Tyrannophobia: The Fear of Tyrants
Definition:
Tyrannophobia is a specific phobia characterized by an intense, irrational fear of tyrants - figures who hold absolute or unchecked power. This fear often centers on the potential for domination, oppression, and abuse, especially when resistance feels impossible or dangerous.
Real-World Resonance:
This fear doesn’t only apply to dictators on a national scale. It shows up in schools, homes, and even inner lives - wherever someone imposes their will without care for consent or fairness. Children raised in controlling environments may internalize a sense that power always corrupts, that to be ruled is to be crushed.
In real life, tyrants can wear many masks: a cruel teacher, an abusive parent, an unchecked institution - or even your own perfectionism, punishing every perceived mistake.
Related Phobiac:
His Highnessness
He arrives with trumpets you can’t see, but hear inside your skull. He drips ceremony. Glittering robes trail behind in impossible lengths - embroidered with medals, chains, sashes, and golden tassels that jingle like coins in a beggar’s cup.
He stands tall - but only because his posture is wired into place. His limbs tremble beneath the weight of self-importance. Beneath the robes, he is unmistakably naked. Pale, papery skin stretched thin over birdlike bones. His crown is enormous, top-heavy, and studded with dull glass meant to look like jewels. He wears a neck brace to keep his head upright under the crown’s audacious weight.
From a distance, he appears grand. Up close, he reeks of powder, sweat, and something spoiled.
He speaks in proclamations, every sentence ending like a threat. But when challenged, his voice wavers. When questioned, he repeats himself. Louder. Then louder still.
His Highnessness does not wield weapons. He wields rules. Labels. Expectations. His power lies in pretending to have power - and convincing others not to test it.
He manifests in systems that demand obedience, in adults who belittle instead of protect, in voices that say because I said so when you ask why. He feeds on silence. On deference. On the small nods and swallowed truths that keep tyrants alive.
But he is fragile. The moment you laugh, the illusion wavers. The moment you doubt, the robe slips.
Happy 4th of July:
This is not a political post. However, this fear does resonate for many these days - look to the No Kings protests, or think what it would be like to live in Iran and not be an extremist. In the face of a myriad issues in our country, our world, today - it’s important to remember our empathy.
One of my favorite books of the last five years is Upgrade by Blake Crouch. In a nutshell, a man is unknowingly genetically enhanced as part of a covert plan to forcibly evolve humanity, raising the ethical question of whether rewriting human biology is justified to solve global crises. The enhancements, increase his intelligence and physical capabilities. Long story short, that’s not the answer and only intensifies the problem. *Mild Spoiler Alert* The plan to make real change involves the enhancing the regions of the human brain responsible for empathy, cooperation, and moral reasoning - essentially rewiring people to be more altruistic and less driven by fear, selfishness, and tribalism. The idea is that by boosting these traits at a biological level, humanity could collectively make better decisions to address existential threats like climate change, overpopulation, and resource scarcity - problems that traditional politics, economics, and behavior have failed to solve.
Wouldn’t that be nice? My point is, everyone has a point of view. We would all do well to remember that on any scale, to start a conversation, not a war.
This is not a soapbox. It’s a platform for my voice. It’s an open invitation to talk.