Do you think dictatorship is still possible in the 21st century?

@Reyachan (589)
Romania
December 7, 2009 6:11am CST
I've been wondering lately about the sanity and judgement of the people around me. Some of them are so naive that it is really shocking! There is a phrase that lingers in my mind since the 5th grade. It is about the 1st World War and it says something along the lines of : "Humanity didn't think that an armed conflict can ever take place in the modern world". But it did.Or better said, THEY did. The worst two wars humanity had ever seen followed. In my country ellections took place this weekend and I , as well as half my country beleve we are on the verge of dictatorship. My question to you, myloters is this : Do you believe it is possible in the 21st century for a modern country to be ruled by a dictator? Is it room for dictatorship in our modern society? And if so, how do you believe it would manifest (consequences)? How do you think a man can close the others minds enough to get absolute power? And even more important : How do you think world alliances and unions of all sorts would react to this? For example I wouldn't blame them for not interfering..People who chose badly desearve their own fate. What do you think?
1 person likes this
10 responses
• Netherlands
7 Dec 09
Yes it is still possible. It is crazy but there will be dictators for ever, but this doesn't mean that it will be evil (which is immediately associated with it). As long as there will be humans there will be dictators. Same thing goes for war. Who said that? I think it was Einstein.
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@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
7 Dec 09
Hello, williamhg! Very well said indeed. As long as there are people society problems will always exist. But some think they are smart enough to avoid such problems. I am very interested in what you said about dictatorship not being necesarily bad. Can you eleaborate that a little, please? I am very curious to see where your statement leads to. Thank you for your reply and hope you will be able to develop the idea you stated. Happy myloting!
• United States
7 Dec 09
Yes I do believe it is possible for a modern world country to become ruled under a dictatorship. It is up to the people to stop it. Which in itself can be a problem when the media tells you what they want you to know(via the government) and a vast majority of people are stuck in their own little bubbles not paying attention to what is going on around them in the outside world. Whats even sadder is if you or I or anyone else for that matter try to tell some just to look around at the evidence they think we are crazy lost our minds or have become extremist ourselves. Thomas Jefferson and many other founder fathers of America warned us of their fears with their new home in regards to government. Thomas Jefferson said many things about our banking system, tyranny, even our food and health care. Dictatorship doesn't happen over night it is a process like any other but I do believe that it can happen and its unfortunate that it will in many countries if the people don't stand up together. If you look at the majority of the dictators from the past such as Hitler. They were loved by the people at first because they had charm they were smart they turned a bad situation around for the better. It became easy because they had the trust of the people
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@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
8 Dec 09
Hello, Francisco. I have to tell you I loved your response as well. God, it is so hard to choose from so many good responses and so many interesting points of view. Or better said, so many faces of the same coin. Yes, I totally agree with you! The biggest problem is the blindness of the people and the fact that no matter how many alarms we sound, they will not wake up. It is really sad, but so so true!No matter how many examples history offers, people will always fall for the charisma of such people. Which brings me to the next question : Are they evil from the start and are so mischivious that they know exactly how to gain the trust of the people? Or is it the mirrage of power that corrupts? Or its taste that generates an infinite lust for more so that a good person ends up as a dictator? What do you think, Francisco?
@Fulltank (2882)
• Philippines
8 Dec 09
People will still be people, no matter what happens to our environment. Attitudes will still remains. As long as there are those who are weak, then there will be those that will exploit them. This includes dictatorships, martial laws, communism and other forms of government.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
9 Dec 09
Hello, fulltank!Thank you for your reply. I do agree with you, that people will still be people no matter what. But I have to correct you on one thing. Communism is not a form of government. Communism is a political doctrine, just like fascism, liberalism and so on. People often make this mistake calling communism a form of enslavement but communism in itself is just an idea. The way it is used make it good or bad. Actually its the leaving proof that excesses are bad. The main idea of comunism was to give all people a chance by making all equal. If they would have left it at that, it would've fallen by itself because people are different mo matter how you look at it. But the pressure they used and the support they found back in the 20th century from the poor people who thought commusim gives them a chance for a better life, is wha created the fantic monster we all fear now.
• China
8 Dec 09
Hello,reyachan,I think that is still possible,there's still a long way for many contries from democracy.The situation is not very good in China.Here is no democracy,no freedom,no human rights,though we don't have a dictator,but we have a authoritarian government.we only have one government in charge of politics.The people here can't assemble without the permission of the police station:)- The people here can't talk about anything they want to.They are dumb because the government will take care of you if you say something bad about the government.The government is only serving the wealthy people here.The law is used to ruled the poor,if you have money and power here in china,you almost can do everything.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
8 Dec 09
Hello, web_jiang! Thank you for the insight on the life nowadays in China. Sometimes I do wonder how you people hang in there. My main dillemma though, was not about the people who are still under dictatorship, but about the ones who escaped it once and yet they let themselves be fooled again! In the 21st century. How can that even be possible? Shouldn't the past mistakes serve as markers for things never to do again? And yes, I subscribe to what you said about money. But that happens the same in the whole world. People with money can do anything anywhere in the world!
@b4balaji (410)
• India
7 Dec 09
The world has seen enough dictators in Hitler, Mussolini, Idiammin. Whenever we see a video or a movie that depicts the way hitler toiled people, and killed the jews, Enough is Enough. But we have to remember the fact that, if people are sure of somebody behaving like a dictator, the way of things have changed. Now in the 21st century it is possible to bring down the dictatorship within a few days/ months, if the people really feel so. But this depends on the individual countries. Some countries still like being ruled by kings. You cant change them overnight. Hope democracy prevails.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
7 Dec 09
Hello, b4balaji! I also support what you said. The world has really seen enough tirants already. But that , apearently doesn't stop small countries from choosing a tirant as a chief of state. Unfortunate , but true. And if such countries end up under dictatorship, small chances for them to get away in a few days or months as you said, I think the actual problem are the people who don't see it comming. Or better said they don't understand when someone is on the verge of becoming a dictator. That, until he does.And by then it is a bit too late. As for what you said about kings...I disagree. Because most of the countries who still have a royal leader are constitutional monarchies in which the royal family is mostly symbolic. People choose their own Parliment and such, but the rules, instead of a president is of royal blood. I think there is a good side to this to. Because royalty has a different prestige that emproves the image of the country. Thanks for joining the conversation!
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
8 Dec 09
Hello, sailor! I just loved the way you pointed that out.You are so right! Dictators nowadays do come disguised as democrats. That is exactly the problem I wanted talk about. Thank you for your words!
• Romania
7 Jul 10
I think that is possible! Now, the human is in recession and in this time the dicators try to get the power . They try to make peple think that the democrarcy is not good, it is a failure. Hitler get the power after the great crisis and Germany was and is a modern country. In Russia the communism came after a bad period for all the people during the WW1. So, that is possible!
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
12 Aug 10
Thank you for participating, Christiana! I've been missing for some time from mylot due to work problems, but I'm glad to see the discussion still rolled for a while. As to what you said, your examples are the classical 20th century dictatorships, but what i was asking was about the 21st century. I know that a lot happened in the past century and they don't seem very far away from us, but i believe the world changed a whole lot in the mean time. Globalization made us more aware of what happens in the world and should help us evolve faster and avoid the dangers of the past. Yet we see the world succomb daily to the diplomatic lies of bad leaders. Why is that? Why is it that people repeat a past they claim they hate? I am from Romania . I know not many of you know about my cpntry or what is happening, but we here witness how one man with average intelligence takes over the whole system, people complain and do nothing. And I ask myself...how is that possible? Why can't he be stopped? And if we wanna stop him...where should we start from? Is education the problem that needs to be solved in order for people to start thinking for themselves and not fall under the spell of some low class dictator?
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
7 Dec 09
There is always a danger of dictatorship. Any time people give up their independance or decide that government can take better care of them than they themselves can or don't keep an eye on their government. Promising to make every thing better. People that get a dictator are standing in line for a handout.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
8 Dec 09
Hello, deebomb! I am very interesting to understand what you meant by people giving up their independence. Giving it up how? And keeping an eye on their government in what way if the head of the state steps over the conctitution and justice is binded by its force. What can people do then?
• India
7 Dec 09
In 21st century it is very very shocking and unimaginable!!!!but again if the dictatorship(dtts) is for the interest of the country and its population of that county it is always WELCOME. My country is divide into several States and one such State is under the rule of one particular political party which is holding the power for last 30+ years in a democratic way(the ground reality is that the influx of illegal immigration(ii) who voted them more liberally,then the we original countrymen)as a result of this influx we the original-countrymen(oc)are still fighting for the basic necessity like water,electricity,proper infrastructure,proper sanitation,our rightful-livelihood.... While the oc are still trying hard both illegally as well as legally to earn their livelihood in his own country but still lagging behind to those (ii)B'coz due to the fact of nexus that prevail between all the political party and those antisocial and of course these (ii). None of the minister been in the history of our country are ever been proved absolute guilty in numerous financial scam and quite a few of them even have criminal background.....and these are the people who are running the government on a musical chair basis for the last 60+ years.THIS TYPE OF DTTS ARE SOFTER ONE AND MORE DANGEROUS ONE(WHICH ME MY COUNTRY MEN FACE) THEN THE HARDER ONE WHERE AT LEAST THEY RULE FROM THE FRONT WITH FULL AUTHORITY,THEY REVEAL THEMSELVES and you at least know who is the real enemy while mine is the case that I know what's the problem but cannot do anything. We all know where the terrorist are hiding and who are feeding them but again you must ponder that the one of the greatest democracy is siphoning the hard tax as a gift to the country who is providing the safe havens to the terrorist.another good example of soft dtts. Nepotism is one of the big dtts that is why the whole world is keeping mum about Subas Chandra Bose, the reason; all the government around the world wants to live in peace without interfering another government.....good motto isn't it. WE CANNOT GO ANYWHERE!!! WE HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE EITHER THE softer dtts or the harder dtts
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
8 Dec 09
Hello, rocket! Sorry for the dellayed response. It's just that your response is pretty large and I wanted to properly be albe to respond to it. That is to first read and "digest" everything you wrote. I agree but also disagree with you to a certain point. Why? Because in the modern world, the only dictatorship possible I believe is exactly the one you mentioned, with people full of money and big criminal records supporting a pawn in front of the country/state so that they can have their way with everything. The hard dtts you mentioned is an ideological one. Those kind of dictatorships are slowly dying by themselves because people are loosing their own beliefs in religion or donctrines and start believing only in the power of money. Money is the only true "cult" modern societies are facing. And by speculating with great ability this lust for money , i believe dictators can lurke their way through democracy and put themselves in the front positions. That's exactly my greatest fear and why I think dictatorship still has a chance in the 21st century
• Israel
7 Dec 09
I think the people are aware enough to prevent dictatorship ...
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
7 Dec 09
Hello flametune and welcome to mylot! I wish I could agree with you but most people are infatuated enough to believe they can't be fooled. And as I said above, so they thought about the world war as well..And look how that ended up.
• India
7 Dec 09
the sanity and judgement of people are that prefer to dominate/r held with dictatorship....which still exists with some people in this 21st century...
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
7 Dec 09
Hello, grajesh! Thanks for your reply. I do know dictatorship still exists even today. But that happens in countries that have been under such a regim for quite some time now. What interested me is if you believe a modern country can fall TODAY under dictatorship. If people cand be blind enough to let, as XFahctor well stated, this danger creep up and surprise them.