5 ms·

It's important to call out evil acts, but 'evil' is also a label that categorizes people. Labels and categories can be a deterrent to critical thinking. This i

It's important to call out evil acts, but 'evil' is also a label that categorizes people. Labels and categories can be a deterrent to critical thinking. This is dangerous when genuinely evil people apply the label 'evil' to people they wish to persecute.

edblarney 10y ago
Ok, ok. Especially for locking his people in a prison island - an act which can't remotely be defended as 'in the interest of the people or socialism' or any progressive cause ... Fidel - borderline evil. Somewhat nuanced. Definitely bad. Not as bad a Hitler. There you go.
- zazen 10y ago
  >Fidel - borderline evil The point isn't to quibble about the label. It's to refrain from leaping straight to applying labels. The pleas you're seeing for a calmer and broader conversation are not attempts to exculpate Castro.
  - fspear 10y ago
    >The pleas you're seeing for a calmer and broader conversation are not attempts to exculpate Castro. Those of us who have been directly affected by Castro's actions feel that justice was never made, his legacy is not something we want celebrated or glorified. Yes, it was not all black but the black/white ratio of Castros's regime is more 80/20 than 50/50.
    - narrowrail 10y ago
      >us who have been directly affected by Castro's actions Do you believe this puts you into a position of objective analysis?
      - fspear 10y ago
        No. And I'm not against objective analysis, however by humanizing such individuals in the name of "objectiveness" you are disregarding the suffering of a lot of people.
        skj 10y ago
        Only if you believe that "normal" humans can't be responsible for terrible suffering. Countering that belief is, I think, the OP's point.
    - zazen 10y ago
      Yes. I don't disagree with a single word of that. I took jknoefpler's comment as an invitation to reflect on the fact that Castro, and even H----r, are members of the same species as us, and what that might say about the human condition. Nothing pleasant, surely, but part of the truth of what we are. And this might be a better conversation to have than comforting ourselves by distancing ourselves from these people with unthinking use of labels like "evil". I could be wrong. There may well be people in this thread actually trying to justify or minimize Castro's actions. In any case, it doesn't look like there's much prospect for a good conversation in this thread at this point. We're still waiting for the solution for how to have good conversations about touchy topics in anonymous internet forums!
      - fisherjeff 10y ago
        I think this is exactly the point! This is why people often seem to say "he seemed so normal" in bewilderment when someone they knew commits mass murder.
    - dannypgh 10y ago
      Given that one of the changes that happened under Castro was (supposedly) to make the country have a more just distribution of wealth along racial lines, I find your "white/black" word choice amusing. Perhaps, given the lack of slave reparations, the nationalizing of American property in Cuba is not the injustice that many in Florida would like us all to believe.
  - edblarney 10y ago
    "It's to refrain from leaping straight to applying labels." No - I'm objecting to this with this comment. Moral relativism is a problem in our era. Castro is Bad. Period.
- Trombone12 10y ago
  For a second I though you where talking about the renditions to Guantanamo, but no, of course that is different.
  - edblarney 10y ago
    The people in Guantanimo are mostly terrorists (label) and very bad (label). This why they are treated as such. Castro is also bad (label), which is why Cubans revile him.
    - celticninja 10y ago
      The people in guantanomo are mostly terrorists, except for the ones that aren't, but they will be treated so badly that they will probably become terrorists so really guantanomo is like a minority report prison for terrorists.
- sooheon 10y ago
  > locking his people in a prison island... Oh the irony. Gitmo is in Cuba too :)
  - edblarney 10y ago
    Gitmo is a prison full of terrorists. Cuba is a land full of regular citizens. See the difference?

edblarney 10y ago

Ok, ok. Especially for locking his people in a prison island - an act which can't remotely be defended as 'in the interest of the people or socialism' or any progressive cause ... Fidel - borderline evil. Somewhat nuanced. Definitely bad. Not as bad a Hitler. There you go.

zazen 10y ago
>Fidel - borderline evil The point isn't to quibble about the label. It's to refrain from leaping straight to applying labels. The pleas you're seeing for a calmer and broader conversation are not attempts to exculpate Castro.
- fspear 10y ago
  >The pleas you're seeing for a calmer and broader conversation are not attempts to exculpate Castro. Those of us who have been directly affected by Castro's actions feel that justice was never made, his legacy is not something we want celebrated or glorified. Yes, it was not all black but the black/white ratio of Castros's regime is more 80/20 than 50/50.
  - narrowrail 10y ago
    >us who have been directly affected by Castro's actions Do you believe this puts you into a position of objective analysis?
    - fspear 10y ago
      No. And I'm not against objective analysis, however by humanizing such individuals in the name of "objectiveness" you are disregarding the suffering of a lot of people.
      - skj 10y ago
        Only if you believe that "normal" humans can't be responsible for terrible suffering. Countering that belief is, I think, the OP's point.
  - zazen 10y ago
    Yes. I don't disagree with a single word of that. I took jknoefpler's comment as an invitation to reflect on the fact that Castro, and even H----r, are members of the same species as us, and what that might say about the human condition. Nothing pleasant, surely, but part of the truth of what we are. And this might be a better conversation to have than comforting ourselves by distancing ourselves from these people with unthinking use of labels like "evil". I could be wrong. There may well be people in this thread actually trying to justify or minimize Castro's actions. In any case, it doesn't look like there's much prospect for a good conversation in this thread at this point. We're still waiting for the solution for how to have good conversations about touchy topics in anonymous internet forums!
    - fisherjeff 10y ago
      I think this is exactly the point! This is why people often seem to say "he seemed so normal" in bewilderment when someone they knew commits mass murder.
  - dannypgh 10y ago
    Given that one of the changes that happened under Castro was (supposedly) to make the country have a more just distribution of wealth along racial lines, I find your "white/black" word choice amusing. Perhaps, given the lack of slave reparations, the nationalizing of American property in Cuba is not the injustice that many in Florida would like us all to believe.
- edblarney 10y ago
  "It's to refrain from leaping straight to applying labels." No - I'm objecting to this with this comment. Moral relativism is a problem in our era. Castro is Bad. Period.
Trombone12 10y ago
For a second I though you where talking about the renditions to Guantanamo, but no, of course that is different.
- edblarney 10y ago
  The people in Guantanimo are mostly terrorists (label) and very bad (label). This why they are treated as such. Castro is also bad (label), which is why Cubans revile him.
  - celticninja 10y ago
    The people in guantanomo are mostly terrorists, except for the ones that aren't, but they will be treated so badly that they will probably become terrorists so really guantanomo is like a minority report prison for terrorists.
sooheon 10y ago
> locking his people in a prison island... Oh the irony. Gitmo is in Cuba too :)
- edblarney 10y ago
  Gitmo is a prison full of terrorists. Cuba is a land full of regular citizens. See the difference?