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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31063 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 15, 2023

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Salazar of Portugal (1932–1968) is often given as an example of a benevolent dictator. There are a lot more example that aren't East Asian. France-Albert René of Seychelles is another.

I have never seen Salazar described as benevolent. Wikipedia says:

One opposition leader, Humberto Delgado, who openly challenged Salazar's regime in the 1958 presidential election, was first exiled and then killed by Salazar's secret police. (...) Salazar's rule is widely described as dictatorial and was characterized by systematic repression of civil and political rights, mass torture, arbitrary arrests, concentration camps, police brutality against civil rights protestors, electoral fraud and colonial wars that left hundreds of thousands dead.

Here's a book on Salazar.

https://www.amazon.com/Salazar-Dictator-Who-Refused-Die/dp/1787383881/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=reasonmagazinea-20

Fifty years after his death, Portugal's Salazar remains a controversial and enigmatic figure, whose conservative and authoritarian legacy still divides opinion. Some see him as a reactionary and oppressive figure who kept Portugal backward, while others praise his honesty, patriotism and dedication to duty. Contemporary radicals are wary of his unabashed elitism and skepticism about social progress, but many conservatives give credit to his persistent warnings about the threats to Western civilization from runaway materialism and endless experimentation.

For a dictator, Salazar's end was anti-climactic--a domestic accident. But during his nearly four decades in power, he survived less through reliance on force and more through guile and charm. This probing biography charts the highs and lows of Salazar's rule, from rescuing Portugal's finances and keeping his strategically-placed nation out of World War II to maintaining a police state while resisting the winds of change in Africa. It explores Salazar's long-running suspicion of and conflict with the United States, and how he kept Hitler and Mussolini at arm's length while persuading his fellow dictator Franco not to enter the war on their side.

Contrast Portugal's outcomes to Spain (Civil War) and Italy (Fascism/WWII) and he looks pretty good. But yeah, I doubt you're going to find mainstream hagiographies of any dictator.

But yeah, I doubt you're going to find mainstream hagiographies of any dictator.

Does an obituary of an austere religious scholar focusing on their academic career rather than time spent as dictator of a terrorist state count?

Damn, I'm dying to know. Did the NYT write something nice about the Ayatollah or something? Trudeau's eulogy of Castro also seems to fit the mold. Maybe I should rephrase.

I doubt you're going to find mainstream hagiographies of any right-coded dictator.

That seems accurate. The austere religious scholar meme is a reference to a WaPo obituary for al-Baghdadi of ISIS. That archive link is post edit so unclear how much of the bringing up the ills of ISIS were added after the fact. A screenshot of the original article. You're probably correct on the right-coded dictator modification.

That’s a highly selective quote when Wikipedia with a left bias includes a lot of quotes like this

“According to American scholar J. Wiarda, despite certain problems and continued poverty in many sectors, the consensus among historians and economists is that Salazar in the 1930s brought remarkable improvements in the economic sphere, public works, social services and governmental honesty, efficiency and stability.“

If you read your own Wikipedia source then you would find many paragraphs describing him as benevolent.

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