit dreadful acts typically operate within systems that enable, support, or stop working to inspect their behaviors for reasons including ideology, worry, aspiration, or complacency to name a few factors. By lowering the problem to specific madness, we ignore these larger dynamics and, thus, oversimplify the intricacies of governance and moral duty.

Ultimately, Wolfe appears to be advocating for a more nuanced understanding that exceeds labeling particular people as outrageous. He calls attention to the requirement for systemic analysis and accountability, highlighting that to really avoid adverse management, society must critically assess shared values, class structure, and the systems by which we pick those who lead us.