How do you assess a ruthless dictator who is kind and sensitive in personal life?

Question

Very often you find well meanig people suppoting these dictators or some militant outfits on the ground that 'they' are really nice people if you get close to them.It is frustrating and irritating. One should have a good convincing answer for this if you want to isolate these dangerous persons.

Answer 1

I believe that ruthless people see themselves as being godlike,better than the masses,and you assume they would think the same about their families.Hitler was wonderful father and grandfather,as the story goes!

Answer 2

Ruthless Dictators and their henchmen are great Manipulators, how can someone be kind and sensitive to anyone other than themselves, they are too selfish and greedy, and out for number one.
Always a motive behind their Smiles....Proceed with Caution!

Answer 3

In my experience, people are mixed bags in their behavior. Some are much more extreme than others (i.e., some are unselfish a great deal, while others can be much more self-centered altogether), but good people are capable of doing really stupid/mean things on occassion and bad people are still capable of doing something good for someone they care about (if such a person exists).

People can also compartmentalize -- especially when it comes to "profession." The dictator for example views his dictatorship as a job with different rules than he views his private life, where he does not need to crush all opposition and can do kinder things for others without fearing their desire to hurt/control/defy him.

(Sometimes of couse a dictatorship carries over into private life as well -- I think it's hard to flip-flop without confusing oneself, and most dictators still are being self-centered in their primary relationships. They just know they don't have to fear their family because of the "rules of family," so they don't wield their power against them as much.)

I watched "Munich" last weekend, about the assassination of Jews in the 1972 Olympics by Palestinians (?). What was fascinating about it was that the people of either side were not stereotyped. While the sympathies were with Israel, as the "victims," when the Israeli team went on its retaliation mission to assasinate Arab leaders in turn, they found themselves confronted by the hard fact that people have both good and bad elements.

One incident involved a doctor they were supposed to kill -- a doctor who supposedly contributed to the terrorism against them, but who was apparently a loving father and husband, by how he was interacting with his family. Their attempt to kill him almost killed the girl by accident, and it haunted the leader of the Israeli team. He couldn't quite get his mind around the fact that the evil guy who had apparently had no qualms about killing the Jews also was quite tender and responsible and loving with non-Jews. And here they were, the "good guys" who loved their own families... yet they were causing pain to innocent victims (like the girl whose father they killed), and almost killing them as well.

How did he reconcile being the father of a daughter himself, and then killing another daughter's father and thus robbing her of her innocence?

Overall, I would say a dictator who shows kindness is probably still operating at core on the self-centered level -- he's just in a different role. Otherwise, he has drawn "hard lines" in his life, so that he doesn't assoicate his terrible behavior in his profession life with his behavior in his home life.

Answer 4

Just because someone is a very polite and sensative person in their *pesonal life*, just because they treat their spouses and children with kindness and respect, does not mean they are Above The Law when(or if) they do something immoral and illegal in their workplace(or in society). How do you assess them? You look at the way they act in public because they are a public figure..you do Not look at their personal life. But that's just my opinion. :-)

Answer 5

very few dictators dont have a belief that they are doing the right thing and protecting the people, hence it it not incongruous that they are kind and gentle in personal life

Answer 6

well love of family is the strongest of characteristics. I believe this individual is compassionate and loving. It is fear that drives his aggression to ruthlessness. He is not guilty of the sins he commits, he is a victim of our failed effort to help him love humanity in general and not just his family.

Answer 7

You mean a man who condemns hundreds of thousands of people to misery so that a few people can live in comfort and he can be kind to them...?

Answer 8

I completely agree with Fortunato. That is probably the best answer here.

Answer 9

Kick him in the nuts. That will prove both his sensitivity and his kindness.

Answer 10

Sounds like my boss.

I assess him as a troll.