Throughout history mad dictators have siezed power?

Question

numerous times. We all know the characteristics of a dictator, yet time and time again, humankind allows them to take power. No matter how obvious the dictator is being, they manage to get there. Why does humankind not prevent this happening? We are evolved and intelligent enough to take preventative measures.

So how do these crazy people keep getting the better of us?

Answer 1

Two reasons:  History is written by the winners, and mad is relative.  If Hitler had taken over the world, he would not be considered a mad dictator today, at least not in Germany.

The "mad" dictators of today are not necessarily considered as such in their own countries.

Sometimes the two blend:  Ghengis Khan is considered a ruthless "mad" dictator by some, and revelled as a fair leader and family man by others.

Answer 2

There have been benevolent Dictators principally  Napoleon Bonaparte, Anwar Sadat, Kenneth Kaunda, Józef Piłsudski, Miklós Horthy, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and Omar Torrijos who were seen as benign although Napoleon was certainly a bit of a war-monger to put it mildly.

Evil men succeed when a few good men do nothing, seems to ring a bell.

History repeats itself and it is sometimes hard to recognise pure evil before it is to late.  Pre-world war 2 Germany was considered enlightened and had provided the world with many excellent examples in art, music, science and writing so it was not that they were uncivilised or anything.

Getting control of the press, judiciary and due process and also being mates with industry did not do any really bad Dictator any harm at all.

Answer 3

Hey good question I think it's because the difference between a really good leader and an evil one is very very small. Normally they start off good and it's only later that they show there evil aspect for example Winston Churchill was a great leader but in WW2 he wanted to use chemical weapons on German civilians, while Hitler was gassed during WW1 and refused to use those weapons on civilians (although he did use them on the Jews), Sometimes we let these people rule us because we need a leader who will do radical things which we believe will help us and we think we can control their worst attributes but we sooner or later find that to be impossible. I hope this helps you :) x

Answer 4

Good & evil are merely perspectives. In my eyes what Hitler did was a great thing. He was only aiming for the better of his race. It is because that people have the same perspectives on the matter as these 'dictators'. That is why people follow them & believe them. Because they are great leaders who make sacrifices for his/her people.

Answer 5

I haev also thought this. I think some of the problem is that they go crazy in office - They can be like the story of Moses what gets you to the promised land but they arent the right person to manage being in it.

I think also there is a relationship dynamic - a percentage of the population always revere a tough love sort of person who stands for no nonsense - It was inconceivable to me that lady thatcher lasted so long when she was so brutal.

Its as if we like  the school-marmish approach - hard but fair - I don't think dictators could get elected in -in good times where a nation was laid back and confident.

For me I wonder why the U.N cant deal with situations which are way out of control like Mugabe. How many people have to die before we find a way of ensuring that mad dictators can be taken down - like a universal creed 'oath  for all politicians - If I step over this boundary with my people I forfeit my right to stay in my country and will be taken away.

I think we are still pretty racist as regards whom we help and whom we dont. I guess everyone is frightened of a bully and doesn't know how to give them boundaries.

Answer 6

Well things are bad people turn to the worst.  Like it was a economic and political disaster in Germany and the people thought the current government, at the time, was not in their opinion 'up to the job' and they voted Hitler.  Well I think that is what happened...

And now, currently in England.  There is an economical slump occuring and people are cross with the government in power, Labour and unusually are not voting Tories but paries like the BNP something of which people would not vote for when things were on the up.  

Well this is all what I think.

Answer 7

if you can kill poeple easily so you will rule easily ...

this is the dictatorship.....

Arraow ,,,,

Answer 8

Because they appeal to something in most people. The famous Milgram experiment showed that as long as it was backed by authority, most people would willingly commit wrong acts.

I think you might be approaching the issue in the wrong way. Rather than assume that these dictators are madmen who seized power agaionst the wishes of the populous, I think you should probably be looking at, given how common events like genocide are, what it is about us or our society which makes us so susceptible to these events.

In all honesty, I do not think that modern society is very far removed in mindset from n**i Germany or other dictatorships. I know this is a controversial idea, but I would like to present a couple cases as evidence:

-Abortion. Now, I am pro-choice and I do not believe that abortion is murder. But a significant portion of the U.S. population does. The vast majority of these people, however, not only do nothing about what they see as a mass-murder, they take active steps to support the country. The vast majority pay taxes, support the military, support law enforcement, etc. The most they do is vote for a politican who may say soothing words to them. The mindset that one must pay taxes, obey the law, support the military, etc. when one's country is committing what one believes is a mass murder three times bloodier than the Holocaust is a mindset that is thoroughly mainstream in the US.

-Foreign aid. This is an issue often kept out of the media spotlight in the US. Each day around 30,000 kids die around the world from lack of basic nutrients or cheap vaccines. Aid organizations estimate that for a few dollars, a person in the first world could save a child's life. Nonetheless the level of personal giving (in the US and elsewhere) to these groups is incredibly low. Instead, the average person will spend more on ice cream, or cosmetics, or shoes than they will on saving children's lives. Furthermore, very few people even take the time to research such organizations, and when asked why they give so little compared to what they spend on luxuries, they either state without evidence that the aid groups are corrupt, that their money will do no good, or, best of all, that it is their money and they can spend it how they see fit.

So we (assuming you are an American) live in a society where a significant chunk of the population actually believes that mass murder on the scale of over a million deaths a year is being carried out in our country and has been carried out for the past 30 or so years, and the vast majority of them nonetheless think obeying the law and paying taxes is more important. We also live in a country (and world) where people openly and knowingly choose personal luxuries over the lives of their fellow humans on a daily basis. I could come up with other examples too, but this is already long enough.

With these two facts in mind (and they are facts), it shouldn't surprise anyone that humans are so prone to genocide and supporting dictatorships. The evidence points, both today and historically, that as long as someone has personal comfort, they will most likely be more than willing to put up with any number of wrongs committed against others.

Answer 9

Dictators usually take control in desperate countries where the government is corrupt and the people are suffering.

Answer 10

There is a layer above that of political which exercises control over the whole planet.  I think it was Neville Chamberlain, ex British Prime minister, who commented upon that fact decades ago.  These people decide the winners of all elections.  When you think about it, the present electoral system must be extremely easy to cheat; how can anybody prove otherwise than what we are told.  Even recounts can be fixed.  I too asked myself, for many years: how can such bad people become elected leaders?  The truth is, they are not elected, they are placed in power by those above politics.  Electoral systems, especially that computerized version in the US, are obviously far easier to cheat than people comprehend.  Then, of course, once a bad leader is in power, it's virtually impossible to get it back out.  In the European union this doesn't happen.  The worst leader Europe has had in the last thirty years was Thatcher, in the UK, who also cheated the electoral system for her third win.

Some people try very hard to make others aware that this is happening.  David Icke for instance.  And just look at what the mass media have done to him in recent years!

Answer 11

By controlling the army of a disatisfied and starving country,,,

Answer 12

Political leaders are mad, not only dictators, but are only declared mad if they finish on the losing end - and by those who finish on the winning end, who then present the 'fact' to the world as history.