Word: cult
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...many modern Chinese who fret about political malaise and economic stagnation, Mao symbolizes the promise of the '50s, when the leadership appeared to be incorruptible and struggle -- political and otherwise -- seemed to have a purpose. The new Mao cult has even imbued the Chairman with talismanic powers. In Guangdong province, truck drivers and shop owners display Mao posters, believing the image will ward off ill fortune and bring profits to their businesses -- an ironic twist for an anticapitalist who imposed radical egalitarianism on China...
...lethal software. He is a master of 20th century totalitarianism. In Republic of Fear, reissued last year by Pantheon, Samir al-Khalil argues that Saddam's political forebears include not just Adolf Hitler -- the precedent George Bush likes to stress -- but Joseph Stalin as well. A corollary to the cult of personality is the principle that everyone but the leader is expendable. In addition to ensuring obedience, terror reminds the followers that they are cannon fodder in the struggle ("the mother of battles," as Saddam would have it) against all who oppose Numero Uno. The state itself becomes an instrument...
...official. "If we weren't getting cooperation, it would have a bearing on a whole range of issues." By drawing back the Iron Curtain without bloodshed, undertaking democratic reform at home and supporting a number of U.S. policies abroad, Gorbachev has created a sort of personality cult in Western diplomatic circles. American officials claim to support policies, not politicians, but in private there is widespread fear that current Soviet policies may be inextricably linked to the current embattled Soviet leader...
...Kingdom of Heaven (Doubleday; $21.95) hit U.S. bookstores amid a squall of controversy. In a nutshell, the author contends that Catholicism "strives to impose its own moral dictatorship without regard to the welfare of married people, a dictatorship based on pleasure-hating, celibate contempt for marriage and a maniacal cult of virginity...
UNDERLYING these demands from the anti-war movement is a cult of the Vietnam War which has fermented since 1975 in movies, personal histories and popular music. Any American foreign policy adventure--however justified--calls up the specter of Vietnam. The U.S. seems too fed up with the memories of Ron Kovic and My Lai to get involved...