Xi Jingping the Chinese President was relaxing in his summer villa one Sunday morning when a sudden thought assailed him: he was not going to be the President two years hence ; all the power and comforts that he was enjoying would cease. His wife and daughters agreed that they could not think of him as any thing but as the President.
Xi Jingping the Chinese President was relaxing in his summer villa one Sunday morning when a sudden thought assailed him: he was not going to be the President two years hence ; all the power and comforts that he was enjoying would cease. His wife and daughters agreed that they could not think of him as any thing but as the President.
Xi Jingping ordered his puppet parliament to remove the two-term tag attached to the tenure of Chinese Presidents; with the rising of a few hundred hands, he awarded himself absolute power over the fate of the nation and over the lives of millions of Chinese citizens.
No power on earth can unseat him now as long as he breathes; no court can control him. He can silence his critics and gag the media. He can purge his enemies and send them en masse to the firing squad. With the massive Chinese army at his beck and call, he can provoke his neighboring countries and draw them into a war to uphold the imagined Chinese supremacy.
He may defy the UN and world opinion and annex Taiwan, if he thinks China has waited too long. He may provoke another Doklam and attacking an isolated spot on the Indian border try to expose our vulnerability.
One man’s will will govern a nation; his weaknesses may bring disasters over the country. Like Duterte of the Philippines, he may wage a war against drug lords and fix a target of killing 100 drug peddlers a day until the last of them is killed. Or like the North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un arm himself with a dozen more nuclear bombs. Or like Vladimir Putin the Russian President interfere with the elections in democracies with fake news. Or like the Turkish President Erdogan strangle democracy; Or like the Egyptian President al-Sisi bring in military rule;
The danger to the world is not Xi Jingping’s adventures solo; the greater danger is in the example he provides to world leaders. Any democratically elected leader may be tempted to coerce his parliament to enact a law to retain him for life. Even Donald Trump may plan to outlaw the Democrats, kill the Mexicans and disqualify Hillary Clinton from contesting elections. The New York Times and CNN may become a thing of the past. God save the US.
For centuries, the common man has remained gun fodder while dictators strutted the globe on their horses, tanks, planes and rockets, raining death on poets, lovers, teachers, mothers and artists. They achieved nothing but shattered families, ruined cities, offering the people nothing but death, death and death.
There seems to be no tangible way to stop them, stop those who are bent onimposing their will on an innocent populace by interfering with their personal lives and liberty. The only way to destabilize them is to be eternally alert ; dictators bloom when hero worship crosses the limits of decency, when one man’s capacity to elevate society is unquestionably accepted and when his claims and promises go unquestioned.
How do we protect the common man from the gun-wielding dictators and the brain washing leaders whose vision of an ideal world begins with the subjugation of individuals? Even the ballot box is at the mercy of these leaders. The sure way to stop them is to deglamorise them, take away the aura of authority from them, and treat them as ordinary men.
Without a gang of applauding hangers-on, the so-called leaders will lose their charisma. Hitler needed his henchmen and his SS guards to lend him an air of invincibility, and the parades and the public display of power by the SS thugs silenced even well meaning critics. Usually humor kills dictators, and no wonder Hitler came to power in a grim Germany. While the English could not hold on to their colonies because they say they have a sense of humor.
The long term casualty is the loss of faith in our institutions and the lack of trust in the integrity of our leaders. Cynicism enters the minds of men and women, which results in the death of humanism. Man loses his capacity to dream, and that is the first step towards national inertia. When these dictators fall after wreaking chaos in the nation, it will be a Herculean task to restore public trust in our institutions and in our leaders,
Let us nip these leaders in the bud; let us strangle their efforts to grow into super men. Let us expose and condemn corrupt leaders and beaurocrats ; let us discourage hero worship and idolatry; let us shun leaders and politicians who exploit people in the name of religion, community, language, region, philosophy, etc. Let us strengthen, counsel and motivate our teachers who can shape the students who would enrich themselves in order to lead the country and the people to greater heights.
Xi Jingping ordered his puppet parliament to remove the two-term tag attached to the tenure of Chinese Presidents; with the rising of a few hundred hands, he awarded himself absolute power over the fate of the nation and over the lives of millions of Chinese citizens.
No power on earth can unseat him now as long as he breathes; no court can control him. He can silence his critics and gag the media. He can purge his enemies and send them en masse to the firing squad. With the massive Chinese army at his beck and call, he can provoke his neighboring countries and draw them into a war to uphold the imagined Chinese supremacy.
He may defy the UN and world opinion and annex Taiwan, if he thinks China has waited too long. He may provoke another Doklam and attacking an isolated spot on the Indian border try to expose our vulnerability.
One man’s will will govern a nation; his weaknesses may bring disasters over the country. Like Duterte of the Philippines, he may wage a war against drug lords and fix a target of killing 100 drug peddlers a day until the last of them is killed. Or like the North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un arm himself with a dozen more nuclear bombs. Or like Vladimir Putin the Russian President interfere with the elections in democracies with fake news. Or like the Turkish President Erdogan strangle democracy; Or like the Egyptian President al-Sisi bring in military rule;
The danger to the world is not Xi Jingping’s adventures solo; the greater danger is in the example he provides to world leaders. Any democratically elected leader may be tempted to coerce his parliament to enact a law to retain him for life. Even Donald Trump may plan to outlaw the Democrats, kill the Mexicans and disqualify Hillary Clinton from contesting elections. The New York Times and CNN may become a thing of the past. God save the US.
For centuries, the common man has remained gun fodder while dictators strutted the globe on their horses, tanks, planes and rockets, raining death on poets, lovers, teachers, mothers and artists. They achieved nothing but shattered families, ruined cities, offering the people nothing but death, death and death.
There seems to be no tangible way to stop them, stop those who are bent onimposing their will on an innocent populace by interfering with their personal lives and liberty. The only way to destabilize them is to be eternally alert ; dictators bloom when hero worship crosses the limits of decency, when one man’s capacity to elevate society is unquestionably accepted and when his claims and promises go unquestioned.
How do we protect the common man from the gun-wielding dictators and the brain washing leaders whose vision of an ideal world begins with the subjugation of individuals? Even the ballot box is at the mercy of these leaders. The sure way to stop them is to deglamorise them, take away the aura of authority from them, and treat them as ordinary men.
Without a gang of applauding hangers-on, the so-called leaders will lose their charisma. Hitler needed his henchmen and his SS guards to lend him an air of invincibility, and the parades and the public display of power by the SS thugs silenced even well meaning critics. Usually humor kills dictators, and no wonder Hitler came to power in a grim Germany. While the English could not hold on to their colonies because they say they have a sense of humor.
The long term casualty is the loss of faith in our institutions and the lack of trust in the integrity of our leaders. Cynicism enters the minds of men and women, which results in the death of humanism. Man loses his capacity to dream, and that is the first step towards national inertia. When these dictators fall after wreaking chaos in the nation, it will be a Herculean task to restore public trust in our institutions and in our leaders,
Let us nip these leaders in the bud; let us strangle their efforts to grow into super men. Let us expose and condemn corrupt leaders and beaurocrats ; let us discourage hero worship and idolatry; let us shun leaders and politicians who exploit people in the name of religion, community, language, region, philosophy, etc. Let us strengthen, counsel and motivate our teachers who can shape the students who would enrich themselves in order to lead the country and the people to greater heights.