Abuse of Power

Jenny Holzer verifies in one of her truisms that “abuse of power comes as no surprise”. She is trying to affirm to the readers that when leaders get authority in their hands, it will come no surprise seeing their rulers abuse their power. Holzer is trying to imply that people essentially know beforehand that once leaders have the clout, they will certainly exploit it. She is uttering that that it will not be something new if a leader is spot abusing the powers granted to him. The reader might disagree with Holzer’s statement because if the people knew that their leader will eventually misuse their powers then they would not give him those powers. The people of a nation don’t know when their leader would turn to a dictator and control everything. They will surely be surprised to know that their leader will exploit their supremacy. This can be support by an event that took place in Germany as well as by George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Adolf Hitler is known to be one of the “greatest” leaders in history who had abused his powers and had shattered his country apart. Born in 1889 in Austria, Hitler abused his powers because of his greedy ego and because of his narcissism. It all became with Hitler organizing a party called the National Socialist, most popularly know as the Nazi Party. The rise of the Nazi Party was the thing that led to the start of Hitler’s rein and his abuse of power. The Nazi Party eventually led Adolf Hitler to come to rule and had given Hitler the chance to take control the entire nation.

Surprisingly, Hitler came to power legally through the success of his book Mein Kampt (My Struggle) which he wrote in prison. In this book, Hitler uttered his dream of a new nation, a nation which consists of a pure “Aryan” ra...

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...s the real Joseph Stalin wanted, Napoleon in the story want to rule and want to obtain as much power as he can. The main theme of this is corruption of absolute power as Napoleon gains full powers. This book is based upon Joseph Stalin and how he gains power, which he later abuses.

Joseph Stalin can be said to be just like Hitler as he also supported Communism and that when power did come to his hands, he misused it. As the reader interpreted, people of a nation don’t know whether their ruler will abuse their powers or not. Citizens of a nation are not told by their leader that when they will rise to power, they will misuse it. For this, the reader would disagree with Holzer when she says “abuse of power comes as no surprise”. If the people become aware that their ruler will exploit their authority, they will be in shock and it will be a big surprise for them.