Personality, Cult of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cult of personality is a pejorative term implying the concentration of all power in a single charismatic leader within a totalitarian state and the near deification of that leader in state propaganda. Totalitarian regimes use the state-controlled mass media to cultivate a larger-than-life public image of the leader through unquestioning flattery and praise. Leaders are lauded for their extraordinary courage, knowledge, wisdom, or any other superhuman quality necessary for legitimating the totalitarian regime. The cult of personality serves to sustain such a regime in power, discourage open criticism, and justify whatever political twists and turns it may decide to take. Among the more infamous and pervasive cults of personality in the twentieth century were those surrounding Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin,
Mao Zedong,
Francisco Franco, Chiang Kaishek,
Ho Chi Minh,
Kim Il Sung, Juan and Evita Peron,
Pol Pot, Augusto Pinochet, Kim Jong Il, and
Saddam Hussein.
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Cult of personality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
cult of personality arises when a country's regime – or, more rarely, an individual – uses the techniques of
mass media,
propaganda, the
big lie,
spectacle,
the arts,
patriotism, and
government-organized demonstrations and rallies to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image of a leader, often through unquestioning
flattery and
praise.
[...]