Jakub324 said:
Define evil.
A guy kill an ex-girlfriend brother when I was going out with her, some years ago. Does that make him more or less evil than Hitler or Stalin? My ex would say the guy that stabbed her brother in the face was more evil than any of them. Is she wrong? Yes, and no, it is all about perspective.
Hitler and Stalin were both extraordinary men living in extraordinary times, they both saw the world erupt into the flames of war, twice and for one war they both were at the very center. By their orders millions were killed, but such were the times they lived in. They were both just men, who laughed and cried and ate and shat and slept, who got drunk and had sex. They were just men.
Can one man alone be evil? There orders killed millions, yes, but their were million of willing hands to carry out those orders. Is the man who shoots one prisoner in the back of the head any less evil than the man who has order the death of 10,000? Can he put his hands up and say "I was only following orders!" and thus be devolved of all blame? History has thought us that no he can not.
Hitler and Stalin may have been evil men, but they lived in an evil world. Hitler was elected to power and Stalin had the backing to take power and they ruled almost unopposed while committing deeds that many considered evil. The truth is that many people came to disagree with the policy of both leaders,in their respective countries, but did nothing (or at least very little) to change the regime. Most people simply kept their heads down and got on with their own business while around them their was wide spread murder, persecution and corruption.
Does this make them less evil than Hitler or Stalin? Is it OK to let murder and injustice happen because it is too hard or dangerous to stop it? If it does not involve you, or you are not doing it, can you avoid it?
I can not answer these questions for you, everyone must do that for themselves. However, look at the world around you, the changes that are happening in Africa and the Middle East. Ask your self why did the people not rise up like that in German and Russia?
As I have said, Hitler and Stalin lived in a time when Japanese troops were murdering and raping their way across China, when the US was dropping weapons that it did not fully understand. A world that was still not fully recovered from the last time it tore its self apart and now was doing it again. Indeed, the between war years were not much better, Europe was a broken place, full of fear, depression, famine and death. Evil times indeed.
And yet, the full story is not yet know to us. I have studied history for many years and I can tell you things change. Caesar killed as many and 2 million Gauls for personal glory in a war that did not need to happen. Genghis Khan may have killed as many as 10 million. Winston Churchill was a staunch advocator of the Black and Tan's use of terror tactics in Ireland. Yet these men are revered in many Nations across the world. Not enough time has past to get an objective view on the life and times of Hitler and Stalin (or Chuchill for that matter). Many Russians believe that in order for their Nation to rival the US again another Stalin is needed and look upon the old Dictator with fondness. While some German historians believe that there could be a bust of Hitler displayed in the DDR in Berlin is as little as 100 years.
Like I said, define evil.
