WEBVTT - How Dictators Work 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Stuff you should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:14.200 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:18.919 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. There's Jerry over there. Uh, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:24.360 and it's two thousand seventeen. Jerry or Benevolent Dictator? Yeah 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.200 for real. She's got those epaulets that she wears all 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:34.120 the time and sunglasses. I was just commenting. I thought 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.520 this is a pretty good article here from how Stuff Works. Yeah, 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.879 I've heard that before. Who wrote this one? Do you 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.440 have that on there? I always have it on there. 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:45.440 You didn't have it today. It might be a Shane 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.040 of Freeman joint. I think it. Maybe that sounds familiar. Anyway, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:54.120 it's a good one. Yeah, and here it is. That 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.160 was that was the word for word my intro that 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.320 you just stole. Well, my mind reading class has been 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:05.720 paying off, Chuck. Have you ever lived under a dictatorship? Uh? 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:11.440 Not exactly. No, No, I haven't either, And I think 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.520 we should kind of consider ourselves fairly lucky because it 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:19.560 turns out that not only were we born in a 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.280 country that most people would argue is not a dictatorship. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.600 Although you can find plenty of websites to argue that 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.320 it is. It has been for the last several years, 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.360 possibly even for the most part, most people would say, 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.240 it's not a dictatorship. So we were lucky to be 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.560 born in a country that isn't a dictatorship. But not 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.039 only that, we're lucky to be born in a time 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:45.520 when dictatorships have become fairly um hard to find comparatively speaking, 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:51.760 because dictatorships were basically the way that people were ruled 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:57.000 for thousands of years up until very recent times, around 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.560 the time of the Enlightenment, when the idea of individual 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:05.880 liberties and the protection of those individual liberties um became 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:10.160 kind of widespread. Yeah, and this article kind of starts off. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.160 I thought it was um. I thought it was interesting 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.040 that you don't often Well, first of all, the word 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.440 dictator is just one like the one who dictates the thing. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:22.320 It's kind of funny when you break down the actual definition, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.840 you're like, oh, well, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.280 Then it's the guy who paces back and forth in 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.720 front of the desk while somebody's typing what he's saying 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.000 take dictation. But they don't call themselves that very often, 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.480 although it has happened before. We get into the history. Um, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.200 it's it's we should point out that like Castro and 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:47.560 Saddam Hussein, you never hear them say I'm dictator as 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.200 a bad rap. You know, I'm the dictator Fidel Castro. Yeah, 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.160 it's like how propaganda got turned into pr Yeah, that 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:59.080 will call themselves premier or president or chancellor or pure 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:04.840 boss of view. Uh. Kim Kim jong ill holds three titles. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.680 I think he's looking for a fourth and fifth like 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:09.920 as we speak, Well, he's in the ground and his 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.240 son Oh wait, I got this too confused, right, Well 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.839 he held three titles, Yes he did. I imagine, Well, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.000 his son probably holds four. Then he probably found that 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.040 fourth just made one up. Did you know that? There's 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.840 like I I you know that Kim jong un is 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.799 h the supreme leader of North Korea, but he actually 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:33.079 technically shares power with two other officials as well. They 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.600 have basically a triumvirt going there. It was news to me. Yeah, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.440 those guys are called keep Quiet one and keep quiet too. 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.600 I was just looking up some of his greatest hits recently, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.680 and um Kim Jong un alone has already started to 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:53.040 amass several but one was a North Korean leader, pretty 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.200 high ranking official was executed with an anti aircraft machine 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.320 gun for slouching or following asleep at a at a meeting. 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.840 Holy cow, right, but do you hear stuff like imagine 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.080 what that would do to a body? Yeah, oh my god, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.400 But you should. You should take that kind of stuff 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.160 with a grain of salt, especially when it's coming out 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:15.000 of North Korea, because we have really virtually no idea 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.360 what's going on day to day over there, even big 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.039 events like that. Even if it is true that that 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.760 guy was executed with an anti aircraft gun, whether or 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.479 not it was for falling asleep during a meeting or 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.080 something like that, remains to be seen. Yeah, you're saying 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.000 to take any information with a grain of salt. Yes, yes, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:38.720 it's good advice. Thanks. Uh. But um as Shana, I believe. 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.080 Shana points out that that dictators do have some things 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.719 in common, and one of the big ones is is 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.240 almost a hundred percent of the time a dictator doesn't 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.560 come to power through an election. They're usually not freely 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.760 elected to that position. No, but they have been. They 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:58.440 have been, yeah, pretty prominently like Hitler, Yeah, he was 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:02.360 an elector. That wouldn't he named ancelor. Yes, by the 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:07.560 elected president though, right, but he still wasn't elected. No, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.960 I guess that's true. Okay, fine, well let's get into 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.640 history then. All right, so you say dictator's got a 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.320 bad it got it's gotten a bad rap over the years, 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.279 right as far as calling yourself that, I think so. 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.880 But it officially originally and I couldn't. I saw a 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.920 couple of references degrease. But it seems to be Rome, 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:33.240 classic rome Um, classic Rome. Yeah, it trips coming into 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:37.120 the party and everybody's like, that's classic Rome. He tried 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.760 to walk through that screen door wasn't open, So classical Rome. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.760 How about that? It seems to be an invention of 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:50.360 classical Rome. Right. Um, there was a station called dictator. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:54.160 There's an office basically, and in ancient rome Um the 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:59.320 leadership was held by two men called councils, and they 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:05.600 were equally powerful from what I understands, council console um. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.240 And when something went down and stuff hit the fan, 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.680 the Romans tided tradition of appointing one of the council's 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:20.839 uh dictator, which is basically an emergency investment of unparalleled 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.760 power into this one person and the whole thinking behind 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.240 it was when you were faced with an emergency, When 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.760 the state was faced with an emergency, you needed somebody 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.520 who could basically get stuff done, like a single voice. Yeah, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.400 I didn't have to go to the Senate to ask anything, 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.440 didn't have to go um worry about making the wrong move. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:43.080 The dictator couldn't be held um criminally liable for their decisions, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.719 didn't have to worry about not being invited to the 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.400 other console's Christmas party the next year. The other council 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.280 wanted to be invited to the dictator's Christmas party. That's right. 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.360 So there was an investment of these emergency powers in 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.000 this one person. And usually I saw one year. This 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.400 article says sasted for six months, and then the dictator 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.080 would be like, wow, that was a wild ride. I'm 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.800 going back to my normal life. The rebellion has been 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.600 quelled or the siege is over, something like that. Yeah. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.120 And interestingly, there were a few rules. They couldn't be 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:18.320 held legally responsible for their actions. Big one. Uh, it 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.920 says couldn't be an office longer than six months. Although 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.520 I think is I think they were there to handle 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.600 the situation as kind of as long as that took 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.480 for the most part. But there were also guys who 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.040 are like, whoa, I like the feel of this. I'm 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.800 not giving this up. And they'll say, well you have to, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.960 we say, and then they said, well I'm the dictator. 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.160 And they said, we hadn't thought this all the way through. Yeah, 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.800 that's true. They could change Roman law and the constitution. 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.600 They couldn't use public money, uh and less other than 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.760 what the Senate said you could use it for. So 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.720 they supposedly still and these are the official rules, you know, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:58.200 as we see um coming up here. People bent these rules. Uh. 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.160 And they couldn't leave Italy was the last one. It's 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.560 just a good one. And they would have like Colombo 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.720 come in and deliver that last bit. We look, just 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:13.400 don't even in Italy for a while. Okay, that's your Colombo, impressman. Yeah, 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.240 he sounded just like Josh Clark thought it was spot on. 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.280 Uh So this kind of happened here and there until 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.360 about two o two b c um. And then about 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:30.640 a hundred years after that, a gentleman named Lucius Cornelius Sula. 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.040 I love all these Roman dictators sound like either seventies 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:40.760 like Black Exploitation movie stars or Roman gladiators. Uh, so 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.160 he was appointed dictator without a term limit and didn't 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.360 have these restrictions, and so this sort of changed the 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.520 game from here on out. And he actually wanted Caesar dead. 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.680 So Caesar ran off and joined the army Julius Caesar, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.200 I should say, um, and and just basically laid low 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.960 until Sela died. And then Caesar came back and he 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:06.200 was appointed counsel and then dictator himself. He succeeded Sola, 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.560 right and Caesar um is very well known to be 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.599 a dictator, but he actually if you look at the 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.000 stuff he did, he was a friend to the people. 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:22.240 He forgave debts among the pretty much among the middle 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:27.880 and lower classes. Um. He improved infrastructure he um. He 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.000 basically went to bat for the lower classes, which threatened 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.920 the elite because he made him immensely popular. Plus he 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:39.320 was a dictator, so he actually created it. He staged 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.000 a coup to become a dictator right to gain power, 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.040 which we'll talk about a little more. And then a 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.200 coup was plotted against him and he was assassinated by 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.840 the ruling elite of the Senate on my birthday. Yeah, 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.600 well a long time before my birthday. But you know 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:02.640 what I mean back in Uh, yeah, I mean we've 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.080 tossed out benevolent dictator a couple of times getting around. 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:06.960 But that's a real term, and that generally means a 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.000 dictator who for the most part isn't just in it 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.520 for themselves and they are trying to make things better 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.920 for the people. Right. But it depends on your perspective. Yeah, exactly. So, 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.440 like the ruling elite found him very threatening, they would 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.040 not have considered him benevolent at all. But like say, 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.240 the average plebeian would have been like, I love Caesar. Yeah, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.400 give me some more of the coins with his face 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.199 on it. Yeah. I mean, followers of Castro still after 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.079 his death say he was a benevolent dictator, but people say, no, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:41.400 it's perspective. It's a subjective term. Basically. Napoleon actually, um, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:46.000 he came to power again like many dictators, in a 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.800 state of emergency, and he was actually a benevolent dictator 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.160 in a sense because he he did a lot of 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.440 great things for a while for the people. Right. He 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.400 was extremely popular. Yeah, he was undef he did at 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.000 the time that he rose to power. Um, he was 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.360 appointed counsel and then he said, you know what, let's 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:06.679 go a little further than that. I'm going to call 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.480 myself emperor. And they said, okay, Napoleon. What could possibly 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.000 go wrong with that? Yeah? Well, first he was named 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.440 counseled and he was like, I think council for life 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.840 has a better ring to it. And then that wasn't enough, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.400 so he's like, let's just shorten that. Like you said, though, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.600 he was super popular because he was he was undefeated 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.960 as a military leader. He balanced the budget, he reformed government, 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.400 He wrote the civil law, which a lot of is 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.560 still around the day in France. Yeah, civil law, right, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.280 not too bad. He had a lasting impact, for sure, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.679 he did. But again again to call him benevolent, if 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.360 you remember parliament who was thrown out of one of 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.600 the windows of Parliament when he took over, you probably 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.680 wouldn't be like, you're so benevolent, right. He also control 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.760 had an iron thumb on the press. Uh. He controlled um, 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.680 every facetive government. He had spies working for him. So 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.600 it's not like and he wasn't just you know, buzz 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.440 of the clown. No, both Buzz of the Clown was 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.120 super shady. No. If you put all that together, though, Chuck, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:16.480 you get the impression of why historians considered Napoleon the 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.200 first modern dictator. He checked basically every box there was. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.640 He had it figured out. He drew new boxes and 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:27.040 check those. He said, all dictators to follow. Here's your boxes. 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.280 I just looked down at your notes and I want 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.360 to show you something. I think we should take a break. 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.920 But before then, okay, Chuck, I think you should see this. 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:43.160 So in this article UM on dictators from how Stuff Works, 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.720 there's a a sidebar is what they're called, and web 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:51.280 print parlance just a little extra bit and the title 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.679 of the subbar is dark Dictator. That's all we need 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.720 to say. And it talks about Emperor Palpatine in his rise. 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.120 And Chuck had his xed out and I independently x 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.280 mine out as well. So we won't be talking about 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.240 that today everybody, now, but let's do take that break 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.640 and we'll discuss that in private so you don't get 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:32.960 to know about it, and we'll be right back. Sk alright, 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.960 So we're back. Um. We talked about one of the 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.120 things that dictators had in common, as they generally aren't 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:44.280 elected and it like a fair election. Um, they are 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:49.720 usually ruling autocracies. Um, A lot of times they have 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.839 what's called the totalitarian regime. Yeah, we should talk about that. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.000 That's a big one. That means you like you were 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.959 in control of all the news and all the meat 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:04.040 that gets out about everything. Right, So there there's a 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.559 there's a lot of confusion over the difference between authoritarianism 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:15.040 and totalitarianism. Uh. And a totalitarian regime is authoritarian, but 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:19.440 not all authoritarian regimes are totalitarian. An authoritarian regime is 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.680 where the government is headed by one single leader. Okay, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.640 there's no parliament, there's no courts, there's no nothing that 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.080 that that leader doesn't either control or just doesn't exist 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:34.240 to counter that leader's decisions. A totalitarian regime is, like 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.000 you were saying, I think you're missing it. Either they could. 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.920 It's like deletrious. They control everything, not just the government. 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.360 They control the social aspects of life in that country. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.440 They control the economy of that country, they control the media, 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:57.520 they control everything. It's totalitarian. Uh. Personal freedoms might be vanquished, 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.560 might be Um, there might be police, secret police, there 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.920 might be spies spying on citizens. Uh. It's not a 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.400 good way to live. No. And and also, um, you 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.840 will probably be encouraged at as a citizen to spy 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:17.200 on your fellow citizens, because authoritarian regimes quickly learn that 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.600 if you have a large population, it's kind of tough 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.120 and very expensive to keep tabs on everybody. So if 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.240 you have a secret police going around and people are 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.320 aware that there is a secret police, they're gonna behave 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.520 themselves more. And if you can get your citizens to 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.240 kind of keep an eye on one another, everybody's gonna 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.600 behave even further. That's a terrible way to live. Well, 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.320 and you know what, like it sounds like a totalitarian 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.160 ruler would be I bet there's a lot of paranoia 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.000 that goes along with that. Like when you're in that 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.240 kind of position. Oh, if you're the ruler, Yeah, it's 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.880 not just like rule everything. So it's all good. Like 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:50.920 at that point, you don't know who to trust you, right, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:54.560 you're probably always looking over your shoulder, you know, it's 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.400 not like why why bother with all that? Right, Like 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.120 you know it's gonna end badly? Just kick back and 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:07.400 light adobie instead, Well, I bother with all that? Uh, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.440 many times they're there, they foster what's known as a 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.120 cult of personality. And this is a big one. Um, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.400 if you went into and saw Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.720 you go to North Korea or in the times of 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.280 like Lenin and Stalin, you're gonna see a lot of 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:28.640 posters and statues of these leaders everywhere. Yeah, oh yeah, 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.120 like it's your ubiquitous you're taught that the um the 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.800 leader is basically the state. Who is this the leader? Right, 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.760 and the state is the most important thing. But the 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.480 state is personified by the leader. And sometimes they'll even 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.360 go so far as the state. By the way, the 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:48.840 leader is descended directly from God. So go make a 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.240 painting of a kid, right, and we're gonna put it 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.400 up in the town square. Who was the one who 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.120 had the statue rotated to face the sun. He was 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.560 the head of Turkmenistan. He changed his name when he 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:06.600 took go over his His birth name was supper Murat Niyazov, 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.000 but he changed his name to Turkmenbashi, and then he 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:16.280 started naming everything in Turkmenistan Turkmenbashi, including the month of January. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.560 But he created that statue. Yeah, and he had this 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.520 golden statue rotated to always face the sun. So yeah, 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.120 he was always facing the sun, and he said, read 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:29.440 that quote. Man, that quote is awesome. Oh right, uh, 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.240 he said, quote, I'm personally against seeing my pictures and 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.000 statues in the streets, but it's what the people want. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.440 We got that, I think from an od list. Actually, yeah, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.639 we'll probably pepper in more of those. Um. But I mean, 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.480 I hope this drives home the point that these um 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:54.400 totalitarian dictators they're narcissists there, uh, megalomaniacs. They are obviously 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.840 paranoid um otherwise they wouldn't need to rule with an 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:02.600 iron fist. And um yeah, it's just not it's not 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.960 a good way to run a country. Like I said, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.800 it always ends badly, I guess, to get caught up 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.439 in the power and they don't see what history has 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.840 taught us time and time again. I I wish we 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.600 knew what it was, because you can look around, especially 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.880 in the world today, and see country after country after 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.680 country sliding down that rabbit holes. Mental disorder on their part, 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.760 I think. But it doesn't just have to be be there, 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:27.800 doesn't just have to be like a single leader, like 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.040 even liberal democracies are starting to slide down that that 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.520 whole where like they want all the information possible on everybody, 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.679 and it's ultimately to keep control, you know. But is 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.280 it based on fear or is it based on paranoia, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.959 or is it based on that desire to hang on 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.720 to power or what which is brew of all those things? 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:48.960 Is it that creates that? Why do we keep doing 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.679 it over and over and over again because it always 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:56.680 is the it's the it's the death knell for a civilization. 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.960 When it's when the leadership starts doing that, it's unsustainable. Bowl. Yeah, 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:02.920 but and we'll talk a little bit about how they end, 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.840 but um, it always is badly. Like you see like 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.320 Saddam Hussein in power, like in these military uniforms, and 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.400 then you see this like sad old man pulled out 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.159 of a foxhole. Yeah, it looks like he washed up 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.119 on Gilligan's Island or something like. Or Noriega like wasting 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.120 away in prison, like begging to get out in a wheelchair. 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.200 And I would like to know the story behind that, 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:28.119 because yeah, Panama in the US were pretty good friends. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.680 Then all of a sudden, the US invades and now 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.520 Manuel Noriega is in prison in Miami and has been 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.720 for thirty years. Like sometimes went down that prison is he, oh, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.560 that's right, and then they transferred him to uh well, 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.280 outside the Panama Canal ironically. Oh yeah, he's in some 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.520 prison there. He's like in a wheelchair and in his 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.480 early eighties and just yeah, not doing so hot. But 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.479 he served his whole sentence I think in Miami, and 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.359 then they transferred him to Panama to phil to to 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.159 carry out another sentence down there. Yeah. Yeah, but m 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.920 went down that I don't know about. I'm intensely curious 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.639 to know. If anybody knows out there, tell me. I'm 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.560 sure you can find that out pretty easy, right apparently not. 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:13.920 I was just kidding. I bet it's highly guarded secret. 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.840 Do you think even after all these years, I don't know, 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.920 Noriega had motor He was a motor mouth. I'm sure 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.840 he told everybody who would listen. Uh well, we mentioned 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:28.960 Hitler earlier. Um he like he said, although not elected, 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.680 was legally installed. He was appointed chancellor by President Paul 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:38.240 van Hendenburg. And then once Hendenberg died, Hitler said, you 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.960 know what, there's this German word, uh feer, It means leader, 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:44.520 and he why don't we just make that my new title? 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.359 Which is because we don't really need a president and 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.200 a chancellor. I can be both dudes, and then eventually 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.360 I'll just kill myself and a bunker another let's say 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:00.440 sad end, but just pitiful end. You know. The great 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.320 word for sad indicates that, you know what I mean, 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.320 I don't have to over explain that doing so. But 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:11.879 Hitler he came to power legitimately. So did Saddam Hussein. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.399 Actually he was the general of the Iraqi Army and 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.840 vice president and then as the president came, but I 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.320 think he fell ill um. Saddam Hussein started to take 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.320 on more and more power and finally was just like 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.639 I'm president forever now, okay. And I think that's the case. Like, 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.840 the point that this article is making is that there's 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:34.280 a number of different ways a dictator can come to power. 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.679 They can come to power and a power vacuum. They 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:38.680 can come to power in a coup, which we'll talk about. 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:43.119 They can come to power democratically. But if it's the 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:51.520 kind of person who wants to rule unfettered and they 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.760 come they know how to basically work the populace and 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.560 the circumstances are right, you know, like maybe there's fear 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:02.639 of of outsiders coming your way, or the economy is 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:07.399 bad or something like that, then you can conceivably consolidate 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.680 your power in turn whatever situation into a dictatorship. Yeah. 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:14.639 I think it's more it's based on the person and 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.840 the circumstances that the nation is in when that person 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.920 grabs power than it is on how they actually get 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.480 into power. Yeah, and whether or not the current leader 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:26.760 just happens like the out of town or something. Yeah, 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:29.240 that's another big one too. Sometimes. Yeah, that's just well, 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.400 let's go ahead and talk about coup, should we, Okay, sure, 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.199 So a coup is um. There are different kinds of 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.679 coup or coup deta, but um, a coup is different 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.720 than a revolution in that there is it's generally a 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.840 smaller affair. It's not some big mass uprising of people. 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:52.520 It's a dude gets a smallish band of his military 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.680 cohorts together and, like we were talking about, either someone 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:57.800 is sick or they're dying, or they're just out of 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.560 the country on business and they come back and they're like, 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:03.280 you're not in charge anymore. Yeah, sorry to tell you, 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:06.600 And they're like, man, the discount of this dishwasher was 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.960 not worth leaving the country for over this Uh, it 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:12.800 can be cous can be very bloody and violent, but 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.760 they don't have to be um. In fact, I think 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:18.560 a lot of times they're not violent. No, there's a 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:22.960 term a bloodless coup, and it's basically, uh, like a 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:25.879 couple of the things that make coups uh or is 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:28.919 it just coup Like you're saying, there's no s No, 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:32.080 there's an s. Is it silent? I don't know that, 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.800 So we're gonna go with coups. Okay, A couple of 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.440 hallmarks of coups that you were saying, like they're they're 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.760 not popular uprisings. It's a small elite group that decided 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:44.240 to do it, usually the higher ups in the military, 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:46.639 and h they can be blood That's where it can 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:49.879 just be like you're not in charge any longer you're 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.400 out of the country. Stay out of the country. We're 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:56.040 putting you in exile. They can be bloody, especially if 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.440 the person who's being deposed has a lot of loyalty 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:02.960 in the military as well. Then it can turn pretty 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:05.560 pretty bad. Yeah, But I get the feeling that a 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.520 lot of times the coup isn't attempted unless they feel 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:10.400