Quote:
David Skaggs wrote:
Okay, where should I look it up?
David
|
I posted earlier in this very thread. I posted links to the wikipedia page on it. Yes, Wikipedia. It is short, simplistic, but decent in this case. I also posted a short discussion about it in context of the soviet system.
Try encyclopedias at your local library. Look up the soviet system again. Stalin is probably the best example, but Russia had a history of it pre-stalin basically culminating with Stalin. China under Mao. Romania under Nicolae Ceaucescu (sp?), Germany under Hitler, etc.
If you want more current examples read up on North Korea's political system. The current fruitcake and his father have installed a tremendous cult of personality as a means of controlling the population. As a matter of fact many (not all) totalitarian states and dictatorships have utilized a cult of personality as a means of keeping the population under control.
It is harder and harder to establish these things nowadays with information technology so robust and widespread. So it tends to be limited in this day and age to relatively poor and isolated countries. It is simply not possible to construct the elaborate BS stories when people can just look it up in a few seconds...
Another interesting point is that some believe that Karl Marx was the first to discuss the phenomena (and in a negative light, by the way).
I'll even attach a painting from North Korea. Notice how most art from these countries suffering under "cults of personality" is essentially propaganda but also shows the "great leader" in scenes that border on ludicrous. The "great leader" was basically despised by every other nation as his son is today. You're not likely to see a room full of world leaders giving Kim Jong Il a standing ovation... Let alone his similarly insane father.