What makes a Tyrant

[YankeyMCC]

I'm reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. In Ch 3 he writes about the collision between the Inca's and Spanish conquistador's.

Conquistador Pizarro captured the Inca Emperor Atahuallpa.

He prints an account by one of the Spanish soldiers and I found this pretty interesting.

Pizarro tells Atahuallpa to come on down and talk to him "No harm or injury" will fall on him he promises.

Atahuallpa comes down with a large but unarmed contingent of his army. Pizarro sends out his priest with a cross in one hand and the bible in the other.

The priest greets Atahuallpa telling him it's the will of god that they be friends. Atahuallpa (apparently trusting enough to come down without arms, but smart enough to recognize the BS the priest is selling) tosses the bible the priest handed over to him to look at, onto the ground.

Now that might be rude, although considering the hostile invading force I think you could forgive rudeness, but certainly undiplomatic. But this is how the priest reacts:

"Come out! Come out, Christians! Come at these enemy dogs who reject the things of God. That tyrant has thrown my book of holy law to the ground!"

So to be a "tyrant" you just have to reject their god!? Oh, how things remain the same.

The priest goes on; "Why remain polite and servile toward this over-proud dog when the plains are full of Indians? March out against him, for I absolve you!"

Wow! This lowly priest is absolve killing other human beings. He must have a special place in xian heaven.

[trotsky]

1. To be a tyrant you have to have power.

Which religion has had the most power over the past 2000 years? Hmmm?

[fshrink]

2. A tyrant

is, according to xians, any power who does not fit into the feudal pyramid with a supreme thing on top. The Idiot, for example, is not a tyrant since he fits. The fact that he got there by lying, stealing, cheating, black-mailing, killing, etc... is irrelevant.

[Az]

3. A tyrant is a leader that does evil

And since evil is culturally defined the simple act of throwing a bible to the ground can readily be defined as an evil act.

The inverse of defining evil is defining good. And this too is culturally defined. Good is defined by the culture and if it defines another group as inhuman then the protections of humanity do not apply to them. Thus to kill a group of humans one need only declare them inhuman. And then it is possible to slay them with joy in one's heart because you are doing good.