I have noticed the term autocrat being used when describing

[Bonhomme Richard]

a nations ruler that is a friend of ours and the term dictator is used when they are not friends to the US. I see this all through our media. Can't they give the propaganda a rest for just a minute.

[Lindsay]

1. No.

The job of the corporate media is to present propaganda for the powerful.

[hlthe2b]

2. I just heard an 8 minute NPR piece on why the NPR ombudsmen

chose to go along with "harsh interrogation" rather than calling waterboarding torture.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2009/06/harsh_interrogation_techniques.html

All I got from that polite but heated exchange between NPR management and someone that still seems to harbor the makings of a true reporter-- was one hell of a headache.

SO, I guess you could probably plug autocrat or despot or dictator into that discussion and get the same gobbledy goop out. :shrug:

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. Autocrat sounds much more benign in people's minds.

Only those minds that don't live under the thumb of one.