Cult of personality

==Background==
{{See also|Imperial cult}}
[[File:Statue-Augustus.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Augustus of Prima Porta]], 1st century CE]]

Throughout human history, monarchs and other [[Head of state|heads of state]] were frequently treated with enormous reverence and they were also thought to be endowed with super-human qualities. Through the principle of the [[divine right of kings]], notably in medieval Europe, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God or the will of the gods. [[Ancient Egypt]], [[Imperial Japan]], the [[Inca]], the [[Aztecs]], [[Tibet]], Siam (now [[Thailand]]), and the [[Roman Empire]] are especially noted for their redefinition of monarchs as "god-kings". Furthermore, the [[Imperial cult of ancient Rome]] identified [[emperors]] and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority ([[auctoritas]]) of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman State]].

The spread of democratic and secular ideas in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura, though [[Napoleon III]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Plunkett |first=John |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203941782 |title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography |date=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0203941782 |editor-last=Hannavy |editor-first=John |pages=276–277 |language=en |chapter=Carte-de-visite |doi=10.4324/9780203941782}}</ref> and [[Queen Victoria]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 August 1860 |title=Fine Arts: Mr Mayall's Photographic Exhibition |page=6 |work=Morning Herald |location=London}}</ref> appreciated its perpetuation in their ''[[Carte de visite|carte-de-visite]]'' portraits which proliferated, circulated and were collected in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Darrah |first=William C. |title=Cartes de Visite in Nineteenth Century Photography. |publisher=W. C. Darrah Publishing |year=1981 |isbn=978-0913116050 |location=Gettysburg, PA |pages=43 |language=en |oclc=8012190}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Di Bello |first=Patrizia |date=19 March 2013 |title=Carte-de-visite: the photographic portrait as ʻsocial mediaʼ |url=http://www.britishportraits.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Di-Bello-The-carte-de-visite-as-social-media.pdf |website=Understanding British Portraits: Copy, Version and Multiple: the replication and distribution of portrait imagery. |via=Seminar: M Shed, Bristol}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rudd |first=Annie |date=2016 |title=Victorians Living in Public: Cartes de Visite as 19th-Century Social Media |journal=Photography and Culture |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=195–217 |doi=10.1080/17514517.2016.1265370 |s2cid=193760648}}</ref>

The subsequent development of mass media, such as radio, enabled political leaders to project a positive image of themselves onto the masses as never before. It was from these circumstances in the 20th century that the most notorious personality cults arose. Frequently, these cults are a form of [[political religion]].{{sfn|Plamper|2012|pp=13–14}}

The advent of the [[Internet]] and the [[World Wide Web]] in the 21st century has renewed the personality cult phenomenon. [[Disinformation]] via social media platforms and the [[24-hour news cycle|twenty-four hour news cycle]] has enabled the widespread dissemination and acceptance of deceptive information and propaganda.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pathak |first1=Archita |last2=Srihari |first2=Rohini |last3=Natu |first3=Nihit |title=Disinformation: analysis and identification |journal=Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory |year=2021 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=357–375 |publisher=United States National Library of Medicine |doi=10.1007/s10588-021-09336-x |pmid=34177355 |pmc=8212793 }}</ref> As a result, personality cults have grown and remained popular in many places, corresponding with a marked [[Democratic backsliding|rise in authoritarian government]] across the world.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Talisse |first1=Robert B. |title=Not all polarization is bad, but the US could be in trouble |url=https://theconversation.com/not-all-polarization-is-bad-but-the-us-could-be-in-trouble-173833 |website=The Conversation |date=January 3, 2022 |access-date=March 10, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The term "cult of personality" likely appeared in English around 1800–1850, along with the French and German versions of the term.<ref name="Heller2004">{{Cite book |last=Heller |first=Klaus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CreuLAI0c9sC&pg=PA25 |title=Personality Cults in Stalinism/Personenkulte im Stalinismus |publisher=V&R Unipress |year=2004 |isbn=978-3899711912 |editor-last=Heller |editor-first=Klaus |location=Göttingen |pages=23–33 |editor2-last=Plamper |editor2-first=Jan}}</ref> It initially had no political connotations, but was instead closely related to the [[Romanticism|Romanticist]] "cult of genius".<ref name="Heller2004" /> The first known political use of the phrase appeared in a letter from [[Karl Marx]] to German political worker Wilhelm Blos dated to November 10, 1877:<ref name="Heller2004" />

{{blockquote|text=Neither of us cares a straw of popularity. Let me cite one proof of this: such was my aversion to the personality cult [orig. ''Personenkultus''] that at the time of the International, when plagued by numerous moves&nbsp;... to accord me public honor, I never allowed one of these to enter the domain of publicity&nbsp;...<ref name="Heller2004" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Blos |first=Wilhelm |title=Brief von Karl Marx an Wilhelm Blos |url=http://www.zeno.org/nid/20003602281 |access-date=22 February 2013 |website=Denkwürdigkeiten eines Sozialdemokraten}}</ref>}}