Wednesday, August 14, 2019

A gallery of evil?

I came across this on social media today. According to the original poster, this is a reproduction of an educational chart of Great Dictators of the World. Apparently it is used in Indian schools. Its educational value is highly questionable. The likes of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Napoleon, Mussolini, and Mao were unquestionably dictators, but not the rest of them. 

The artist, whoever he or she is, has done a patchy job of depicting each of the figures named. Somehow, former American President Franklin Roosevelt looks more like former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and George Washington all legitimately held their positions, with constitutionally limited powers, whereas dictators can do what they want, with no checks and balances. As such, they were not dictators, unless the authors are radical revisionist historians. 

As for the rest of them, Garibaldi and Joan of Arc were military leaders. Catherine the Great took power by deposing her husband. Charlemagne was a powerful ruler, but not a dictator. I'm guessing that "Chenkiskhon" is a transliteration of Genghis Khan, who was ruthless, as was Ivan the Terrible. Henry VIII was a flawed ruler, but describing him as a dictator would be overstating things. Former President of Egypt, Gamal Nasser (Nazar) had an appalling human rights record, but was also popular with the Egyptian people. I had no idea who "Mazni" was. After a quick search, I established that he was Giuseppe Mazzini, who helped to bring about the unification of Italy in the 19th century. 

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