Author Topic: Megalomania ! (Read 3680 times)

pcolbeck · « **on:** 26 March, 2014, 02:56:03 pm »

All North Korean men must now get a haircut exactly the same as their glorious leader's:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26747649

That's pretty barking. Any other pointless and silly decrees by dictators ?

Charlotte · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 March, 2014, 03:10:29 pm »

Like his father before him, Kim Jong-un is fucknuts crazy. He allegedly has a morbid fear of barbers, stemming from a traumatic childhood experience and prefers to cut his own hair. Unsurprisingly, looking at the state of him, apparently he's a heavy drinker a diabetic and suffers from hypertension. Oh - and he also likes to execute people, along with their whole families.

He's also the youngest serving head of state in the world, a smidge younger than the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili.

spesh · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 March, 2014, 03:14:39 pm »

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, now deceased dictator of Turkmenistan, is a good one to start with.

Quote from: el Wiki

He banned news reporters and anchors from wearing make-up on television, because he said he found it difficult to distinguish male anchors from female anchors.^[29]
Gold teeth were discouraged in Turkmenistan after Niyazov suggested that the populace chew on bones to strengthen their teeth and lessen the rate at which they fall out. He said:

I watched young dogs when I was young. They were given bones to gnaw to strengthen their teeth. Those of you whose teeth have fallen out did not chew on bones. This is my advice...^[33]

^[29] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/saparmurat-niyazov-429556.html

^[33] "Avoid gold teeth, says Turkmen leader"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov#Decrees_and_laws

EDIT: and there's this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaming_of_Turkmen_months_and_days_of_week,_2002

Palinurus · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 March, 2014, 03:18:43 pm »

I'd welcome this.

I hate trying to explain to barbers how I want my hair. It'd free up some cognitive resources that I could put to better use.

Like doing funnier tweets.

spesh · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 March, 2014, 03:28:06 pm »

Jean-Bédel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Republic from 1966 to 1979 was a bit of a fruit loop as well. During the last three years before he was overthrown, he styled himself as "His Imperial Majesty Bokassa I, Emperor of Central Africa by the will of the Central African people, united within the national political party, the MESAN".

In emulation of his hero Napoleon Bonaparte, he crowned himself emperor of the Central African Empire in a ceremony costing $20 million, practically bankrupting the country. His diamond-encrusted crown alone cost $5 million.

One of the more... unusual rules imposed in the early years of his rule, was that tom-tom playing was allowed only during the nights and weekends.

clarion · « **Reply #5 on:** 26 March, 2014, 03:55:19 pm »

For completely nutty dictators, can anyone beat the King of Scotland, aka His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular?

Regulator · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 March, 2014, 04:09:30 pm »

Quote from: clarion on 26 March, 2014, 03:55:19 pm

For completely nutty dictators, can anyone beat the King of Scotland, aka His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular?

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair?

Charlotte · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 March, 2014, 04:10:43 pm »

Fair point.

Torslanda · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 March, 2014, 04:12:21 pm »

Erm...

Thatcher?

<<hides>>

clarion · « **Reply #9 on:** 26 March, 2014, 04:32:33 pm »

Torslanda wins the thread.

Andrij · « **Reply #10 on:** 26 March, 2014, 04:57:55 pm »

I'd like to reserve a spot for Tsar Vladimir the First, as I expect him to be titled soon enough.

Regulator · « **Reply #11 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:08:32 pm »

Quote from: clarion on 26 March, 2014, 04:32:33 pm

Torslanda wins the thread.

But even she didn't start a war based on a plagiarised thesis (and not a very good one at that)...

pcolbeck · « **Reply #12 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:22:50 pm »

Neither Blair nor Maggie were dictators (probably they wished they were) so nil points.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #13 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:25:50 pm »

Quote from: spesh on 26 March, 2014, 03:14:39 pm

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, now deceased dictator of Turkmenistan, is a good one to start with.

Quote from: el Wiki
He banned news reporters and anchors from wearing make-up on television, because he said he found it difficult to distinguish male anchors from female anchors.^[29]
Gold teeth were discouraged in Turkmenistan after Niyazov suggested that the populace chew on bones to strengthen their teeth and lessen the rate at which they fall out. He said:

I watched young dogs when I was young. They were given bones to gnaw to strengthen their teeth. Those of you whose teeth have fallen out did not chew on bones. This is my advice...^[33]

^[29] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/saparmurat-niyazov-429556.html

^[33] "Avoid gold teeth, says Turkmen leader"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov#Decrees_and_laws

EDIT: and there's this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaming_of_Turkmen_months_and_days_of_week,_2002

In that at least he has classical form.

Bledlow · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:36:42 pm »

Quote from: Charlotte on 26 March, 2014, 03:10:29 pm

Like his father before him, Kim Jong-un is fucknuts crazy. He allegedly has a morbid fear of barbers, stemming from a traumatic childhood experience and prefers to cut his own hair. Unsurprisingly, looking at the state of him, apparently he's a heavy drinker a diabetic and suffers from hypertension. Oh - and he also likes to execute people, along with their whole families.

He's also the youngest serving head of state in the world, a smidge younger than the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili.

[pedantic mode on]Garibashvili isn't a head of state. The head of state of Georgia is the president, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who's 13 years older.[/pedantic mode off]

I think the second youngest head of state is Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, closely followed by Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, king of Bhutan.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:53:12 pm »

So glad we didn't all have to have Thatcher hair.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #16 on:** 26 March, 2014, 05:55:29 pm »

Thatch thatch, Blair hair, Bush bush... Wiggo wigg?

Regulator · « **Reply #17 on:** 26 March, 2014, 07:09:26 pm »

Quote from: pcolbeck on 26 March, 2014, 05:22:50 pm

Neither Blair nor Maggie were dictators (probably they wished they were) so nil points.

Blair was probably the closest to a dictator we have had in the UK since Cromwell.

Blair's government did more to undermine civil liberties than just about any government in the 20th/21st centuries and they created more new criminal offences in his time in office than ever before - over 4,000 new offences whilst he was PM.

Jaded · « **Reply #18 on:** 26 March, 2014, 07:27:57 pm »

TBF he did have a huge majority, much larger than the current shower's.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 March, 2014, 08:23:11 am »

Quote from: Regulator on 26 March, 2014, 07:09:26 pm

Quote from: pcolbeck on 26 March, 2014, 05:22:50 pm
Neither Blair nor Maggie were dictators (probably they wished they were) so nil points.

Blair was probably the closest to a dictator we have had in the UK since Cromwell.

Except that's not true. Blair had no power to personally enact laws or make decrees. He had no more personal power than any other prime minister with a majority in the commons. Parliament could have over voted against anything he proposed bar going to war as that is the prerogative of the prime minister. A vote of no confidence could have removed him. The fact that the elected members chose not to do so is neither here nor there. I do agree that his government enacted laws that restrict civil liberties though.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #20 on:** 27 March, 2014, 08:46:13 am »

Sorry Reg but I cannot agree with you. Maggie turned man on man, woman on woman, and split families. The numbers of laws and offences is simply a matter of using statistics to blind and divert.

IMO, what the tories under Maggie did was class discrimination and, I believe, pure evil. She victimised the very people she was supposed to lead. Reminds me of Mugabe, Gadaffi and Saddam. Victimise, discriminate against and seek to destroy certain groups within the nation that you purport to lead whilst filling the boots of your friends and family. Sounds a bit like a dictator to me. Blair was no social cleansing engineer unlike Thatcher.

Anyway, this level of opinion belongs in POBI.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #21 on:** 27 March, 2014, 12:28:42 pm »

I bet the people of North Korea wish bobb was their leader.

spesh · « **Reply #22 on:** 27 March, 2014, 01:34:43 pm »

There are suggestions that Not so Lil' Kim's tonsorial edict is just another hoax, similar to the stories about how his disgraced uncle was supposedly executed...

http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/that-viral-kim-jong-un-haircut-story-is-another-hoax/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/03/26/that_story_about_north_koreans_being_required_to_get_kim_jong_un_s_haircut.html

Not that it detracts from the undoubted fact that Kim is a bit of a Wrong'Un.

clarion · « **Reply #23 on:** 27 March, 2014, 02:06:35 pm »

What? False stories being circulated about our enemies? It's almost as if the CIA were making them up themselves. Whatever next?

Bledlow · « **Reply #24 on:** 27 March, 2014, 05:35:05 pm »

The thing with North Korea is that the reality is so weird that you can make up almost anything without anyone suspecting it's untrue.