AND THE BEAT GOES ON.....
(Pop Quiz Appended)
Back in 1937 many of us were just beginning to be become aware of the active presence of a disturbing personality among the rather staid rulers of Europe. Year by year, often in semi-legal ways , an emerging individual achieved advantages for his German Socialist party certain treatments which gave him standing among politicians. By 1939, much of the world had come to believe it was too late to do much of anything about his steady rise to control and about his Nazi concepts and extremes. To many, it was a moment of realization that much of what we had cherished had been put at risk by our lack of interest in world wide political problems.
An interesting feature of the time for me, was a real-life “rags to riches” story in the old Horatio Alger manner, A poverty stricken, misfit of a boy changed into a national leader to make his fortune. It was not until years later, when we realized that a dictator was at odds with our thinking and threatening our land and the possessions of our friends. Only then did some people realize that their very way of life was endangered.
We now have - in 2003 - a total of about a dozen active dictators depending on what you think Saddam Hussein best be termed as being at the moment. Can we, by any form of logic, conclude that the potential problems we face from dictators - is, has or will - be ended with Saddam gone?
I don't know that anyone has studied the related circumstances of birth, location, and rise to power, of such people as Napoleon, Edie Amin, Bastista, Castro and other such dictatorships - large and small - to see if there is some standard colorations among them. By this time there must be scholars who have sifted and studied the ashes of portions of our civilization past to recognize dictatorships under construction. I should think there are some who have compiled lists . We see them seeded and reseeded inur in ou social garden.
Most of our current stock of dictators are aging individuals. Among the older one: Jong, 61. Fahd is 80, Abdullah,79, Shwe, 70, Nguerma, 60, Niyazub 62. Gadhafi at 60, Taylor at 55 and Lukashencko at 40 are the younger set among dictators.
Isn't that an odd list?
The average American citizen will not know them.
Self Test. If you are fairly well up on such topics you should be able to parrot off the name of the country in which each holds power. Try it.
If you know their first names - you may go to the head of the class. You'll like it there. Not crowded at all.
A.L.M. June 16, 2003 [c 487wds]
