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I would say because the people considered the most evil in history are considered such not only because of their temperment but because of their deeds and context. Would Hitler have been JUST as evil if he had been killed during World War I? One not only has to have a certain temperament but to act on it. Otherwise no one could know to what extent you are ?evil?. Evil thoughts, it seems to me, are not the same as evil deeds.
Of course, evil is in the eyes of the beholder. Osama is evil to some and the embodiment of good to others. I don?t really like the word ?evil?. Too many religious connotations and it?s vague. I would say if I were to call a world leader evil though, they would have to have committed inhumane acts on a grand scale and be viewed as in opposition to my world-view and political position.
I only added George Bush as a joke. I didn?t think anyone would choose him. I never thought anyone would rank the small-scale wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the same scale as extermination and systematic genocide of tens of millions of people.
There is a recency factor as Mr. Fiction pointed out. That?s a great point. World War II is becoming ancient history. It?s veterans are dying off. But still, it seems like every other show on the History Channel is about Hitler and the bookstores seem to have their own Third Reich section. Fifty years from the now every other show on the History Channel is not going to be about George Bush?s Reich like every other show is about Hitler now. There is the difference. George Bush will have been just another president on the list. Hitler and Stalin were the pivotal figures of the twentieth century.
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