We all have them, the cat talks to me, that bit of toast has what looks like the virgin Mary on it, alien spirits live under a dormant Hawaiian volcano, we randomly evolved, there is a god... The list goes on and on.
But why? Why when these are obviously so ridiculous and looney are they constantly reported on? One person to hold a torch too is Herbert Gans. This person was responsible for a whole lot of things he called 'values', they are used every day in the global media and shape what we read, hear and listen to.
One of his values was 'individualism'. Self made businessmen and women, sports people (rugby captains etc etc) and of course world leaders. What really makes the news however is when these people go a little off the rails. One enduring trait of these 'leaders' is that they rule absolute and become dictators . Of course many who become leaders do not go mad, so there must be other explanations...
"If you want to be powerful, and if you have that drive, you may be led to be a dictator. There are hardly any reluctant ones. And once they're in power they're hard to dislodge. These traits manage to keep them in power - for example, if you're hypersensitive to threats and plots then you can effectively eliminate your competition." REALLY? Is there a non effective way of 'eliminating' your competition? Just loosely tying that three legged knot won't cut it I'm afraid. Some people blame age, that some dictators are just too young and make decisions that are not based on any previous experience, Caligula for example :It's easy to see how someone given absolute power, without any preparation, could let it go to his head… it's a bit like if you made a teenager prime minister, without giving them any previous training. Ummmm I think there would be many teenagers out there who would rule slightly better than some in power. For a start there would be sweet keg (barrel) parties and lots of sex. I know I know, politicians generally have torrid sex lives, look at poor old Dom Strauss or that dirty old swinger Burlusconi! But lets not digress, okay, some dictators are a little inexperienced. Perhaps Caligula didn't get to learn from his father. Kim jong un had no problem there, his dad was the nuttiest of them all,
State media also said that, the first time he bowled, Kim Jong-il scored a perfect 300, and in his first round of golf he had five holes-in-one for a 38-under par round.
Crikey! He could give Tiger some lessons... Madness is abound. Keep an eye on medals being given, titles being taken... The last thing the world needs is anymore nutbars in power... still they make for good news. Keep em coming:)
Troy
Ok this should have updated, the link should have been 'dictator' which would have taken the reader to the BBC article about mad dictators.
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