Putin, Erdogan, Xi Ping, Sisi, Khomeini, Kim Jong Un, Lukashenko, Salman, Modi and all others, et al?
Answer: Fear is what they have in common. I'm sure the list is longer, but this is just to make a point.
Why fear? After all, they are the most powerful people in their own countries, aren't they? The give away is that each of those "leaders" allow no dissenting voices to rise. Even to the point of kidnapping dissenters in other countries and having them killed. Look at Chine with Hong Kong, Tibet and the Uighurs; Look at Turkey and the Kurds and Gülen supporters; Russia and Navalny, Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran and everybody else; North Korea and everybody else, Lukashenko and his own people; Saudi Arabia and anyone who contradicts the leader; India and all opposition.
So what is it that they are frightened of? After all, they are the boss! To me, it appears they cannot cope with change; the want to structure their countries to be populated with Robots who do exactly as they are told without murmurs of discontent. First of all, that's not going to happen, despite all the repression. Why? Because people always look for a way around the rules set up. And they will find it. Secondly, change is the real law and nobody can hold it up. If change isn't allowed to happen now, when it could be routed into helpful and productive paths, then it'll happen at the latest when these "leaders" die. As with many of us, the fear of loss can drive us to extremes in an attempt to control the situation around us. We can't succeed, but we try. This is what I try to show with my poster: the huge number of influences affecting us each moment is constantly changing and all we can do is choose an action. Not by fear, but by understanding that we can only control our actions, not the world.
Fear is not a motivator; it is a depressant. It works for a short while, but nobody can put up with fear for ever. And then comes the revolution which will also bring change via hardship.
I cannot understand these leaders who appear to be incapable of learning from history. The stupidity of this repressive approach is clear when you look at their economic success, or lack of it. China is successful, but is generating more and more opposition both inside and outside the country. Whatever success they and the other repressive regimes may have, it's just a matter of time before they loose control. Countries which encourage innovation and the ability to openly debate alternatives without or at least with very little repression, do much better over much longer time periods. Where religion is aligned with politics, it always turns out bad - look at any country in the Middle East, or North Africa, or India and Pakistan, etc.
Back to my four apocalyptic horsemen: gullibility, stupidity, ignorance and greed - they really do run the show. Sad, sad sad.
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