The Strange Pop Culture Tastes of Dictators

[RZM]

One of the most prurient aspects of reading the personal emails written to and by Bashar al Assad that were obtained by The Guardian has been the chance to observe the dictator’s strange shopping habits on iTunes. Apparently, the Syrian dictator is a big fan of contemporary party music. But Bashar is far from the first dictator to have a strange relationship with pop culture. From Frank Sinatra to LMFAO, TNR takes a look back at the odd cultural tastes of some of history's most ruthless rulers.

Bashar al Assad. The Syrian dictator's recent purchases on iTunes include music by LMFAO, Chris Brown, Right Said Fred, and New Order. Of course, picturing Assad dancing to “I’m Sexy And I Know It” is an image that most of us would prefer to block from our minds.

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Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbian war criminal was a noted admirer of Disney and Frank Sinatra songs, though we’re guessing that the man who spent his later life trying to expand Serbia’s territory by military force preferred “My Way” over “It’s a Small World.”

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Idi Amin. Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda in the 1970s, was fascinated with Scottish culture, giving his sons Scottish names and declaring himself King of Scotland. He also had a deep appreciation for bagpipe music—even attempting to create a personal bodyguard comprised of 6’4” bagpipe-playing Scotsmen.

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/101772/dictators-pop-culture-LMFAO

[bemildred]

1. Dictators tend to run on the shalllow side for some reason.

Kitsch really.