Dialogue With Myself: How Monsters Are Made
Myself: How did this happen again?
Me: What?
Myself: Where did this monster come from?
Me: Who?
Myself: Putin! And if you quote Voltaire again to me, I shall silence you forever.
Me: No Voltaire! It is simply the human condition to follow the leader.
Myself: What’s that supposed to mean?
Me: From birth we are taken care of and even as we struggle for our independence at various stages of our life, there is a kind of comfort remembering and/or returning to when someone else was in charge of our life; making decisions, providing food, shelter, safety and for a few special supporters and defenders, oligarchilian privileges.
Myself: That’s a generalization!
Me: After reading about Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Hussein, Amin and now Putin, I am beginning to think the exceptions are losing ground and I am not sure why. Part of me thinks if it is not immediate, not in my vicinity it is ignorable. I can speak my soap box speech trippingly on my tongue about the outrageous fortunes of Ukrainians and any other peoples and land grab in the sight of Putin and his gang and still make my dinner reservations. In other words, a television war a la Viet Nam, et al.
Myself: You know I never realized you are a cynic and a defeatist.
Me: I am not. I am just trying to understand how in full sight we got us another monster.
Myself: Well, it’s not my fault. I didn’t vote for him.
Me: I know but people like you and me did vote for him. How?? Why?? And didn’t we do the same thing only a little over 4 years ago.
Myself: I knew it. You just can’t stay away from 2016.
Me: You’re right! I can’t. I want to know how we find ourselves again behind this eight ball of human error. But it is different this time. Hitler rose from the ashes of World War I along with a worldwide economic depression. Hitler not only promised the German people bread and autobahns (highways) but also a return to their former glory. As the German people struggled to survive they grabbed Hitler’s lifeboat.
Myself: You want to tell me what the hell this has to do with Putin?
Me: I am trying to figure that out myself, Self.
Myself: Well, hurry it up. I am not getting any younger.
Me: OK. Try this on for size. Putin came to power as the Soviet Union dissolved.
Myself: Girl, you are really reaching on this one.
Me: Wait! The Soviet Union consisted of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia… and more. Almost overnight this powerful Union was reduced to Russia alone.
Myself: Yeah, so???
Me: I think as Putin came to power, he vowed to himself and his fellow cronies that he would return the U.S.S.R. to its former glory. Hitler lookalike???
Myself: Why would you think that?
Me: Because Putin suffers from a Napoleon Complex.
Myself: Is this another one of your arm-chair psychoanalysis?
Me: Short men tend to compensate for their lack of height through domineering behavior and aggression. Provoking conflict and invading countries makes him feel taller. If you don’t believe me, ask Angela Merkle.
"I understand why he has to do this — to prove he's a man," Merkel said. "He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this."
Like I said…Napoleon Complex.
Combine Putin’s complex with the U.S.S.R. breakup, countries that provided Russia with political and economic advantages and you have the perfect storm to create the perfect monster. He may be short, but on a big white horse with his shirt off or his big black dog by his feet, invading the Crimea, Ukraine; the Soviet Union will be restored, Putin its Emperor aka WORLD CHAMPION BULLY.
Myself: Even for you, that’s a stretch.
Me: Maybe. But if the shoe fits…
**A PAUSE IN THE DIALOGUE WHILE ME AND MYSELF INDULGE IN A HARD THINK…**
Myself: I am not sure I agree with your reasoning behind Putin and his power grabs. I am sure he is a monster. What puzzles me most, after what the world has been through in just the twentieth century alone, how did he rise to power? And then I remember the quote from Edmund Burke
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
And this one from Primo Levi. Primo was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer and Jewish Holocaust survivor.
Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.
Primo Levi
Me: It’s a sad realization.
Myself: It’s depressing.
Me: I have a crazy idea.
Myself: Another one?
Me: Do you remember Charlie Chaplin’s movie, The Dictator?
Myself: Seriously, has anyone ever examined your headball for loose screws.
Me: Let me show you something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20
Myself: I take it back. Brilliant.
Me: So what I think is if we come together maybe… no guarantees… we can stop these monsters before they get started. Right???
Myself: We always do much better together. Of course, right!!!
Love ~ Sally-Jane ❤️
P.S. This a really depressing time for many of us, coming out of the pandemic (if we actually are) and a war that no one thought was possible… I struggle to find the hope. And then, my daughter recommended I watch “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”... for which Jessica Chastain just won the SAG Award for Best Actress. Watch Tammy Faye to find hope? Are you nuts?! But I always listen to my daughters (when it suits me, of course). Do you yourself a favor my friends, DON'T MISS IT.
https://youtu.be/eMMLRnXPPJk