Dawn of the new Tyrants

We are in the first quarter of the 21st century and humankind is meant to be moving forward in every respect, improving, becoming better. Yet all over the so-called civilised world we are witnessing the rise of political activity that smacks of things we thought long extinct, such as fascism or communism, but that in any case are variations on the theme of dictatorship of one sort or another. And while good, old-fashioned, unashamed dictators have always appeared  every so often, what we are seeing now is their appearance through the back door, the perverting of democratic systems by ambitious individuals seeking to appeal to the masses with distortions, lies and displays of 'power' and 'decisiveness', and doing this not during a period of crisis but in times of, by and large, peace and prosperity.

It may be hard to believe that electorates can be so naive or, indeed, downright stupid in order to support these thoroughly unpleasant individuals but in fact this is what is happening. We - the general public - are almost guaranteed to be stupid (or, at the very least, to act in a stupid way), easily influenced by nice-sounding slogans, attractive personalities and earnestly dishonest politicians. We like the 'solutions' these creatures offer so long as they sound plausible and especially if they don't expect us to have to do anything ourselves; their marketing advisors are well aware and create their 'product' accordingly.

Snake oil salesmen in the old wild west of the U.S. of America were not dissimilar to this kind of politician - smooth-talking charlatans who could convince any gullible member of their audience (us?) about anything they wanted to sell. If I'm not mistaken, a member of a famous business dynasty once said: ' I never lost money by underestimating my customers'. Yet millions of people are now, thanks to the global nature of things, the internet etc. under the spell of these 'leaders' who, like many before them, are waiting to pounce on the family silver and to abuse the power their exalted position will bestow on them. The difference now is that they are not appearing only in tin-pot countries but are becoming mainstream.

Before you start arguing the toss with me about them being human like all of us, fallible etc. and trying to defend the indefensible, look at these creatures carefully, critical faculties alert; do you really want them as your 'leaders' or, even, simply on your side? I most certainly do not, as I can clearly see that they are jackals and hyenas, opportunist little so-and-sos with hardly a shred of ideology and belief, other than in their own well-being and status, not a lion amongst them. Yet we vote for them in our thousands, accept them, even worship them. At least the North Koreans have the excuse of not having been given much of a chance to choose.

We have no such excuse - shame on us! We need to change our outlook and attitude, reverse current trends and promote human beings (yes, men or women, sit down Hillary, I don't mean you) of quality and integrity; they do exist, and we need to act now and find them before it's too late. The future should NOT be orange.