Why Dictators Tend to Babble

Moammar Gadhafi droned on for 90 minutes yesterday in rambling prose barely befitting a head of state. Later up to the lectern was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also gave long-winded remarks that wandered from topic to topic, desperately searching for a point. Mikhail Gorbachev was infamous for his preachiness. And Cuba's Fidel Castro once gave a 4-and-a-half-hour oration at the United Nations in the 1960s, probably setting the record.

So why do dictators like to babble?

Time is something that dictators see as a tool in their arsenal, like torture chambers and armies. It is there to be played with, manipulated. Many arrive late to events, to keep things unpredictable. Neil MacFarquhar, in his new book, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You A Happy Birthday, recalls a three-hour speech by Gadhafi, "the only one I remember leaving because the need to urinate overwhelmed my interest in the information being dispensed."

Dictators are fond of keeping their audience, or guests, waiting. Thomas Friedman recalls in From Beirut to Jerusalem how the PLO used to have him wait for hours before giving him a quote or letting him speak to their leadership.

Dictators are oblivious to having talking points memos. They are able to talk at will to their legions of adoring fans unencumbered by time limits or speech requirements. There's no worry about inserting "breaks for applause" since the parliament will dutifully stand and applaud no matter what comes out of their mouths (though some, like Stalin, gave fewer speeches in order to hide his Georgian accent). Nor is there any fear that someone from the chamber will yell out "You lie!" The same rules apply when they write letters. Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush stretched for 17 pages, most of it illegible nonsense (not that his recipient was any great orator).

Luckily, they tend to be pithier in their other writings. Gadhafi's Green Book runs only 82 pages. Mao did call his communist treatise the Little Red Book.

Still, one thing you might expect in this new digital age of Twitter and texting is that dictators would understand that briefer is better. Even the most subjugated of people have shorter attention spans than they did, say, during the Cold War. Dictators would be wise to remember there were only 272 words in the Gettysburg Address.

Comments

[Paramendra Bhagat]

Because they can.

[Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger]

Having read the Little Green Book in the original Arabic, I can tell you it's the most godawful-boring tripe you'd ever want to read. He goes on for ten pages about why he hates cities and prefers to live in a tent.

[rf dude]

Mine is the Ximeno translation. I didn't realize he was talking about "cities"...
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[SgtMac]

They ramble endlessly because, like fundamentalism ministers, they are in love with the sound of their own voice.

[rf dude]

They aren't called DICTATORS for nuthin'...
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[mudshark12]

These guys babble on because they are trying to see who's going to object to their verbosity, and then OFF WITH THEIR HEAD.

[rf dude]

Because if you don't pretend to listen, they will for real have you shot...
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[dfunzy]

A dictator is a lone actor who hears only his own voice, and every word is bearable.. Does a man alone in a toilet doing his own business notice the smell?

[kickatthedarkness]

"Time is something that dictators see as a tool in their arsenal, like torture chambers and armies."

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/confess/

[cabanas]

Thank you so much for including Castro as a dictator. So many times people forget that dictatorships are all bad, no matter where you stand politically. You cannot defend one type and condemn the other. Violation of human rights, use of torture and jail to silence opposition, use of the educational system for propaganda issues, control of the media, etc.... are all evil whether is used by the right or the left.

You cannot condemn Pinochet and defend Castro or Chavez or Saddam Hussein when he was alive. That is why a lot of celebrities lack or loose credibility with a large segment of the population. When you stand for something, for example human rights, you have to defend it everywhere without distinction of right or left or communism or oligarchy.

[leland61]

Why are these people long winded? Because they have absolutely nothing to contribute to any conversation and think that by taking a lot of time to say nothing they will convince listeners that they actually make sense.

The only people who think they have anything meaningful to say are the dimwits who allow them to stay in power.

[whatdayouthink]

yeah -- and Sarah Palin spoke about 90 minutes in Asia. wouldn't enjoy being in that
audience. Bet their eyes were crossed listening to that nonsense.

[Ventoi]

1. As an unpaid, droning foreign diplomat advisor...I have suggested that the translator NOT be muffled by the personality of the diplomat...
IF...the written speech is what we are supposed to hear...
I have noticed that there is an entirely different message within the foreign speech...often...in words that sound like English or French words..words which match up with things you are thinking about while you hear the speech...

CSIS hasn't even bitten.

[FirstShirt]

Makes you wonder why we have a United Nations to give the pigs of the world a stage to spew their filth, doesn't it?

[msblkwidow]

Frankly, I enjoyed listening to Gaddafi's rambling. I had to listen carefully because he was all over the place but, he made reasonable points. He pointed his finger at the U.S and asked very pointed question...made very pointed comments about JKF, and Dr. Martin Luther King. His comments about the two who were murdered have been discussed by the Black community since I was a teenager. I want to know the answers to Gaddafi's questions. I want to know why we're in Iraq (a desert) or in Afghanistan (mountain region). I want to know why the U. S. believe we can go to countries, bomb their men, women and children (like 911) and then expect no consequences?

I know I'm babbling. But...I want to know... how and why Tim McVeigh's conviction and execution happened so quickly. [the Okalahoma city bombing in April,1995 McVeigh convicted 1995 and executed June 2001. (a little over six years later) -especially when we have men/women on deaths row for years and years and years. What was so pressing that Tim McVeigh be executed so quickly. Makes you kinda go...hmmmmmm! Doesn't it? I want to know is there something being hidden from the American people...something that we should know about. Well, we wont know because Tim McVeigh is dead.
Babbling happens when people have lots on their minds and they've got to get it all out...may never get a chance again. It's that simple.

[nosmiley]

Thoughts from a 62 yr. old whiteman: I wonder about JFK,& King assassinations. Regarding JFK : 45 years of articles, news releases, TV specials, books, available. After 45 years, I don't expect anymore signifcant facts uncovered. Most of relevant people involved, have died. Not many death-bed confessions to hope for. King: 40 yrs of articles,ditto.
Why Iraq, & Afganistan ? My opinion, is George Bush,Jr decided he could win favor with daddy, & put Bush name back on the pedestal, after Sadam Hussain "kicked sand" in daddy's face during gulf war. Sent troops, & bombed, shot,for six months. Sadam stood up, said to world: " I'm still here! You came to war, your best wasn't good enough" He became a hero to millions.
After Bush Jr. started Iraq, reasons changed frequently to justify being there.Preventing direct attacks in this country makes sense to me, but I don't know if we're doing it correctly.
Timothy Mcveigh: Read entire Wikipedia piece, in less than 5 minutes, you will understand. Was worst terrorist act in this country ever, until twin towers. His only "possible" regret was deaths of dayschool kids that he didn't realize were in building. Even that, he brushed aside. Very proud of what he did, wishing whole bldg. had fallen.
Other death row folks get delays from appealing. McVeigh tried once or twice for appeals, then quit. Other death row people only killed a single person, or a "few" , not 168 in three seconds. Big difference.

[apduncan1]

And what do you have to say about Hillary's pal: Roberto "Benito" Micheletti of Honduras?

[Archie1955]

The president of Libya was mesmerizing. He said many things that needed to be said but that no-one was brave enough to say. Finally the US and it's western allies have been told to get their damn acts together, to stop the wars (some 65 since WWII of which the US has been involved in most). You know terrorism did not pop up out of nowhere. It is a direct result of stupid moves by western imperial governments such as the US and the UK. You do not make friends and infulence people by bombing them back to the stone age. If the governments of these nations didn't think there would be blowback then they really are stupid.

[SgtMac]

No, you were just mesmerized, as you would have been regardless of what he actually said.

[Archie1955]

I really don't think so, as before I investigated the whole awful scenario, I detested the man and his philosophy, but after seeing what Bush did I realized that Ghadaffi was no different than Bush and maybe a whole lot better.