Why do some people admire dictators?
Surely non of us admire Hitler and I bet there are few people in Cambodia that admire Pol pot but even in countries that used to be dictatorships their legacies are still admired and revered by some. I don't know how you can admire a leader who murders or imprisons political opponents, censors freedom of speech expression, thought and so on.
The power to manipulate the masses.
The overall skilled application of the knowledge of "How To Control The Masses"; the kind of knowledge where that one person figured the secret of how simple the collective humans are.
Like, one doesn't even need a super degree, acquired enlightenment or whatever supposed competency qualifiers to do it; only enough crowd attention and enough repetition.
Just like ads. Just like propaganda.
Those simple principles like the masses thinks black and white, whatever they perceived as superior or prestigious means no to little scrutiny, and so forth...
The very things where EQ is weaponzed.
And a point of the matter; not all people fear evil or be disgusted by it.
I think a good portion of these types of people usually believe that high EQ means "good and genuine people".
Some are tempted by it.
Want the same things a dictator has for themselves.
Plenty of these people knew high EQ means "very capable manipulator".
For same reasons how one would admire someone with high IQ and want it themselves.
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Last edited by Edna3362 on 09 Feb 2025, 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DuckHairback
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I think a lot of people are frustrated by democratic politics.
There's problems that are just complex and interconnected and people either can't or don't want to know that.
In their heads the answers are simple. So then it starts to look like the practice of politics is the real problem - people talking and not appearing to do very much.
So the idea of a dictator can be appealing because they say "Yes, you're right, the answers are simple and if you'll just let me get rid of all these experts and beaurocrats and due processes and any checks on my power, then I can get on with fixing the problems."
And that sounds great... until the reality of living under that sort of regime hits.
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funeralxempire
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I wonder how similar it is to the people who admire serial killers.
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Some people are very foolish and don't understand what certain dictators do - or just don't care because it hasn't personally affected them.
Some ignorant people admire putin who is an evil war criminal.
Some of these people have children of their own. Do they care that Russia has abducted 20 thousand Ukrainian children?
Would they like their own children abducted? Probably not, but they are in some way supporting this very behavior.
Russia tortures Ukrainian prisoners of war. Would those who admire putin like to be tortured by electric shock? To have their genitals mutilated? Ears cut off? Shot in the kneecaps?
I'm not sure they would support what they purport to support if they had to endure it. I have my doubts.
Chris. Hitler was a lot of things, some of which we could not mention in here, but he was not a dicatator. A dictator is a leader who was not democratically elected. Hitler was not only democratically elected by a majority vote of the German people, but unlike other countries who had held off democratic elections due to the war, Germany kept up their democratic elections which took place half way through the war, and the German people voted Hitler back in.
The Nazis were a left wing party known as the socialist party of the people, also called "The Peoples Party". I think you are using the word "Dictator" to mean something very different from the real meaning of the word?
funeralxempire
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The Nazis were a left wing party known as the socialist party of the people, also called "The Peoples Party". I think you are using the word "Dictator" to mean something very different from the real meaning of the word?
A few corrections.
For starters, the 1933 elections were the last multiparty elections held in Germany prior to 1990. It is incorrect to claim Germany continued to have democratic elections under Hitler.
Secondly, Chancellor was an appointed position, Hitler wasn't personally elected although his party was.
Thirdly, in the months before the 1933 election, SA and SS displayed "terror, repression and propaganda ... across the land", and Nazi organizations "monitored" the vote process. In Prussia 50,000 members of the SS, SA and Der Stahlhelm were ordered to monitor the votes by acting Interior Minister Hermann Göring, as auxiliary police.
That's not a free and fair election by any definition of the word.
Fourth, two weeks after the election, he was able to pass an Enabling Act on 23 March with the support of the Nazi Party, the DNVP and the Centre parties, which effectively gave Hitler dictatorial powers. Within months, the Nazis banned all other parties and turned the Reichstag into a rubberstamp legislature comprising only Nazis and pro-Nazi "guests".
This is what makes Hitler a dictator, no matter how one seeks to dishonestly redefine him as anything but a dictator.
Fifth, the NSDAP has always been recognized as a far-right party. Insisting they're a left-wing party because of the name makes as much sense as insisting North Korea is democratic because it's the People's Democratic Republic of North Korea.
Literally every single aspect of what you've claimed is demonstrably false MG.
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The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. —Malcolm X
Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges.—George Orwell
I think its not constructive to compare political philosophies and movements from different historical epochs as in any way synonymous with our modern definitions. Following WWI. Hitler himself disagreed with labelling German Nazism as left or rightwing. I believe he used "syncretic" to describe Nazism drawing on many ideas including socialism. Following WWI many German soldiers who joined the fledgling Nazi party were first drawn to either communist or socialist movements (largely so they could get a hot meal, roof over their head or a job) so it isn't surprising that NSDAP included socialism in their name. But while the Nazis might not have cared for labels, we can (in 2025) use the the term right wing based on the numerous beliefs they carried that set them apart (especially with race). But conversely extreme nazi politics does overlap with extreme communism, especially in authoritarian control of the population.
Just one year ago, I used "Nazi" and "fascist" to describe Trump supporters.
But since my own views have shifted sharply to the left, I have considered using those terms to describe anyone to the right of AOC/The Squad.
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It's funny, I remember back in 2016 when there was at least 5-6 WP members who accused many of us of having "trump derangement syndrome". Actually at some point people were getting warnings for saying things about trump voters.
Whatever one thinks of trump, he never hid his intentions. Its like "you vote me again and I'll go full "mad dictator". He clearly hasn't disappointed.
Whatever one thinks of trump, he never hid his intentions. Its like "you vote me again and I'll go full "mad dictator". He clearly hasn't disappointed.
I'm worried it will take a Mao-style Cultural Revolution to get rid of Trumpism.
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I think people can turn a blind eye to terrible things quite easily, especially if the government is actively trying to hide it.
A benevolent, wise dictator is a very good form of government and this is what people hope for (but usually don't get). Fast, always does the right thing, no debates, no BS, no corruption, long term focus. Politicians are all liars by the nature of the game, a dictator can cut through the crap because they have the power to. If you are broke, tired, and politicians are just all looking for a new way to grift tax money, a dictator seems appealing if they are good. No need to think for yourself. They know what is best.
None of the dictators I know of were benevolent or wise, but they probably seem that way if you only read the propaganda.
Some people say that Napoleon's brought in some good things to France like an enlightenment-informed education system, even though he was a war-mongering lunatic who didn't care how many people died because of him. Crowds are inherently scared of new ideas, especially if it costs them something initially, so it can take an authority to kind of push them through.
Many people in Asia look up to Lee Kuan Yew who is the definition of a benevolent dictator who took Singapore from third world to first world in a matter of a couple of decades. Heck, even many in China still consider Mao a legend for guiding China through the war and being prosperous today.
But that's about where it stops.
- Peron in Argentina
- Tito in Yugoslavia
Even some guy praised Stalin, but he was american and didn't live through soviet rule, so f**k that guy.
Cult of personality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality
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