Why do dictators do stupid things?
Follow the link for the full article on this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17990615
Sacha Baron Cohen's
latest comedy, The Dictator, features the antics of a fictional leader
from North Africa. Admiral General Aladeen is an extreme representation,
but why do real autocrats so often do strange things?
Emperor Caligula (AD 12 - 41)
- He also loved race horses, and was said to have lavished his favourite horse with a house, a troop of slaves, and wine in golden goblets.
- Caligula's erratic behaviour, which also included ordering troops to gather sea shells during a campaign against Britain, led many to question his sanity.
Superstituous- Francois Duvalier (1907-1971)- Haiti
- A voodoo physician, he was extremely superstitious, and believed that he was guarded by voodoo spirits on the 22nd of each month. In later years, he only left the presidential palace on the 22nd of each month.
- He claimed to have placed a voodoo curse on US President John
F Kennedy, and said Kennedy's assassination on 22 November 1963 was
caused by his powers.
- Idi Amin, who ruled Uganda in the 70s, enjoyed giving himself titles, including "Conqueror of the British Empire" and, most famously, "King of Scotland". He also promoted himself to field marshal and awarded himself the Victoria Cross and Military Cross.
- There were reports that he kept the severed heads of political opponents in his refrigerator. While this has not been proven, he once said to an adviser before dinner: "I want your heart. I want to eat your children.
Cult of personality - Saparmurat Niyazov (1940-2006)
- Turkmenistan's president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov established a cult of personality that could easily have rivalled that of Cohen's "dictator". He had a 15m (50ft) gold-plated statue of himself built and it revolved so it always faced the sun.
- Whilst the majority of people in Turkmenistan lived in poverty, he had an ice palace built in the capital, and ordered the construction of a lake in the middle of the desert.
- He also named cities, a theme park, the month of January, and even a meteorite after himself.
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Mr A
I personally think they do. Mostly because, if you have noticed they all live in big houses and have a lot of money while the rest of the country is suffering. It seems like they only do things for themselves and no one else. Kinda like in that movie trailer.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason that Some dictators do stupid things is because they have huge unchallanged power and therefore feel that they can do anything they want so they do everything they want sometimes just to show off their wealth and power.
ReplyDeleteTechnically their power isn't unchallenged. If you think about it there are other countries that can come with a solution by working together. IT would make peace an easier option, the only problem is that they do not want to fight in the country of the dictator because of the destruction it will bring. E.g America wanted to send their troops to interfere and cause even more of a problem.
ReplyDeleteTriple M, I agree with you! Anonymous, have you thought about the Arab Uprising and how dictators, such as Gadaffi faced challenges with their people. After numerous years of rule Gadaffi's power was questioned and stripped as a result, which lead to death as a consequence. So suggesting that dictators power is unchallenged, is not true. However, Triple M, the fighting has most often occured in the country of the dictator and has lead to destruction of the countries economy and a lot of the countries allies to the west. IT played a key role in the uprising, as more people got connected through the social media and it spread due to that. It did have a positive impact, however IT played a key role. So suggesting it makes peace, can be argued against.
ReplyDeleteTriple M you have referred to all dictators as being greedy and selfish, despite the fact that some dictators have actually done good for their particular country. I know that the image that is portrayed by the media is one nasty one, but you have to view two sides. For instance, when you fear your dictator things get done more easily. Fear motivates people to do things and work harder at the task at hand. Lastly, dictators are also quite useful as legalism can be prevented. The methods used by the dictators are not very good ones, but they motivate people to do things efficiently. Without dictators, people wont fear leaders and respect would be lost.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, with power comes greed. they go hand in hand, its like giving a child one sweet, he will then ask for two then three until he gets all the sweets. To Lulu, who is to state whether a country is being dictated or not? Have you seen the state of Libya today? Look at how much damage has been caused, they are leaderless and their economy is flailing whilst they are being exploited. Do you know how much work Gaddafi did for his own country? Yes we all make mistakes, but to let your own parents not have a house until every homeless person has a home is pure dedication. In addition, respect would not be lost towards our leaders, fear and respect are miles apart. A good leader would have their people's respect. To triple M, before Mobutu lost it, did you know how wealthy DRC's economy was? Now that he is dead and has been dead for nearly more than 15 years, the country is in tatters because no leader has managed to do what Mobutu did and he was a dictator. Therefore, the country is not always suffering for a dictator to do stupid thing but the dictator loses focus and becomes overwhelmed with the sense of power which leads to greed. However this is just my opinion and I do not suggest that it is necessarily right.
ReplyDeleteThere is always two sides to a story and you didn't say what was the bad side to Mabutu.I know most sources are unreable but i was told he had an obsession to collaborate with U.S.A but he made some sort of accusation that they wanted to take over his country.
ReplyDeleteHow can we consider a leader as a dictator or not,if we dont live in the contry being dictated,how are we to say if people of a nation are free or not ? if we are not those people dictated ?.
ReplyDeleteHence the paragraph above,would you call Mao or Castro "Evil dictating men" ? while their known for granting there country's with free education and better health (Cuba was seen as a threat by the U.S.A.*638 is the number of failed assassinations on Fidels life*But the downfall of Cuba could be blamed on the USSR cutting support to Cuba,according to this...he is not a Tyrant seen by lots of people(while i believe non of us were under those mens rule)...I myself cannot tell another man if he is free or not.
(i might need the help of Mr.A on this one:How do most people regard Adolf Hitler as a Dictator while he came to power using politics,There was a Nazi political party after all )
Another facts about a "dictator" is that Kim Jong il loved titling himself also,he called himself the best Golfer.He also CLAIMS that the sky was lighten up when he was born and the weather changed from winter to spring.He also left disabled and short people on a island to die in order to get rid of there genes (Why isnt Kim Jong il dead himself,after all.hes 5 foot 30)
Can anyone answer Tals question? It is true that Hitler 'held his nose' and got to power through democratic means after his failure in 1923. Or did he. Was he a dictator or a democratically elected Hitler who used legal means to gain power? What do we think- especially year 10 IGCSE students...
ReplyDeleteI admit Hitler did have to hold his nose but remember Hindenburg knew why he didn't want Hitler to become chancellor. I mean he was old and was eventually going to die. So he tried everything to keep him out. Plus he started his anti-Semitic rules when he was chancellor. SO even though he held his nose he clearly 'held his nose' It wasn't his hard work. It was the fact that Hindenburg had to give the roots of his power.
ReplyDeleteHe also used to order his representatives of his party to walk out of the Reichstag to postpone voting in case he loses. He struck terror into voters to make sure they get majority of the seats. So its more of a 50 50 accusation against him.