Yeah I’m inclined to agree with this if we define “evil” by destructive power at least (and always worth remembering that we merely have general agreements on what “evil” is, usually based on what is and isn’t considered advantageous for human well-being. Absolute good and evil are religious myths.). But GK was also kinda interesting in that his conquests etc. were “honest”. He wasn’t trying to build some ideal society, he just lived in accordance to “Might Makes Right” and surprisingly indiscriminately applied that into his domain as well. Whatever one could claim for themselves, was theirs so long as they could defend it. Regardless of gender, religion, further cultural details etc.
I feel like he represents the logical conclusion of non-conservative right-wing ideals taken to the extreme. Individual power (however that manifests - raw strength, charisma) trumps everything else, so in a way, libertarian… but everything was of course to be absolutely subject to the Mongol Empire rule so, authoritarian.
If we go by ideology + destructiveness as a metric of “evil”, probably Hitler.
People don’t know how good they have it. It’s ironic that being on Lemmy is likely to speak volumes about one’s level of luxury yet people here really, really don’t like to be reminded that they are probably doing way better than most people in the world. Definitely unimaginably better than most people in the world in all history.
Yeah the top 1% sucks and capitalism has to be reigned in but there’s a lot of people here who are only interested in wallowing in their self-pity with the occasional whimper about how Communism/Socialism/Anarchism etc. would be a totally better system if not for capitalism and if everyone just agreed to do it (and somehow they actually don’t see the problem with the argument). They make these posts and then pat themselves on the back about what good activists they are and then return to bitching about things happening half-way across the world but never give a single thought to doing something in their local community (because that would require actually dealing with real humans).
It’s kinda like the flip side of people who bitch about taxes not doing anything, while using infrastructure, probably in some level of safety, benefitting from public healthcare (if applicable) and schools etc. but because they’re just used to it, they don’t realize how big of a difference it makes. Most people on Lemmy have 0 concept of what it’s actually like living in an oppressive and corrupt regime. They are addicted to misery because it gives them the reason to be inactive and permanentley outraged. They buy into all the doomscrolling (on their luxury devices, during their luxurious amount of free time) about how much things suck and of course, this just aids the capitalistic system because passive people seething at home about the injustices in the world are always better than active people on the streets trying to actually make a change happen.
What people would need to do: consciously practice gratitude (this gives you energy) over what they have and especially who they have in their life, find LOCAL opportunities to engage in activism and connect with people (opportunities to practice what you preach too).
What’s easier to do: sit on your device, get angry about another injustice in the world, feel exhausted with “all the bad stuff in the world”, don’t do anything but post another meme that perpetuates the cycle.
Also, inb4 Mr. Gotcha meme. Yeah, go ahead, compare yourself to a serf who couldn’t even imagine the level of comfort you’re living in.