Power, Pelf and Prurience
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
19 February 2026
French journalist Annick Cojean revealed in his book 'Les Proies: Dans le harem de Kadhafi' (Prey: In Gaddafi's harem) that the despot Gaddafi kidnapped schoolgirls and kept them as sex slaves in his harem. Nothing strange. If you look at the lives of the despots across the world in all ages and eras, you'll find all autocrats to be sex-fiends. Oversex and autocracy go hand in hand. Unrestrained power and pelf manifest themselves in perverted bedroom behaviour. These despots are often satyrs and perverts with insatiable sex drive. 'Power lust and pubic (yes, 'pubic', not 'public') lust are two sides of the same coin', famously said Hugh Hefner, on the completion of Playboy 's 50 years in 2003. Whether Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin or the totalitarian Arab kings and their scions, all have been too deeply (pun intended) into sex. Hitler, who had just one testicle in his scrotal sac, was a pervert, who would often indulge in violent sex with his lifelong paramour Eva Braun, who's often erroneously thought to be his niece. It was actually Geli Raubal (1908-1931), Hitler's half-niece, who was his romantic obsession before her suicide, a point sometimes confused with Braun.
The Epstein files have 'denuded' (again pun intended) big and boastful political leaders and influential people across the globe. Power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely. Unbridled power is the most potent aphrodisiac that brings out a big leader or influential person's prurient behaviour for public consumption. Boundless power, whether financial or political, gives a reassuring sense of immunity and immunity panders to subterranean perversions of a person. The Japanese say that every person has three faces. The first face is the one we want the world to see. It is the version of ourselves that is shaped by society’s expectations. We smile, act polite, and try to be accepted.
This is the face that hides our fears, struggles, and insecurities. The second face is the one we show to our close friends and family. This face is more real. With our loved ones, we express our emotions more freely. We share our joys and pains, our dreams and worries. They see a side of us that the world does not. Yet, even with them, we may hold back certain thoughts and feelings. The third face is the one no one ever sees.
This is our truest self—the version of us that exists when we are alone. It holds our deepest thoughts, fears, desires, and dreams. It's where our true nature lives, without the influence of others. Colombian Nobel laureate and arguably the greatest novelist of the last century, Gabriel Garcia Marquez also said the same thing but instead of 'selves', he wrote 'lives': “Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life."
Danish existential philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard observed that out of our three selves, the Secret Self could be the most sacred and also the most salacious. Power desecrates our third self and degenerates us. While there have been great leaders and very powerful individuals who remained unaffected by the unlimited power at their disposal, a majority of very powerful people fell prey to the pull and potential of power.
Psychologically speaking, men are generally lustful creatures. The licentious side of every man's character longs for vindication and manifestation. Money and political power kindles that secret carnal side. Power creates a kind of unmitigated moral degeneration at a universal level. Remember, power is very contagious. It spreads like a conflagration and engulfs all. So, what an influential political leader in the US or UK does secretly is emulated by the powerful political leaders in India or a third-world country as well. After all, the human spirit is everywhere the same. Here, the political leaders are not being exonerated of their reprehensible deeds, the writer's intention is to highlight the overwhelming power of power which defiles, desecrates and degenerates a staggeringly large number of individuals. Somewhere, we all are tarred with the same brush (hamaam mein sab nange hain).
At the same time, public and media's intense interest in these controversial files underlines our deep-down voyeuristic tendencies and debased mentality. We're made of the same stuff. This also shows our shifting interests and inclinations. If something more 'interesting' and 'titillating' emerges on the horizon/scenario, we'll run after that! Won't we?
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/power-pelf-prurience/d/138917
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