Don’t you still know who I am
In the introduction it is described that the leaders of some nations are still undergoing the age of defiance, that usually ends when you are about 12 years old. Most of them are suffering from the Dunning–Kruger effect, which means that people with low ability to perform a task often overestimate their ability to perform the task. The results speak for themselves inevitably…
Some examples:
• Bravado
• Bombast • Patriarchy
Chapter 1. – Don’t you know who I am?
”Don’t you know who I am?” is a question one should never ask unless one really doesn’t know who he or she is. If that is the case one should seek professional help. But apparently, many celebrities ask this question repeatedly…
Starring in this chapter: Herbert von Karajan, Alec Baldwin, Johnny Depp, David Hasselhoff, Miley Cyrus, Reese Witherspoon, Charles de Gaulle, Ernst August, Michael Ovitz, Kanye West, Picasso, Jose Mourinho, Ronaldo, Niels Jerne, Francis Ford Coppola, Russel Crowe, Jeremy Clarkson and Mobutu Sese Seko, among others.
Some examples:
- “I am very special.”
- “My time is more valuable than yours!”
- Top Gear: A celebrity presenter beats up his producer for not getting an entrecôte for
dinner…
Chapter 2. – The Princesses’ tantrums
Humiliating others make some people’s ego feel much better and healthier. Like father, like son it is said, but this also applies to daughters. In this chapter it is described what happens when the daughter of Korean Air’s CEO is served macadamia nuts from the wrong plate or when a servant accidentally walks ahead of a Saudi princess at the shopping mall.
Some examples:
-
- The aggressive shopping tours of the first lady
- Hannibal and Aline: Every hotel servant’s horror couple
- “Bow and kiss my hands!”
- Diplomatic rumbling
- Aristocracy: the stolen power by the not-so-nobles
Chapter 2. – The Princesses’ tantrums
Humiliating others make some people’s ego feel much better and healthier. Like father, like son it is said, but this also applies to daughters. In this chapter it is described what happens when the daughter of Korean Air’s CEO is served macadamia nuts from the wrong plate or when a servant accidentally walks ahead of a Saudi princess at the shopping mall.
Some examples:
- The aggressive shopping tours of the first lady
- Hannibal and Aline: Every hotel servant’s horror couple
- “Bow and kiss my hands!”
- Diplomatic rumbling
- Aristocracy: the stolen power by the not-so-nobles
Chapter 3. – Chosen by Gods
Access to power and staying there is easy, since God has decided so…
Starring in this chapter: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Matteo Salvini, Donald Trump, House of Windsor, House of Grimaldi in Monaco, Saddam Hussein, Pharaohs of Egypt, Inca kings, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, among others.
Some examples:
- Enough chatter, when God has anointed
- The Spiritual Father of Italy
- “God is on my side!”
- The Divine light
Chapter 4. – People love me
Solely, the love of God is not enough. Ordinary citizens are also obliged to love the Great Leaders. It is even demanded.
Starring in this chapter: Muammar Gaddafi, Heydar Aliyev (Azerbaidžan), Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, Saparmurat Niyazov and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (Turkmenistan), Mansa Musa (Mali), Josif Stalin, Nicolae Ceaușescu, among others.
Some examples:
- The nation’s brilliant boys
- The bigger the dictatorship, the larger the statue
- “I demand homages!”
- Applauding also to yourself
Chapter 5. – The rules do not apply to me
It is great to make rules, especially if you do not follow them yourself.
Starring in this chapter: Martin Winterkorn (Volkswagen), Sepp Blatter, João Havelange, Charles de Gaulle, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Il, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Sultan Hassanal Bolkhia of Brunei and József Szájer (MEP from Hungary), among others.
Some examples:
-
- Kim Jong-Il and Donald Trump: the brilliant golfers
- Erdogan: Only me is entitled to insult others
- Rules for others
- Couldn’t care less: FIFA and International Olympic Committee
- Sticks in Brunei and whips in Brussels
Chapter 6. – Landlord in the mansion
The lifestyle of others can be totally wrong. That is why the style mistakes are corrected, but naturally in a protective and benevolent manner.
Some examples:
- Nothing but bullies who interfere with everything
- Kemal Ataturk: Wrong hat on the head
- France and Britain: Learn my language, barbarians!
- Juan Carlos and OAU: Ambassadors of goodwill, but only in theory
- Mark Zuckerberg: the hypocrite patriarch of Silicon Valley
Chapter 7. – The arrogance based on ignorance.
When one does not know that one does not know, it is easier to advise others.
Starring in this chapter: Sacha Baron-Cohen and Kazakhstan, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, UK minister of education Gavin Williamson, Donald Trump, French cultural editor Caroline Broué, US politician Sarah Palin and president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan, among others.
Some examples:
-
- Ignorance as perceived national self-promotion
- “Are there bookstores in Nigeria?”
- Ignorance and jeering
- An Anthem for the prostitutes of Kazakhstan
Chapter 8. – When ideology makes you deaf.
It is much more comfortable to make and implement decisions, when you refuse to listen to others.
Some examples:
-
- Philip II: beaten armada
- Nikita Khrushchev and Aral-sea: the socialistic planning at its worst
- Robert Mugabe and the collapse of Zimbabwe: obey or perish!
- Scott Morrison and the Australian fires: burying your head in the burning bush
Epilogue: The art of listening.
In the epilogue it is described that the arrogant behaviour benefits none, least of all the arrogant person himself.
Confident people enjoy their achievements and also acknowledge the achievements of others. Confident people admit that they make mistakes and they are willing to learn from their mistakes. They are also willing to listen to others.
Arrogant people do not learn, do not listen, do not admit their flaws nor do they ever acknowledge others.