Evil or Not #6: Fidel Castro

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Cuban dictator, somehow still alive, is he evil?

[Zioneer]

Let me put it this way: Thousands don't flee from the good guys.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

A lesser evil in the grand scheme of dictators, but still a pretty awful tyrant. Evil.

[Clark Kent]

Absolutely

[Blair]

Despite creating a brilliant healthcare system with limited resources still evil

[Oldiesfreak1854]

A lesser evil in the grand scheme of dictators, but still a pretty awful tyrant. Evil.

[Slow Learner]

Should run for Governor of Florida.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Cuba, like most nations, has a history marked by terrible and despotic leadership, of which Castro is but another link in the chain. Just another bastard in the chain of bastardry.

I still find this series deeply bizzare tbh

[SWE]

Let me put it this way: Thousands don't flee from the good guys.

Half the country left when Lincoln was elected.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Evil, but as noted, he is pretty tame for the most part. I still don't get why people defend him, but I don't understand the fear. His regime certainly doesn't justify the unlimited amount of bitching done by Cuban Americans who aren't going back anyway.

[Mr. Smith]

Started off good, but he listened to to Che instead of Mr. Matos.

So Evil.

[Torie]

Evil, an opinion that was verified when I went to Havana about three years ago.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

A lesser evil in the grand scheme of dictators, but still a pretty awful tyrant. Evil.

[Zioneer]

Let me put it this way: Thousands don't flee from the good guys.

Half the country left when Lincoln was elected.

Well yes, but that was a special case, since the people who left were in the thrall of the slaveholder oligarchy. And even then, slaves and anti-slavery Southerners tried to leave the Confederacy in turn.

Though my statement was more facetious than anything else. I was commenting more than if you're a vicious dictator (and almost by definition "evil"), people tend to flee from you. I don't believe Castro was the worst of the worst, but he wasn't a good guy in terms of ruling over a country. Perhaps some of what he did was necessary or beneficial, but that doesn't really outweigh all of the dictator stuff.

[Seneca]

I'm not a fan of Fidel, but to call him evil is hyperbolic in the extreme. He's as ambitious as any politician, and the unstable world of revolutionary politics his ability to play the crowd allowed him to set himself up as a dictator. That said, he retained much of the idealism present in "History Will Absolve Me" throughout his rule. How else can the 60s period of experimentation be understood?

Of course if you believe all Communists are evil then I guess this one is clear cut. The (self imposed) exiles lost some land and moved to Miami, therefore Fidel = Hitler. Great logic.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Let me put it this way: Thousands don't flee from the good guys.

Half the country left when Lincoln was elected.

Well yes, but that was a special case, since the people who left were in the thrall of the slaveholder oligarchy. And even then, slaves and anti-slavery Southerners tried to leave the Confederacy in turn.

Though my statement was more facetious than anything else. I was commenting more than if you're a vicious dictator (and almost by definition "evil"), people tend to flee from you. I don't believe Castro was the worst of the worst, but he wasn't a good guy in terms of ruling over a country. Perhaps some of what he did was necessary or beneficial, but that doesn't really outweigh all of the dictator stuff.

Yeah, the Confederacy wasn't quite "fleeing" anything. What they did was a coup against the government in roughly half the country.

[Intell]

Not evil and started of as a FF.

[Rooney]

He closed down all the decent hotels and casinos in Havana and put pigs in them. He is pretty damn evil.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Evil, but he's definitely mellowed considerably with age.  His brother was always the more brutal one though.