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Lies, bluster and totalitarianism

Reader comment on item: Has Baghdad Bob Moved to Tehran?

Submitted by Dan Simon (United States), Jul 23, 2012 at 01:46

As I pointed out during "Baghdad Bob"'s fifteen minutes of fame, his style of surrealistic bluster is neither rare, nor new, nor particular to the Middle East. It's actually an old, familiar tool of tyrants the world over, throughout history--witness, for example, the many paeans in ancient texts to the miraculous gifts, godlike feats and invincible powers of contemporary kings.

The most obvious use of such bombast is to bluff potential external adversaries out of attacking or otherwise challenging the blusterer's domain. But at the same time, it serves another valuable purpose: intimidating potential internal dissidents or rivals. For the latter, utterly ludicrous claims from the ruler present a painful dilemma: either pretend that the ruler's nonsense is not only plausible but actually true; or express doubt about it--thereby explicitly challenging his absolute rule, and risking his wrath. Those who choose the path of honesty thus expose themselves and their intentions--with all the implied consequences--while those who choose the more prudent path of acquiescence in brazen lies end up implicitly reinforcing the tyrant's aura of absolute power much more strongly than they would by, say, leaving a fairly plausible falsehood unchallenged. Either way, the tyrant wins.

Whether the autocrats' minions who spout nonsense about their leaders actually believe their own lies--let alone whether the listening public does--is thus quite beside the point. The point is, rather, the message behind the nonsense: "my leader is powerful enough to compel me to say utterly ridiculous things on his behalf--and if you're wise, you'll accept his compulsion, just as I did".

Submitting....

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Reader comments (8) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Lies, bluster and totalitarianism [258 words]Dan SimonJul 23, 2012 01:46197365
Bluster [59 words]stanley bJul 22, 2012 18:04197357
2Bluster on large and small scales [279 words]ShishirJul 23, 2012 06:13197357
Words can cause lots of trouble [65 words]StasJul 21, 2012 00:13197340
Baghdad Bob's clones are active all over the Islamic world . [22 words]M.D.Jul 20, 2012 18:38197339
1Exaggeration:A Middle Eastern symptom [362 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
ShishirJul 20, 2012 01:57197329
A misunderstanding? [34 words]QuizzicalJul 21, 2012 12:46197329
Mother of all wars [85 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
stranchanJul 20, 2012 01:22197327

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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