We have a love-hate relationship with dictators. That sounds bad, right? We should have a hate-hate relationship. Why would we ever love them? Well, the truth is that the truth is complex. Quite often dictatorships are preferred to the most readily available alternative…anarchy. Why? Well, dictators enforce rules. Try stealing something in an authoritarian country. You’ll literally lose your hand…or your head. Of course, the people living in dictatorships are also many times brainwashed. North Koreans, for example, genuinely believe that their leader is the envy of every country in the world because he stands up to the evil United States. Furthermore, it’s not just regular people that can seem to be so unreasonable. Quite often it is the governments of free western countries that end up favoring brutal dictators over democratically elected leaders. Why? If the dictator gives you what you want, then that’s a good deal, right? Besides, it’s easier to control a dictatorship. You don’t have to deal with those pesky votes, elections, and referendums. Having said all of that, dictators are terrible. Although benevolent dictatorship has been argued to be the best form of government, that is like relying on communism to boost your economy. Nice in theory, terrible in practice. These are 225 Outrageous Facts And Stories Crazy Dictators Don’t Want You To Know!
Featured Image: Wikipedia
Saddam Hussein used "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston as his campaign song
Source: mentalfloss.com, Image: wikipedia The official title of Idi Amin, the dictator of Uganda was "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Adolf Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeni, and Joseph Stalin were all the TIME Person of the Year at one point
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Kim Jong-nam was Kim Jong Il's oldest son and the heir to the North Korean leader...until he got caught trying to enter Japan with a fake passport so that he could go to Disneyland
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Although Joseph Stalin was depicted as "physically massive", he was actually quite small. President Truman even referred him to as a "little squirt" after their first meeting
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia In 1980, Saddam Hussein got the key to city of Detroit
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia When he was a child, the Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini was the leapfrog champion of his village
Source: biography.com, Image: wikipedia Before he arrived in Liberia to wage a civil war, dictator Charles Taylor broke out of prison in Massachusettes
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia In 1988, Sarah York, a 10 year old girl from Michigan, became pen pals with the dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega. Her family even went to visit him a year before the US led invasion
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Prisoners in the Soviet Union would get tattoos of Stalin and Lenin because guards were not allowed to shoot at images of the Soviet leaders
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Stalin's son tried to kill himself but survived. Afterwards, Stalin remarked that "he couldn't even shoot straight"
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia World War II did not end European fascism. Fransisco Franco ruled Spain until 1975 and continued to sign death warrants the whole time
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia In 1989, Nicolae Ceauşescu, the dictator of Romania, claimed that Scrabble was too intellectual and banned it
Source: newstatesman.com, Image: wikipedia While under dictator Enver Hoxha, Albania built nearly 1 million bunkers. Today, many are used as homeless shelters
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia After being executed, Mussolini and several others were hung upside down on meathooks as onlookers jeered and threw stones at the corpses
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia In 1989, when Manuel Noriega took cover in the Vatican Embassy in Panama, the US blasted rock music for over 1 week in order to drive him out
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia In 2003, US troops discovered $650 million in the walls of Saddam's palace
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Saddam's son, Uday Hussein, butchered Saddam's valet with a carving knife in front of hundreds of guests during a birthday party
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia George Clooney spent most of the proceeds from his Nespresso commercials to fund a spy satellite over Sudan. It was used to monitor dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Source: huffintonpost, Image: wikipedia As a young boy, Fidel Castro sent President Roosevelt a letter of congratulations for his re-election and asked him for a $10 bill because he'd never gotten to see one
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Although Fransisco Franco implemented many of the same policies as Hitler, he stayed neutral in World War II. This even led Nixon to label him a "loyal friend and ally of the United States"
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia After Stalin sent several assassins to get rid of Yugoslavian dictator Josip Broz Tito, Tito sent Stalin a letter saying "stop sending people to kill me or I'll send one to kill you...and I won't need to send a second"
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Mussolini offered nearly $2000 to any couple willing to name their child after him
Source: guardian.com, Image: wikipedia In 1973, US backed dictator Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically elected Salvador Allende in Chile. Pinochet proceeded to execute and torture his opponents
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Doctors induced labor on Kim Jong Un’s child so that he would be born in 2012, the 100th anniversary (birthday) of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Lists Going Viral Right Now
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