Power Maddens, Absolutely Power Maddens Absolutely?
by James Na ~ July 13th, 2006. Filed under: Kim Jong-il. A psychological view of Kim Jong-il:
The Hitlers and Kim Jong-ils become crazy because they live in a world without the word “No.” Any impulse to receive pleasure or inflict pain is a chip that can be cashed in immediately. Kim Jong-il plucks mistresses out of his society at will, with thirteen known illegitimate children. He can, and does, torture and kill anyone who is causing him the slightest irritation. There are no limits to his power, and having allowed himself full rein of the immoral options, he has taken himself to a radical place within human experience that segues from pure evil directly into insanity.Full responsibility attends to such insanity, for its owner has purchased it by persistent erosions of the line that separates good from bad, that very line which at some point separates sane from mad.
In other words, a god-king is, by definition, always insane.
But there is more than simply not getting enough “No” in Kim Jong-il’s psychological makeup. Afterall, he was not always a god-king, but a satellite of his father. There was a time, especially when he was young, when his position and succession were not fully secure.
Thus his life has been one filled with both enormous power and a pervasive, unending paranoia — paranoia that results from suspicion of his entourage, of plots against him, real or imagined, and fear of the outside world.
I believe it is when near-absolute power combines with an overwhelming paranoia that this kind of monstrous evil emerges.
July 13th, 2006 at 10:57 am
I tend towards labeling Kim as a sociopath. I’m not sure if that’s technically insane or not.
July 13th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
I also vote for sociopath — impulsive yet calculating. I wonder about whether Kim often heard the word “no.” I’d bet he heard it almost exclusively from his father, which probably taught him to hate his old man. There are theories that KJI killed KIS.
I can’t imagine life without limits (except the pleasure squad part. I can imagine that. Have, in fact.).
July 13th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
According to KJI’s former sushi chef, KJI wears a bullet-proof vest all the time, and that’s one reason why he always wears that bulky Mao suit.
KJI has been an amazing survivor. He will probably outlast Roh and Bush, in terms of being the leader of a country.
July 13th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Er, I fail to see your point. Roh and Bush are limited to 5 and 4/8 years, respectively. Barring any significant external pressure, totalitarian dictatorships can last a long time.
KJI is more the chief slave master than “a leader” of his people.
That’s not exactly an “achievement.”
July 13th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
Mihwa, you’re acting “miwoe” as usual I see.
WTF?
“KJI has been an amazing survivor. He will probably outlast Roh and Bush, in terms of being the leader of a country. ”
You also stated that your dear leader the midget will outlive the sunshine policy too huh? You kowtow to his picture of buffont hairdo KILLER of MILLIONS daily?
July 14th, 2006 at 12:28 am
“totalitarian dictatorships can last a long time”
Dictators also create a lot of internal and external enemies. Therefore, it takes a combination of skill and brutality to stay in power, and KJI has done that.
When KJI succeeded his father in 1994, most experts predicted that he would last only a few years. They thought that NK would collapse like the East European countries. KJI has proved them wrong.
KJI is evil, but he is a remarkable person and the most famous Korean alive.
July 14th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
“KJI is evil, but he is a remarkable person and the most famous Korean alive. ”
So is Hitler!
Don’t try to hide your adoration for worst WORST dictator who killed MILLIONS of his own people not to mention bio germ experiments on babies.
Now why is that you don’t you want this SOB to be DEAD?
That’s the prob with you lefist commie sympathizers - BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES!
July 16th, 2006 at 6:35 am
I think he is both crazy and a sociopath.
But I want to add one more thing: He is also a callous cold-blooded slaughterer who is evil to the infinite degree.
A dictator who imprisons three generations of a person’s family for “crimes against the state” and subjects his own people to “human experiments”, evil is a word not enough to describe this.
Truly, only the lowest of the low can come up with such heinous ways of torture.
I pray that one day the North Koreans can peacefully live in their country without Kim Jong-IL’s dictatorial nightmare.