BY SIMONE J. SMITH
Death!
Control!
Surveillance!
Manipulation!
Propaganda!
Fear!
When you read these words to yourself, how do they make you feel? Now think about a life where you were experiencing this on a daily basis.
Some credible experts in our global community would report to you that these are the conditions we have been living in for the last two years, and that if we don’t take a stand, these conditions will continue.
There have been some interesting lessons learned in the last two years; one being that democracy is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in the way they rule their people. Situations occurring in this pandemic exemplify the fact that when one world government implements law, other governments follow suit. When they work in accordance, they determine everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them.
I know, what I just described does not sound appealing, but it just might be the truth. The great thing is that it is a starting point for those who are sick of how our lives have been, and are looking for ways to improve human governance.
As I was swiping through Netflix, I came across a series that I think the community would find interesting. It is a six-part series called “How to Become a Tyrant,” which profiles historical dictators like Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Josef Stalin, and explores how they massacred their citizens, started wars and tried to crush anyone who got in their way.
It has been widely reported that the series is based on a book written by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith called “The Dictator’s Handbook,” but the production team has denied this claim.
Each episode highlights a different dictator and a unique skill they possessed. If you want to learn how to be a tyrant, here are the scholars that are presented in the series:
- Episode 1 “Seize Power” – Adolf Hitler
- Episode 2 “Crush Your Rivals” – Saddam Hussein
- Episode 3 “Reign Through Terror” – Idi Amin
- Episode 4 “Control the Truth” – Josef Stalin
- Episode 5 “Create a New Society” – Muammar Gaddafi
- Episode 6 “Rule Forever” – Kim Il-sung
Apparently, there is a playbook for a rise to dictatorship, and the directors did a great job of finding scenes that presented the rules:
- The conditions have to be perfect so that people will accept your rise
- Now that you are at the top, you have to watch you back in order to maintain your power
- To keep the population under control, keep them in a constant state of fear
- You can’t forget to gain control of the media so that you can propagate your message
- Now, reshape your society by limiting their rights and freedoms
- Make yourself seem God-like so that your citizens hold you in high regard
The series explored the topic of tyranny in a really fresh, provocative way, and you will see how each propagated dictator follows a nearly identical playbook to achieve ultimate power. They did a fantastic job of revealing those tactics in a manner that would grab viewer’s attention.
What I find interesting is that the writing is on the wall, and yet, many of us are ignoring it. There has been a disturbing rise in authoritarian rule around the globe, and it is time that we expose them one by one.
