Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The value of the impersonal

Moving my car into the garage, I overheard a delighted Miami Cuban-American celebrating the retirement of Fidel Castro from his positions as Commander in Chief, Head of the Council of State (i..e, President) and Head of the Council of Ministers (i.e., Prime Minister).
Explaining his joy, he opined, "When you have a dictator who has ruled for 49 years, who has done more damage than Hitler, than Mussolini, than Stalin...."
This is like those who compare Bush to Hitler. Goodness and badness (or evilness) are graded values. Even if Castro was or is bad, there may have been a worse person or two.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He apparently has never met Hitler, Mussolini or Stalin. Very personal feelings on this subject from that very bitter community will tend to make comments like this fuel the masses of Miami.