I could have omitted Trotsky's ideological proclivities, and simply mentioned that describing him as an intellectual given his responsibility in perpetuating ma

I could have omitted Trotsky's ideological proclivities, and simply mentioned that describing him as an intellectual given his responsibility in perpetuating mass murder is obscene. As for the positive/negative connotations of the term intellectual, I would respectfully disagree. No one describes recognized mass murderers as intellectuals, at least not that I'm aware of, and certainly would never limit their description of such a person to merely an intellectual. It would be intellectually irresponsible to not also mention their crimes. It's this lack of recognition that I took issue with. I hope me mentioning that in the future without mentioning ideology wouldn't be deemed as violating HackerNews guidelines.