Stephen King: Putin can't bear to let Zelensky win. The Z-man is everything Putin is not.

[highplainsdem]

Link to tweet

[Wingus Dingus]

1. I sense there is some truth in this.

Putin is probably personally angry at how much of the world respects Zelensky.

[Eyeball_Kid]

3. Some writers want to play with the idea of humanizing Putin's behavior.

They surmise some hypothesis about Putin's childhood or the early part of his career.

Why humanize him. He should be tried, convicted, and executed.

[highplainsdem]

5. King wouldn't be able to write fiction as well as he does if he didn't automatically wonder what

motivates Putin. That's simply trying to understand him, which is important to understanding interactions between people or between a person and his environment.

King isn't trying to make Putin more sympathetic here. The opposite, if anything.

[pazzyanne]

7. "He (Putin) should be tried, convicted, and executed."

Bingo!

[wnylib]

12. Profilers examine motives and causes.

It helps them deal with criminal minds and behavior.

Granted, King is not an Intel profiler, but the same kind of insights into human behavior makes good writers.

I don't think King's comment creates sympathy for Putin. As for refusing to recognize an enemy as human, that could be reckless. In order to counter an enemy and successfully deal with him/her, knowing what motivates them as a human being is important.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Very good points.

Yes good writers usually have an excellent grasp of psychology and the human condition.

And yes we ignore Putin's psychopathology at our own peril. If we know what makes him tick, we are more able to defeat him.

[calimary]

18. Seems to me it's all about domination with Putin.

Asserting domination and superiority over any competitor or challenger. I can’t help but suspect it has to do with his own built-in personal shortcomings.

He’s a short guy. I’ve noticed in photographs that other men around him stand taller. Perhaps that’s given him a complex - one that may well have started when he was a teenager and height started being pretty obvious among his peers.

And I’m sorry but I also can’t help but suspect his overall height isn’t the only part of him that - um - doesn’t measure up. I just remember as a teenager and a 20-something, I noticed the behavior of guys around me and the difference in confidence when the guy was taller.

[SheltieLover]

2. My thoughts exactly!

[Deuxcents]

4. The Statesman vs The Dictator

Not hard to know which one wins the hearts of the citizens… Putin will never understand

[L. Coyote]

8. The Great Dictator

[JI7]

6. Also because Zelensky isn't the stereotypical tough guy

he is one of those they always assume are just weaker than them and would never be up to their level. So this guy they look down on is showing to be far better and tougher than him and it makes him more angry .

[ShazzieB]

11. Putin is a soulless ghoul, while Zelenskyy exudes strength, warmth, and humanity.

Putin is incapable of understanding a man like Zelenskyy, much less the loyalty of the Ukrainian people feel for him.

[mucifer]

14. I believe putin thought President Zelenskyy would be weak like trump because he was a tv star on a

very popular tv show, too.

[dchill]

10. Stu Redman outlived Randall Flagg.

So... In a way, Stephen King believes in happy endings. Sort of.

[PCIntern]

16. IIRC,

Flagg is reincarnated immediately at another location, a primitive tribe I believe. Evil is forever…

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. I love this cartoon

[calimary]

19. I look at that and conclude: "somebody's over-compensating."

That’s all I see, and all I can say.

[PCIntern]

17. ...and don't ever forget that

Zelenskyy is Jewish. Do not believe for one instant that this isn’t a problem for the fascists. I’m old enough to remember the anti-Semites at the outset of the Six Day War: they were awaiting the demise of the Jewish State and were absolutely crushed when the exact opposite occurred.