Back when I used to travel more, I would often take photos of what I called "dear leader" images. By that I mean public displays of the face of the country's leader which was, I dunno how to characterize it, hagiographic? Devotional? Something like that.
Anyway, here is Bashir Assad in Syria in 2005:
Anyway, here is Bashir Assad in Syria in 2005:
Here are various Shi'ite leaders (the only one I can name these days is Hassan Nustrallah on the left) in South Beirut, Lebanon in 2005:
Here is Hosni Mubarak in Egypt in 2007:
The reason I would take those photos is because I thought they were funny. There's a certain ridiculousness in a leader that needs his image all over the place to get people to love him. It speaks to a certain degree of insecurity. Like it is supposed to project strength, but by the fact that the images are posted, in actually projects weakness.
I think another reason I was so amused by them was out of certain feeling of cultural superiority. The U.S. is the most powerful country of the world. Our leaders don't need to make their lackies post images of themselves around the country. Only a narcissistic asshole would think images like that make them look good. My country's leaders, even the ones I did not like, were simply too smart to think that posting their big smiling face would do anything other than make them look desperate and insecure.
Fast forward 15-20 years. The U.S.A. in 2025:
