We Need Serious People to Become the Authorities We Can Trust

February 6, 2026 by John M. Collins

Something terrible happened on the first day of October 2000.

It was the day MTV aired the series premiere of Jackass, a stunt-comedy series that ran for three seasons, featuring cast members like Steve-O, Bam Margera, and Ryan Dunn.

Jackass was meant to be a comedy, a lighthearted peek into the lives of unserious people who figured out a way to make entertainment out of pure stupid.

But beneath the surface, something else was happening - something far more sinister and disruptive to our civilized society that continues to haunt our communities, our states, and our nation. Jackass marked an inflection point at which being an idiot was something to celebrate rather than revile.

That cultural shift matters more than we like to admit, because civilization depends on authority—and authority depends on seriousness. By seriousness, I am not speaking of excessive solemnity or joylessness, but seriousness of purpose. When a society stops esteeming seriousness, it begins to erode the very conditions that make trust, progress, and safety possible.

Perhaps it is those who reflexively raise their noses at the mere thought of being serious who are most vulnerable to confusing authority with domination. True authority is not oppressiveness, and it is not control. Nor is it charisma or popularity. Authority is the socially granted right to be relied upon when the stakes matter. It is what allows us to place our bodies, our livelihoods, and our futures in the hands of others without fear. Pilots have authority because we trust their competence. Physicians have authority because we trust their judgment. A judge, a mayor, a police chief, a school principal—all derive authority from a shared belief that they take their roles seriously enough to be worthy of them.

It is for this reason that authority is not just important to civilized society, but a necessary precondition for it. Without legitimate authority, society loses its structure. Institutions decay. Decisions are more likely to be influenced by fear, faction, or spectacle. In the absence of authority, trust becomes impossible.

Three forms of authority are especially relevant in contemporary life.

The first is subject matter expertise. Experts are the people who know things deeply and precisely—engineers, physicians, scientists, economists, analysts, lawyers, and master tradespeople. Their authority is earned through disciplined study, sustained practice, and a demonstrated respect for the complexity of the problems they are trusted to solve. Expertise is slow to acquire and easy to undermine. When true experts are not appreciated—or are dismissed as “stuffy”—their contributions are overshadowed by those with the loudest assertions, the most entertaining delivery, and the most loyal followings.

In cultures where hot takes and morbid curiosities are valued over nuanced understanding, expertise becomes an annoyance, and the opportunity for trustworthy experts to assert authority is lost to everyone.

The second is organizational leadership. Leaders are the people entrusted with aligning human effort—setting a vision, making decisions, breaking down barriers, and empowering others to be their best. They earn trust by making sound decisions under pressure, producing durable outcomes, and demonstrating that the mission matters more than personal comfort or image. History teaches us that teams and organizations fail when decision-makers aren’t serious about the responsibilities entrusted to them.

The third is public leadership. This is perhaps the most visible and most fragile form of authority in contemporary life. Public leaders are responsible for mitigating collective risk, and when they do their jobs well, all of us are safer, healthier, and more capable of producing whatever degrees of happiness and prosperity we envision for ourselves. But when public leaders are selected from an unserious citizenry, they will have an impaired potential to confront serious problems with the requisite effectiveness. Even recent crises have shown us how quickly public confidence erodes when officials substitute effectiveness for showmanship and preparedness for grandstanding.

All three forms of authority require serious people with serious intentions. And to be clear, serious should not be construed as humorless, cold, or inaccessible. Serious people are those who understand that some roles carry consequences that cannot be shrugged off. People who can laugh, but know when laughter must stop. People who can be human without being reckless. Approachable without being casual about harm.

The problem is not that our society lacks capable people. It is that we increasingly fail to reward, develop, or celebrate those who seek to elevate their capability to mastery. We elevate entertainers over educators, influencers over experts, provocation over preparation. We tell young people to “just be themselves” without first inspiring them to become people worth trusting.

This is where coaching, mentoring, and leadership-by-example become not just helpful, but essential.

If we agree that serious people are an asset to society, then we cannot hope for them to be born; they must be formed. They emerge in environments where purpose is bigger than personality, and their thinking habits are conditioned by observing their mentors subordinate themselves to the demands of the moment. Indeed, the seriousness from which a trustworthy, authoritative presence is molded grows from having witnessed serious people make valuable contributions to the greater good, often when the stakes were at their highest.

Humanity can only thrive in civilization, and authorities are those who protect civilization from humanity’s demons. But if we want future authorities we can trust, pathways must be created that honor competence over spectacle and responsibility over rebellion. That means investing time in apprenticeships, not just the attainment of credentials. It even means allowing young professionals to make mistakes—but not without accountability. It means praising restraint as much as boldness, and preparation as much as confidence.

It also means rehabilitating seriousness as a virtue. Yes, seriousness might be seen by some as elitism or aloofness. But in reality, it is nothing more than respect for the enduring relationship between choices and consequences. Serious people recognize and embrace that lives, property, and institutions are often balanced on decisions made quietly by people no one applauds.

Civilization survives on trust, and trust survives only when serious people are willing to step forward, be developed, and accept the burdens of authority knowing that their sacrifices will rarely receive the appreciation or recognition they deserve.

If we want authorities we can trust, we must once again become a society willing to take them seriously—and to help serious people become the experts and leaders we need to thrive.