the.com/tyranny
the art of confusing your survival with everyone else's obedience.
means Cruel, absolute, and unchecked power — rule by a single authority that answers to no one and serves only itself.
from From Greek 'tyrannos,' meaning an absolute ruler — though tellingly, the word itself isn't Greek in root. It seems to have been borrowed from somewhere in Asia Minor, possibly Lydian, which is why it has no good Greek etymology. In the earliest days a 'tyrannos' wasn't necessarily evil — just someone who seized power outside the usual royal succession, a strongman who grabbed the throne. Only over time, as Greeks soured on such rulers, did the word acquire its bitter taste, passing through Latin 'tyrannus' and Old French into English with all its menace intact.
- word origin
- Greek tyrannos meant ruler, not yet villain
- shelf life
- average modern dictatorship lasts under ten years
- fatal flaw
- yes-men ensure leaders learn truth far too late
- ostracism
- Athenians exiled potential tyrants by popular vote
- paranoia tax
- despots spend fortunes guarding against their own people
soviet union under stalin — totalitarian dictatorship responsible for estimated 20 million deaths through purges and gulags, 1922-1953
nazi germany under hitler — totalitarian state with systematic genocide of 6 million jews and millions of others, 1933-1945