Is the commentariat at Naked Capitalism notably Republican-leaning? That hasn’t been my impression. Interestingly, in this post in which the idea of a “Most Evil Person of the Year” contest is floated a heated debate ensues over whether the shoe-in candidate is President Obama or…President Obama, with dishonorable mentions for Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, Tim Geithner, and Jon Corzine.
I think that’s unutterably blinkered. I think that the president, Secretary of the Treasury, House majority leader, and Senate minority leader all have good intentions. Inept, partisan, ideological, perhaps. But evil?
None of them even compares with Nicholas Sarkozy or, more to the point, Silvio Berlusconi. And those are pale, pale indeed by comparison with the vile individuals who’ve killed hundreds or thousands of their own people to keep themselves in power: Moammar Gaddaffi, Bashar al-Assad, Robert Mugabe, Ali Khamenei just to name a few.
What word do you use to describe someone like Kim Jong-il (is there anyone like Kim Jong-il?) who have systematically impoverished and stunted their own countries? “Evil” seems so inadequate. What word describes Joseph Kony?
People have a very hard time distinguishing between, “people I don’t like, ” (my brother-in-law) and, “Satan walking around loose,”(Kony, Kim, Assad, a good portion of the gentlemen living in the big tan buildings I pass regularly at San Quentin.)
And of course people don’t know much about history or current events beyond their own city or state.
I think that’s unutterably blinkered. I think that the president, Secretary of the Treasury, House majority leader, and Senate minority leader all have good intentions. Inept, partisan, ideological, perhaps. But evil?
What matter their intentions? Lenin, Hitler and Mao all had good intentions, too. They just defined the good differently than most here.
As for the intentions of those mentioned – mostly they seem interested in measuring the good in such a way that their buddies get rich on the public dole, and that they get to keep and wield more power. To Hell with all other considerations.
As for how to measure the evil – that’s hard, isn’t it. Who’s done more evil, the guy that shoots and kills a clerk at a convenience store for $20 in cash and a few cartons of cigarettes, or Bernie Madoff who stole billions, but left no bodies behind? If you knew the clerk you’re probably going to vote for the armed robber. If Bernie took you for $150,000,000, you’re probably going to vote for Bernie. It makes sense that people in America are going to care more about what happens in America versus something happening in one of the world’s permanent Hellholes.
And how would one measure sums like $29,000,000,000,000 being handed to the banksters? (I think I have enough zeroes in there.)