"Dictators With Mommy Issues"
May 16, 2012
Oh for Heaven's Sake. "Dictators with Mommy Issues" is the headline for an article this week on the Foreign Policy website. The subtitle: "Some of the world's most ruthless leaders have had surprisingly close - if deeply troubled - relationships with their mothers. This piece brings Mother Bashing to new heights, with all kinds of crazy spurious connections. Here is just one example, about Joseph Stalin:
JOSEPH STALIN
Country: Soviet Union
Mother: Ekaterina ("Keke")
"Relationship: Stalin, like Hitler, was fond of his mother but had a tumultuous relationship with his father, an alcoholic who savagely beat him and Keke ("Soso," as Stalin was called, once arrived at a police officer's house in the Georgian village where he grew up with his face covered in blood, yelling "he's killing my mother!").
Keke worked hard as a laundress to enroll Stalin in a church school and later a theological seminary -- even fighting to send him back to school when his father, who had since left the home, briefly kidnapped Soso, and set him up as an apprentice cobbler. But she too meted out corporal punishment and grew angry with Stalin when he misbehaved at school. And while Stalin installed his mother in a palace in Georgia during his rise to power, he rarely visited her. His letters to her included lines such as "Dear mother, please live for 10,000 years. Kisses, Soso" and "I know you're disappointed in me but what can I do? I'm busy and can't write often."
Let's see....Stalin and his mother were savagely beaten by his alcoholic father. She fought the father to try to keep her son in school. Yup, must have been that close relationship with him mom that made Stalin the monster he was. Sheesh.
Great post! I included it in this week's Best of the Blogs at Blogging 'Bout Boys: http://www.bloggingboutboys.blogspot.com/2012/05/best-of-blogs_18.html
Posted by: Jennifer Fink | May 18, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Great post. What fascinating lengths some people will go to in order to blame Dear Ole Mom.
Loved The Mama’s Boy Myth. I never realized how complicated it gets for moms with sons.
Posted by: TheBookWormMama | May 22, 2012 at 01:52 PM