Megalomaniac Art

BBC News has posted a slide show of statues of political leaders in foreign parts: Leaders who love statues (title link). Auntie seems to be having a sly dig at Mayawati, chief minister of India's Uttar Pradesh State, who is accused of wasting state funds on statues of herself and of her party's symbol: the elephant. This example shows fans flocking to a 20-metre-tall bronze statue of Eternal President Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Some of the photos are of statues which have since been toppled by new regimes, because the sculptures inspired fear and loathing. That megalomaniac dictators love to see themselves depicted as giants in stone or bronze should be a wake-up call to those naive folk who think art is a remedy for the world's ills. Art in the wrong hands is a powerful weapon.