The Great Dictators

[The Super Pope]

Why are so many dictators insane? They have put huge effort into taking absolute control of their country and then spend the rest of the time collecting 20,000 pairs of shoes, dressing all their soldiers as Scots and awarding themselves ridiculous medals and titles.
Why do they all turn out to be colossal perverts, with olympic swimming pools full of naked women, all-female bodyguards, conscription for young girls for him to shaft, bizzarre dragon-fantasy porn, and enjoying being kicked, pissed and crapped on by women

[Enemy of the State]

No dictator outside of Africa comes to mind that has been insane like the way you describe. I'm sure there have been, but mind mentioning a few? Hitler and Stalin weren't insane, they were bad, but not insane.
The power probably drives them insane. This is why no man should have absolute power
Some people just cant handle it.

[The Super Pope]

The guy being pissed and crapped on eas hitler. The one with 20,000 shoes was the wife of the Phillipnes dictator.
the swimming pool guy was Mao Tse Tsung
The dragon porn was Saddam
The conscripted girls are in North korea

[Woad-Warrier]

Does Absolute Monarchy count too?

If so I'd say Henry VIII.

[Khan Kong]

It's just stereotype. Most of them are and were normal.

[The Super Pope]

The only normal ones i can think of are Mussolini and Castro

[Enemy of the State]

The guy being pissed and crapped on eas hitler.

As Khan Kong said, it's a stereotype. Rarely, and mostly in Africa do insane people get to rule.

[boofhead]

Most dictators are not insane. That would be democratic propoganda I suggest, especially for dictators not born into the position. It all comes down to perspective. In the West, "dictator" = "evil, insane", therefore that is what we are fed by the media.

There is of course the possibility of an authoritarian benevolent monarch - but the problem is with successors.

[Khan Kong]

The only normal ones i can think of are Mussolini and Castro

Quite the contrary, the only super megalomaniacs are/were the North Korean one and the previous president of Turkmenistan.

[The Super Pope]

Granted most are in Africa because the instability favours dictators. However how do they get that power and then hold on to it despite the wastefulness and weirdness?
Idi Amin, Gaddaffi, the guy who tried to copy Napoleon, the one who always wore a leopard skin hat

[Enemy of the State]

Bokassa declared the Central African Republic an Empire and was a cannibal. He even took jars of human meat with him when he went outside the country.
Idi Amin of Uganda believed he was the king of Scotland
Mugabe believes everyone is jealous of his country.
A few more insane dictators.

[Primvs Sextvs Loverlord]

With great power come great urges of pervertness.

At least that's what Peter Parker was told in the uncensored version.

[MaximiIian]

Bokassa (the one whose coronation emulated Napoleon) was nuts, yeah.
But, Mobutu (the one with the hat) wasn't. He was just stupid, and mismanaged the economy.

Really, most dictators aren't crazy. They're just portrayed as such in popular media, because most democratic states equate absolutism with depravity.
The only real "super-****ed-up-in-the-head" dictators I can think of, in modern times, are Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Kim Jong Il, and that Turkmen guy.
Most of the other ones are relatively sane. They just go overboard with power and become :wub:s. Political power has a way of making sane men go paranoid, though usually not to the psychotic extents of Stalin or Hitler.

[boofhead]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even the soul of the man wielding the power.

Most dictators attain their dominance through wiliness, heart, spirit and a belief in the rightfulness of their cause. That is why the average dictator is a populist. He rises on the waves of popular support from those who think "I wish I could be as brave/charismatic as him."

The problem is once you are the absolute authority, your every word or instruction becomes law. There are no groups of individuals to discuss and counter-discuss the ramifications. It is like dropping a stone in a pond - the intentions may be good, but the ripple effect tends to harm many people.

Most dictators take power on their own merits, but it is what absolute power does to a man which leads to the labels "insane" etc. Some possibly do go insane. If you can have everything at your beck and call and on a whim, who would not appear "unusual" to others?

[ZaPPPa]

Worse, absolute power quickly breaks the link with reality. The people that surround you will do anything to get in your favor. You may enact a law that you think works well and in reality it does not. However, the people around you twist statistics or simply flat out lie to you because they supported the idea when you first brought it up.

Some people will subsequently develop a variation on the God-syndrome and that's when things turn south quickly.

[Khan Kong]

As someone said, the most cruel dictator becomes of a man who was a slave. I think it can explain why most of insane dictators are from Africa, with high level of poverty.

[KaerMorhen]

These two are my favs dictators in post 2nd world war Europe :
1.)
2.)

both were well recognized as sadistic maniacs, perverts and murderers - all you can 'expect' of such inviduals

[Jubal_Barca]

Mussolini was NOT sane. He had romps with woman AND lions.

Dictators tend to be cruel men because only cruel men have he heart to kill the poeple required to gain absolute power.

[kev-o]

Not all dictators were crazy. Some just did what the people wanted. Like this guy

[Tomas of Hinckley]

normal well adjusted happy people just dony feel the need for absolute power