Hobbes Was Right: Difference between revisions

[[I Thought It Meant|No, not]] [[Calvin and Hobbes|the tiger]] ([[Word of God|though he was named after this one]]).

 

 

A benevolent dictatorship is optional.

** In a minor example, the democratic nations in [[Code Geass]] found themselves quickly conquered by Britannia due to the inability to muster up a strong motivated army like Britannia nor military progress.

*** On the other hand, the Chinese Federation is an Empire as well {{spoiler|and falls to a populist uprising lead by the Black Knights.}} The EU does pretty good as well, not dissolving until near the end due to precisely what was mentioned above; internal conflicts over raising an army.

* This question constantly dogs Yang Wen-Li in ''[[Legend of the Galactic Heroes]]''. When asked by Reinhard von Lohengramm if the corrupt and cowardly Free Planets Alliance is worthy of his substantial abilities, Yang replies that he would prefer the worst democracy to the best dictatorship.

 

 

** Though this is depicted less as a function of human nature in general and more that the only sort of government most people in this world are familiar with is the Lord Ruler's totalitarian theocracy. Hard to have a democracy when the average person on the street doesn't know or care what voting ''is''...

*** Culture matters. In fact, it's probably the thing that matters ''most'' in how a society works and how its government operates and behaves.

* [[Jonathan Swift]] is cynical about most human attributes and pursuits throughout ''Gulliver's Travels,'' but the end of the book devolves into a tirade against Humanity in general. Swift depicts the ideal species as Houyhnhnm, a species of [[Mary Sue|super-intelligent pacifist horses]]. These noble, rational equines starkly contrast the 'Yahoos,' brutal, savage animals that look exactly like people. George Orwell argues the supposedly Utopian society of the Houyhnhnm is ridiculous, and that Swift's "aim, as usual, is to humiliate Man by reminding him that he is weak and ridiculous, and above all that he stinks."

** This assumes that you take the book at face value and assume Gulliver's adoration of the horse-people accurately reflects Swift's view. Swift's portrayal of this so-called utopian society is actually pretty bleak and unpleasant if you look closely; individuals do only what they need to survive, with strict and dull diets, engage in sex only so far as is necessary to preserve the species, appear to exhibit zero attachment to their own children (any extras are given to smaller/infertile families without a thought), lack of empathy towards other creatures (see their proposals to exterminate Yahoos and rejection of Gulliver for his resemblance to them) and lack of any language besides what is required to exchange information (meaning while while there are no lies there is also no creativity or imagination). It can essentially be seen a passionless and cold existence so we should not assume Swift supports it. The contrast between the bestial passion-ruled Yahoos and the cold passionless Houynhnms can be seen as a warning of going towards either extreme.

** Gulliver is rescued at sea after his time with them. The captain and crew treat him very humanely. He tries to get to a boat and escape -- to the middle of the ocean. He's caught and they conclude that his wits had been disordered by his sufferings.

* Played with in ''[[Wheel of Time|New Spring]]'', where Moiraine has no desire to become Queen of Cairhien, because even if the people accept an Aes Sedai as queen no ruler of Cairhien has ever lasted long without being at least a benevolent tyrant. The "playing with" part comes from the fact that the Cairhienin are in fact extremely sophisticated and intelligent rather than a rabble; the problem is that the whole country is a [[Deadly Decadent Court]].

* Isaac Asimov's ''[[Foundation]]'' claims outright that the galaxy cannot be run by anything but an emperor and that democracy is an archaic form of government proven to fail because you can't give everyone what they want. Subverted in that not only does the empire fall but it's slowly being replaced by the eponymous Foundation which is far more democratic. In contrast the Second Foundation is an oligarchy while the third major galactic power Gaia is more or less led by a robot or an enlightened anarchy depending on your take.

 

**** Recall what happened to Jack Kennedy, or alternatively, Julius Caesar.

**** Oh hell, just recall that this hypothetical plan requires the full cooperation of the military. Keep in mind that the military swears allegiance to the Constitution, not the President, and is trained that [[Just Following Orders]] is not a viable excuse if the order is obviously illegal. Thus, everyone, from the top brass to the lowly private in the military would also have to support the hypothetical massive jerk in order for an absolute dictatorship to emerge.

** To go into more detail: In China, where ruling dynasties have historically reigned for hundreds of years at a time, the one dynasty that ''tried'' to rule by the (literal) book lasted for some 15 years, and no, that's not missing a few zeroes.

*** To the credit of the Qin Dynasty(said 15 year reign regime), the arbitrary cruelty didn't arise until its founder died and was replaced by an incompetent ruler who had bad advice fed to him by a scheming [[Evil Chancellor]]. Before then, it was still harsh by today's standards, but not overly and unnecessarily so, though later Chinese sources (especially Qin's successor Dynasty, Han) would claim otherwise.

 

== Videogames ==

* The Qunari of [[Dragon Age]] dogmatically follow a philosophy/religion called The Qun. It's basic principle is that everyone must have a certain role to fulfill in life, therefore every child is evaluated while growing up, to gauge what role s/he would be best suited for, be it warrior, baker, trader, leader or something else. Once a role is assigned it can never be changed. They see the human/elven/dwarven society spread throughout the world as inherently chaotic and corrupt, and in need of correction via imposing the way of The Qun on them. Wether they convert willingly or by force is entirely up to them

* ''[[Fable]]'' already referenced Hobbes with the monsters of the same name, but in ''III'', {{spoiler|Logan believes in his ideals, and this is in fact the easiest [[Earn Your Happy Ending|(but not best)]] way to save your people: by oppressing them to raise money to fight the Crawler.}}

* In ''[[Shogun Total War 2]]'', where a ruler's ability to rule is determined by the Repression Rating and must enact harsh policies to maintain authorities (such as sword hunts to disarm the rebellious population for example).

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}