A REFLECTION ON TYRANNY

Thomas Jefferson once said ““When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”  

However was there ever a circumstance, where any government actually feared its people?  Ever since the existence of Man, it was fear that drove people to communalize. In the process of communalization it is important to have an alpha personality who would the strongest to bind the community together. “Strength” often is synonymous with “brute” which in turn leads to “arrogance” which would then feed the ego with adrenaline that intoxicates one. That state is called “POWER’. So to be perpetually intoxicated, one has to be in Power. The drive for intoxication is so great that man would do anything to be in power, even if that means to resort to tyranny.

“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People," quoted Eugene Victor Debs. A despot remains adamant and rationalizes his actions in the name of a Utopian Dream and camouflages his hidden agenda.

Hitler’s Mein Kempf (My Struggle) was instrumental in propagating Nazism that inspired young Germans. Hitler further went on to say, “I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.”

Mao Tze Tung was another controversial leader who had designs to lead peasant China void of intellectuals. The oppression was not only targeted at the Imperial House but also to the intellectual strata of the Chinese society who Mao knew would be a stumbling block to his ambition. The famous “Little Red Book” that was widely circulated in the 60’s deeply entrenched Mao’s position as a supreme leader. He inspired millions of young Chinese cadres to even turn against their parents to create the Utopian society he envisaged. Mao’s inspiration was simple, “If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.”

Bashar Al Assad, an ophthalmologist who took reign from his father in 2000, started as a reformist but today has been accused of killing thousands of Syrians who oppose him. Prof David Lesch (Trinity University) in his interview with The Atlantic Wire quoted “Well, I never met Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi, but I know people who have met all three. And they agree with me: Bashar was different. He seemed relatively normal, whereas when you meet with Saddam or Qaddafi, you almost immediately sense that there's something off with them. But with Bashar you never got that sense. That tells me that the arrogance of power can affect anyone, no matter how well-intentioned or relatively normal in the beginning.”  So power does breed evil in man.

Akhenaten, Caligula, Attila the Hun, Harun Al Rashid, Ghengiz Khan, Tarmalene, Vlad the Impaler, Mary I, Ivan the Terrible, Aurangzeb, Peter the Great, Theodore  II of Ethiopia, Vladimir Lenin, Juan Peron, Joseph Stalin, Ngo Din Diem, Kim Il Sung, Nicolae Ceausescu, Jean Bedel Bokassa, Idi Amin, Slobadan Milosevic, just to name a few in history are those who have committed great atrocities to mankind within their own boundaries -  nevertheless the outcome is the same, human suffering.

The irony is how such blatant despotic cruelty progresses to a point of absurdity. To this the words of Lysander Spooner resonates loudly, “Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.”  Sadly this appears to be true in all instances of such treachery.

It was told that in his dying hours, Alexander the Great had three wishes he wanted his generals to fulfill.

“My first wish is to have my physician bring my coffin home alone. After a gasping for air, Alexander continued: “My second wish is scatter the gold, silver, and gems from my treasure-house along the path to the tomb when you ship my coffin to the grave.”  After wrapping in a woolen blanket and resting for a while, he said: “My final wish it to put my hands outside the coffin.”

People surrounding him all were very curious, but no one dared to ask the reason. Alexander’s most favored general kissed his hand and asked: “Your Majesty, we will follow your instruction. But can you tell us why you want us to do it this way?”

After taking a deep breath, Alexander said: “I want everyone to understand the three lessons I have learned. To let my physician carry my coffin alone is to let people realize that a physician cannot really cure people’s illness. Especially when they face death, the physicians are powerless. I hope people will learn to treasure their lives. My second wish is to tell people not to be like me in pursuing wealth. I spent my whole life pursuing wealth, but I was wasting my time most of the time. My third wish to let people understand that I came to this world with empty hands and I will leave this world also with empty hands.”  He closed his eyes after he finished talking and then stopped breathing.

Thus is the fate of human life, known to all that death is imminent, but forgotten whilst in the throes of intoxication.

However in this era of Kali Yuga it has been prophesized that all deeds (Karma) have to be repaid within one’s own lifetime, as such all tyranny has to come to an end eventually where the perpetrators would have to reap what they have sowed.

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always,” said Gandhi.

The only thing certain about life is DEATH. If only more leaders are aware of this equanimity the world would be a better place.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? “ Mark 8:36.