Anons, I'm not sure how to sauce this as its mostly a personal observation but I think its relevant to what we do here. If Its stupid I'm sure somebody will point it out. Several years ago I moved to a foreign country for work. I was there for 5 years then I moved back. Before I left the USA, media types nearly always referred to elected officials as "public servants." When I returned they were referring to them as "our leaders." recently I have heard and seen several references to "the ruling class." I imagine that it was on its way to becoming "our rulers."

I think this is an illustration of how "they" shape public perception. If you have a servant, you expect to have to supervise them. If you have a leader, you expect to follow them (or have them supervise you). If you have a ruler, you are expected to serve them.

We now have entire generations that have only heard of public officials referred to as our leaders and are not likely very familiar with the concepts associated with them being our public servants. This seems to show up very clearly in the many people that docilely accept dictates associated with the Chinese virus.