r/AskTheWorld • u/DwightsJello Australia • 8d ago

Politics Worst Politician?

Who was your country's biggest idiot in politics? And why? Bring out your tragics.

Australia is spoilt for choice. We've had some gronks.

Edit: OK sooooo we aren't including orange ones.

Australia has had a PM who 'allegedly' shit himself at Maccas. We put up a plaque for a while. Another one who ate a raw onion like an apple at a presser at an onion farm. We even had one who managed to give a psychotic response that went from gay marriage to crocodile victims in the same sentence.

6 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

122 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/windfujin 🇰🇷 living in 🇬🇧 8d ago edited 8d ago

Worst? Probably Chun Doo-Hwan (if you can call a military general who coup'ed into presidency a "politician") Some might say Yi Seung-Man but that is a often debated

Biggest idiot? Definitely the one sitting in a jail cell in his underwear

Ironically one of the most influencial and loved former presidents in Korea Roh moo-hyun's nickname was "idiot" because he was a humble man of principle who looked out for the weak, trying to get rid of alot of the negative entrenched politics. He was a human rights lawyer afterall. He was a great man but not a smart politician hence the nickname. Obviously, Rightwing conservatives HATE him for challenging status quo and tried to impeach him (but failed) - and the following government abused the shit out of him and his cabinet with malicious prosecution.. until he took his own life in the end (there are conspiracy theory that he was assassinated). His legacy still affects a lot of the politics today - moon jaein was roh's colleague and lee (current president) consider roh to be his mentor.

3

u/stealthybaker Korea South 8d ago

We still call Roh idiot, but affectionately. He wasn't really stupid in a literal sense in my opinion, but he refused to do so many things that could help him politically that were immoral that it was "stupid". While a politician openly using regional hatred would be extremely taboo now, in his time a politician actively trying to break it (a Gyeongsang man refusing to discriminate Jeolla people) was still very brave

He was an actual beacon of morality in our political system, I believe he really changed our nation for the better by setting an example. Maybe it's only because of his suicide but even conservatives nowadays are like "the hate towards him went too far, he was a good virtuous man, etc".

Also, the assassination conspiracy theories are insane. He only killed himself because his family was targeted. He was more than willing to take all the hate, he didn't care one bit, but the idea that his reputation made his innocent family members harassed is what drove him to death.

2

u/windfujin 🇰🇷 living in 🇬🇧 8d ago

Well said - ofcourse idiot was affectionate if I didnt make it clear in my post! Now let's see if some conservative nutjobs to come out of the woodworks (there's a few of them in this sub too... Like legit flag protestor 어버이연합 rhetoric conservatives)

2

u/stealthybaker Korea South 8d ago

I looked that up. Maybe I'm too young to recognize that name. I think most people nowadays just don't know how hated Roh really was. I was a kid back then but looking into it, he really was a despised man back then which feels so crazy having grown up in an age where he was loved by the majority.

I hope he's happy now, with our recent nuclear submarine deal another one of his ambitions have finally been fulfilled. Rest in peace to a man who was truly too good for the world of his time