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Idi Amin Makes the Name Monster Sound Toddler-like 

Monster! Monster! Many of us would be freaking out by the mentioning of that word.

Why is this word so frightening? We live in a world where a child can be asked to do a certain

thing, failure to which a monster will be called, to do what exactly? I don't know. We are often

made to understand that monsters are huge beings or even scary, making them the better

candidates into the threatening of children to do whatever we want them to, whenever we want

them. Even grownups tend to have fear when watching monster movies, and I will discuss why a

monster is highly regarded in our day-to-day lives.

           A monster, as many people view or perceive it as something that is often associated with

being massive or even beastly sometimes (Swanepoel n.d.). Monsters can also be creatures that

combine both human and inhuman parts to come up with the word "monster." This word has,

however, changed its meaning in that according to people of the "youth" bracket, a monster is

something huge and has impressive wonders, this can be seen when a big car or truck that's

pimped passes nearby, and someone shouts, "look at that beast."

   So what makes a monster a monster? A monster is said to be something not natural and not

unnatural either; it lies in between there. Or we could say that it is an existing perversion of
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nature, a semi-beast or blood-thirsty magical creature. A monster can be called a monster

because it's a beast known not to behave with reason or awareness. We also understand that the

more a monster consumes, the more its huge appetite increases. A monster is also a powerful

creature. When we say that someone has a "monster" inside them, they will be killed by the

monster metaphorically through a thought an ego death.

         We could also say that monsters are monsters because they often fall enslaved into their

magical forms. Let's say, for example, you're walking in a bush, and you notice a wounded fox;

maybe it was in a fight with another of its kind and got injured. The beast whimpers and growls

as you go nearer, it tries to back away as you approach, but it cannot as it is already injured. You

raise your hands while moving towards it, showing no harm to it. It sniffs you and decides that

you're no danger to it. You start playing with its fur, and suddenly it does trust you. A wolf might

be considered a monster or beast to many people, but as you can see from the above story, it has

feelings of identity, and some could even say goals, for that matter.

           Most of us think that a monster is something only found in nightmares or dreams, or

others would view them as objects used in Halloween, but that's not the case. monsters can be

found right into your doorsteps or backyards. creatures such as vampire bats or even aye-aye are

often seen as scary. Still, in the real sense, they pose no threat to humans, but other creatures like

prairie dogs seem the most innocent creatures in the world, but in the real sense, their behaviors

could give anyone goosebumps. This statement might change your view of what a monster is,

right? Yeah, I thought so.

           Let's say you're a Ukrainian national with everything going on between Russia and

Ukraine. You capture a Russian soldier in your country Ukraine, they have codes to launch a
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bomb, you call people, and you help each other in the torturing of the Russian. At long last,

you're able to know where the bombs are and discover other active cells in your country, and by

this, you help many people in your country Ukraine from death or a massacre, for that matter.

Can we call these torturers monsters? The answer is yes, as we all know, you have to be a

monster to torture another human being. This brings us to an understanding that you don't have

to be an animal for you to be called a monster.

           Iddi Amin was born in the mid-1940s; after joining the Kings African Rifles (KAR) as a

cook, he rose to lieutenant after participating in the Somali shifter war. He became president of

Uganda, where he received support from Israel Libya as he was close to the late Muammar

Gaddafi, the Soviet Union, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and East Germany. In 1971 the UK

broke its diplomatic relations with Uganda, which led to him declaring himself "CBE" conqueror

of the British Empire. During his rule, there was increased unrest among the people as he

continually persecuted ethnic groups and political rivals.

           His tenure was characterized by increased violations of human rights; he ordered the

killing of Lango and Acholi soldiers, described as the Lango massacre. This was because they

were known supporters of the former president of that time Milton Obote (Nayenga n.d.). During

his tenure in 1972, it is believed that more than 10000 civilians had disappeared without a trace;

these were journalists, ethnic leaders, and even religious leaders.

           Amin is rumored to have ordered the killing of 4000 disabled people by throwing them

into the Nile River to be eaten by crocodiles; the man even confessed to being a cannibal as he

had eaten human meat severally and even going to the extent of comparing it to leopard meat
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saying it's saltier. Amin has lived a lavish life at the expense of public funds, a classic

resemblance to 20th-century dictatorships. 

           Amin, during his tenure killed people like Benedicto Kiwanuka, who was chief justice in

Uganda, Janani Lucum, who was an Anglican bishop as he did not like them or they were against

him. His decree of 1972 of ordering Asians out of the country greatly affected the economy of

Uganda, leaving them languishing in poverty.

           One of the most remembered senseless decisions was the "Entebbe raid" this was when

Amin aided Palestine militants who had hijacked an Air France plane from Tel Aviv going to

France. He allowed them to land safely in Entebbe as he was a known critic of Israel (Krift n.d.).

He supplied them with more manpower and food, but this was soon over as the Israelis sent a

team of elite forces who helped kill the militants and some Uganda forces personnel.

           These instances and many more make Idi Amin Dada, as he was commonly known as, fall

into the category of a monster. I mean, the man forced the Asians and the British to run away

from the country in the 1970s. This significantly interfered with Uganda's economy as the Asians

were the ones who mainly contributed to the economy as they had many businesses, he ordered

them out of his country and even killing them, he took lands from the people escaping from

Uganda and gave it to his generals.

           Idi Amin is considered at the same level as Adolf Hitler of Germany, only that he had no

military weaponry; otherwise, he would have killed many more people. It is estimated that by the

end of his tenure Amin had killed and massacred more than 300000 people of Uganda. Even

though Amin — also known as the "Butcher of Uganda" — oversaw mass killings and

extraordinary human rights violations; many Ugandans still cherish his legacy to this day. But
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this does not prevent us from labeling him a "monster," or how else would we describe his deeds

during his tenure as a Ugandan president.

           From the above examples, how would they describe a monster as a person who is known

to be cruel, also frightening, or an evil person who does evil things like killings, torture,

massacre, and even extrajudicial killings? Monsters are not necessarily animals but human

beings who act to suggest that they are not sympathetic or do not have feelings. So we can

conclude that a person is said to be a monster when he/she loses their connection to reason with

others and puts trust only in their inner thinking filling in things that they don't know with their

imagined fears.

 
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Works cited

Krift, Thomas R. "Self-defense and self-help: the Israeli raid on Entebbe." Brook. J. Int'l L. 4

(1977) https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/

bjil4&section=7

 Nayenga, Peter FB. "Myths and Realities of Idi Amin Dada's Uganda." African Studies

Review 22.2 (1979) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/

article/myths-and-realities-of-idi-amin-dadas-uganda/

D277526F761E668F11F8FCAA2AB66872

Swanepoel, Piet. "On defining the category MONSTER–using definitional features, narrative

categories, and Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM's)." Eurex (European Association for

Lexicography)

Proceedings (2010) https://euralex.org/wp-content/themes/euralex/proceedings/Euralex

%202010/134_Euralex_2010_9_SWANEPOEL_On%20defining%20the%20category

%20MONSTER_using%20definitional%20features,%20narrative%20categories%20and

%20Idea.pdf

 
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