Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, Ferdinand Marcos, Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung, and Sun Jong Il were each preserved after their deaths in a sort of new age mummification process. Even years after their passing, each of these world leaders still casts a long shadow. Such shadows still intimidate and inspire intense feelings amongst their countrymen. It is fair to say that these men, for the most part, are regarded by western history as tyrants who brutalized their people, crushed any dissentors, and looted their countries treasuries for their own pleasures. It is interesting that they each started off as revolutionaries who dreamed of delivering their people from the oppressors whose boot heels were against their necks. Yet somehow along the way, their lust for power and ultimate control rotted them into corpses long before their physical deaths. They succeeded in bringing change, but simply replaced one ribbon of black for another. Even after decades of their abuses and human rights violations on unimagineable scales, they are still held in awe by many of their countrymen. Some have even elevated them to the level of deity. It seems to me that the preservation of their bodies after their deaths is directly connected with their unchecked egos from the time when they still drew breath. Even today they are still revered because many who suffered during their reigns are still alive, and still very much fear them. They will never forget what happened to those who opposed them in any measure. They have been conditioned in their responses. It is frightening to think that many from the younger generations have been misled by the national propaganda movements to rewrite the biographries of these brutal dictators in glowing terms, painting them as national heroes. Elevating monsters to the level of gods.
