Tyrants in the full sense are leaders that strike a chord which resonates with the masses inasmuch as the people need someone that can identify a means to support them in difficult times, or they are oppressed into obedience.
Tyrants also have an overinflated view of themselves. A mediocre example of this is when Brazilian’s president, Jair Bolsonaro said that he wasn’t worried about coronavirus because he has a long successful sports background and it wouldn’t affect him – it transmitted narcissism and lack of sensitivity for his people.
Someone less transparent was Adolf Hitler who capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting. He saw scapegoating the Jews for being behind the difficulties that the Germans had encountered in the years after World War I, a way to win the crowds. He got the people to give their undivided support although in reality he couldn’t care a less about his people because of his own agenda to rule the world.
One could say, blaming someone else such as the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal – STF) is easy for unsatisfied Brazilians who support Bolsonaro with what seems like his disgust for authority and personal agenda to overturn law and order. Yes, he was a Captain in the Federal Police, but then that doesn’t give him the authority to play God’s hand. He has to abide by the constitution and laws of Brazil. A president who tries to bully his way by arousing popular demand and disrespecting the constitution is tyrannical.
The Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) is Brazil’s highest court since 10th May, 1808. It is composed of 11 members nominated by the president with the approval of the Federal Senate. The court provides final rulings on constitutional issues and hears cases involving the president, the vice president, Congress, the judiciary, the attorney general, government ministers, diplomats, foreign countries, and the political or administrative divisions of the union.
Tyrannical Behavior is marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior such as "an oppressive government"; "oppressive laws"; "a tyrannical parent"; "tyrannous disregard of human rights" authoritarian, autocratic, etc. It is characterized as an absolute ruler by having absolute sovereignty like Idi Amin, the president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, or Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945, or the military dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet who ruled from 1973 to 1990 among others.
Proven to be unjust and against democratic rule there is a fine line between democratically elected leaders and those leaders who share tyrannical behavior. As we have seen in the past such tyrants cause inequality between people.
Written by Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Inasmuch as (conjunction) - insofar as, insomuch as, insomuch that, so far as
Woes (n) = anguishes, griefs, miseries, sadness, afflictions, troubles
Scapegoating (v) = gerund form of the verb to scapegoat i.e., blaming, incriminating, accusing, condemning, (ant) exonerating
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