Dictator figures depicted by the Dutch historian Frank Dikoter (1961) in his last book on the cult of personality in the 20th century, are often those of bloodthirsty tyrants responding to old autocratic guides. Democracies currently on the defensive and facing the erosion of civil liberties and the rule of law must also worry about other kinds of threats, from so-called cautious rulers and illiberal populists who, with a few exceptions, are in most cases eager to turn the tables. secretly within the system itself and using its own resources to destroy it. In fact, Dikötter, who lives in Hong Kong and is the author of an acclaimed three-volume biography of China under Mao Zedong, argues that from a minimal historical perspective, dictatorship is in decline compared to the 20th century for the purpose of instilling fear. However, the goal of today’s autocrats, who are more or less justified by what they call narrative, is to destroy democracy and freedoms. Instead of persuasion, it creates confusion, eliminates common sense, imposes obedience, isolates individuals, and tramples on their dignity. Despite the more or less winding paths, the ostentation and brutality, the path remains the same. Therefore, leaders who shape history need to be chosen carefully. They even format it until it’s nice and tidy.
Modern dictators of the last century Frank Dikötter -Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Stalin, Kim Il-sung, Duvalier, Ceausescu and Mengistu- They are born in darkness, become frustrated in their youth, explode with accidents, sponsorships, bad public moods, or whatever else, and become full-fledged evildoers, motivated by their initial respect and admiration. public opinion. Not only naively ignorant people fall into these traps, but also artists, intellectuals and writers who can deify them. These dictators usually come armed with ideology – Duvalier’s case is an exception – but, lacking principles, only lust for power, the process of deification becomes the subject of the cruelest ridicule. If they are leftist dictators, their attempts at radical reform will cause famine and suffering for the people. If it is from the right, the same people will go to war with their pain and drag their nation to shameful defeats. They desire to be popular and try hard to create this illusion, but these are all lies. They are surrounded by sycophants, have no friends, and remain in paranoid loneliness. That naked power has an expiration date, many are dying like rabid dogs, and there are those who act as if they are mourning them. They are then quickly forgotten, and their names only come to mind when historians mention them or when some opportunistic politicians decide to take advantage of the bad memories they left behind.
In Frank Dikötter’s The Dictators, narrative trumps analysis. It aims to draw a collective portrait of a caste by referring to the most brutal examples that emerged in the 20th century. However, the author takes care to return to the roots by placing in the background the figure of the absolute monarch embodied by Louis XIV and his aphorism: L’Etat, c’est moi. Oppressors, he writes, trust no one, especially their allies. He gives the example of Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, who were uneducated and ambitious, far from reality, surrounded by sycophants and liars whom they encouraged over the years, and began to believe in their own cult. He explains that the masses have learned to consent. Kim has an example. When he died in 1994, North Koreans tried to outdo each other in displays of pain, shaking their fists at the sky in mock anger. Deluded people subjugated by dictatorship often blame the leader’s evil advisors, not the supreme idol, when things go wrong. The dictator lies on a massive scale. Mussolini did his best to hide from the Italians the atrocities committed by his regime in Libya and Ethiopia. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin deceived foreign intellectuals and politicians into seeing themselves as reasonable people and not warmongers who were actually guilty of internal oppression. Each was popular, even respected, for a time. It is not easy to judge the mood of millions of people whose press has been silenced and who are afraid to open their mouths. So fear can be called magic.
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.