Idi Amin – Mad Man or Man Of The World?
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Was the recently departed Idi Amin Dada the mad man that the press has made him out to be – or is he merely typical of all leaders, without good PR agents and “spin doctors”. I have a theory about leaders of countries, and why they do what they do.
First of all – I think that one trait almost all world leaders share is a disbelief in God. I think these people have rationalized the reality of the situation and understand that this is all there is and there is no everlasting punishment no matter what you do. This would explain the incredible brutality of many with the struggle to survive at all costs (because once dead…..the party is over…..). As these individuals only deal with the empirical – in many ways their judgement is quite accurate. How else to deal with an uneducated populous: violence and fear…..of course….. They understand that the best way to stay in power is to simply kill one’s enemies. They have political structures in place (if they can change them) where they can say and do whatever they want without fear of repercussions. In a way – it is the religious leaders that one should fear the most; and while Mr. Bush may be very religious, He is more a “puppet ruler” and would never have gained power without daddy (so is not included as a world leader in this discussion, but his “handlers” are…..).
Secondly, many of the more outrageous and brutal acts of Amin and Saddam’s sons (as a recent example) may simply be propaganda for the masses as this helps to stay in power – the reality may be that these are very sane likable people and not the misanthropes the press may make them out to be. Why does Canadian Prime Minister Chretien “vacation” with Cuba’s Fidel Castro – then plays golf with US President Clinton? Why does France’s Chirac “hang out” with Iraq’s Saddam Hussain. The answer may be that they are all one and the same – the only difference being their style (which is directly related to the character of the countries they lead). Perhaps a dinner with Amin would be very enlightening and entertaining; maybe he comes across as a true intellect – do you really want a leader that thinks like the “masses”?
At any rate: I think that all competent leaders must make decisions of life or death as one would order a McHappy meal at Mcdonalds….. Fretting about microscopic events in a macroscopic country is an ineffectual leader. What one needs is public relations and “spin doctors” to explain way actions to the “proles” one leads. Idi Amin for dinner? Well…..if he were still alive and I was given the opportunity – it would be liver for supper…..
Maurice
[quote=”lexxrobotech”]Idi Amin was either extremely evil or clinically insane.[/quote]
What about Stalin, Hitler, Chairman Mao, The Emperor Of Japan (still responsible even though it was others that started hostilities), Ho Chi Minh, Mussollini, etc….. If insane – then they could never be found guilty of war crimes; and what of the others that followed their orders? What is “evil” – a purely subjective term (evil is usually the loser in the history books – why is Hitler “evil” and Stalin not?). The people of Iraq consider Bush to be evil…..
Here is an article:
http://www.ugandamission.net/aboutug/articles/amin.html#03-0802b
Maurice
[quote=”Fatguy”]Mr. Bush may be very religious, He is more a “puppet ruler” and would never have gained power without daddy (so is not included as a world leader in this discussion, but his “handlers” are…..).[/quote]
agreed[quote]the reality may be that these are very sane likable people and not the misanthropes the press may make them out to be. [/quote]
From the vantage point of sadists perhaps. Let’s face it, some people are just sociopaths.[quote]Why does Canadian Prime Minister Chretien “vacation” with Cuba’s Fidel Castro [/quote] As far communists despots go (see your own list), he isn’t [i]that[/i] bad.
[quote]Why does France’s Chirac “hang out” with Iraq’s Saddam Hussain.[/quote] It probably has nothing do with all those big ($$) contracts, between the two countries.
[quote]Perhaps dinner with Amin would be very enlightening[/quote] Like trying a new dish?
[quote]do you really want a leader that thinks like the “masses”?[/quote] In Amin’s case, “You are what you eat”
[quote]What about Stalin, Hitler, Chairman Mao, The Emperor Of Japan (still responsible even though it was others that started hostilities), Ho Chi Minh, Mussollini, etc….. [/quote]
Do forget Pol Pot, Kahn, Nero (and most the other Roman emperors)[quote]why is Hitler “evil” and Stalin not?). [/quote]
Re: Hitler – I can give you over 12 million reasons
Re: Stalin – I don’t belive I’ve ever heard him not refereed to as evil. (Hence the “Evil Empire” (yes I know that came later, but you get the idea)) Seriously this guy let 5 million of his own people starve/freeze to death because his bureaucracy forgot to send supplies to that area of the country![quote]The people of Iraq consider Bush to be evil….. [/quote] As do many western people, myself included!
You do have a point with the PR and spin doctors. It a long political tradition, and its inescapable. Any good ruler must lie a little to keep the populace happy. But compare little things like “I did not have sexual relations with that women”, to things like Saddam was trying to acquire African Uranium.
Stalin had his own PR work too. he capitolized of his relationship to Lennin. He had Lennin’s body embalmed to have him appear as a symbol for the people. A symbol easily asociated with him. Stalin’s own name is anther example. “Any dictator who changes his name from Yugash Feely (sp?) to [b]MAN OF STEEL[/b] gets my vote, so to speak”As for “evilness”, which is worse lying to the world to start a war for a natural resource, causing thousands to die; or personally brutally killing a thousand in ones own torture chambers?
In our culture, the latter.
firstly, you didn’t ask about anyone else. You asked about Idi.
Stalin and Hitler were evil. Idi Amin was stupid. He was mildly retarded. He recked an already poor country and did nothing even remotely intelligent in his rule. Unlike Stalin and Hitler.
In terms of who and how evil a person is you need to look at the facts. More innocent lives were lost through Stalin than through Hitler (although Hollywood will never let anyone say otherwise) so I would say that Stalin was more evil than Hitler.
I don’ t think that a dictatorship is evil, it just so happens that most dictators put themselves first and care little for the innocent. Those that cross the line and start cleansing certain population groups are judge evil, and rightly so, by the civilised world. Although Stalin and Hitler appeared a little nutty, neither were insane.
Interesting topic fatguy.
I’m going to throw in a few other tidbits about Amin that struck me as interesting.
As is unfortunately too often the case, Amin’s coup in 1971 was facilitated by “Western Powers” (Britain and Israel) pursuing their own geopolitical strategies. They obviously had no particular interest in the wellbeing of the Ugandan populace. (Though I don’t think Obote was any great shakes either).
[url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=434486]Amin’s Coup[/url]
At least the US wasn’t involved this time, and Jimmy Carter broke off diplomatic relations with him in 1972.
Of course as is to be expected, Amin was not particularly grateful, and it’s pretty clear that he colluded with the Entebbe hijackers in 1976.
Right now, one of his 30 children is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps.
[url=http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/reuters08-16-050039.asp?reg=africa&vts=81620030714]Amin’s Son[/url]
Do you think there’s any qualitative difference between dictators like Stalin (maybe) or Castro or even Mao, who start as idealists–men who want to free their country from the chains of colonialism or monarchical rule, and men like Idi Amin who seems to have had no particular political philosophy other than hunger for power or plain greed? In the end they’ve all became corrupted by power, but they didn’t all start there….
elmey
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