We have done a number of lists on the site regarding evil people and they have always given rise to much debate, so it seemed like a good idea for our latest “Your View”. Tell us (and please give reasons) who the most evil man to have ever lived (living or dead) is.
Who is the most evil man in history?
My answer is Joseph Stalin. The reason is that his actions lead to more deaths than any other dictator in history. Stalin took a thriving nation and turned it in a nation of terrified people – the effects of his reign are still apparent today and it will be many years before Russia is truly restored to its previous greatness.
Mom: I didn’t joke. Also, I didn’t wish to provoke the type of response you offered. A calm response with a willingness to discuss would have been more than welcome. Instead, I was told to shut up and get out.
I do realize that there are many pro-choice people who are not evil. But, I also believe that it is wrong to believe in something without fully researching it. Having said that, I believe that it is evil to know exactly what abortion is and still be in support of it.
I’m quite sorry to label supporters of abortion as evil. Rather, I believe abortion is evil, and so it’s easy to lump those two together and call it macaroni.
now i find this an interesting question because while yes the likes of hitler and stalin were by far some of the evilest men with power in history you have to look at some of the great serial killers (i use the word great lightly) im talking the guys who kill for the pleasure of killing, Stalin and Hitler were both trying to accomplish something (in the worst way possible) but what about those guys who kill people for the sake of killing people, rape, canabalise and torture for the pleasure of doing just that. Put these guys in a position of power like stalin and hitler and just imagine the results.
For an example lets use the russian chessboard killer, imagine if his favourite game had been risk we would all be screwed
maybe the next your view should be is george bush evil a hero your just plain stupid?
Stalin is a good choice, so is Lenin, though Lenin wasn’t as outright bat***** insane when it came to internal purges and murder.
But I wonder how much of Stalin’s ‘numbers’ as it were come from things he didn’t have a direct hand in? The disastrous 7-year plans and agriculture policies of Lysenko caused as many deaths as the gulags ever did, if not more.
On the other hand, Hitler’s obsession was his own. Hitler started the Nazi party, lead it to power, used that power to re-arm Germany and lead it on wars of aggression against neutral targets and engaged in the unprecedented slaughter of his own people. Stalin was an old party member, but he wasn’t the originator of the communist/totalitarian ideology. Hitler planned, orchestrated and committed both the largest genocide and largest war of aggression the world has ever seen. Not only that, his hands-on mismanagement of the war cost millions of German soldier’s lives that would have otherwise not been lost as well.
Stalin was bad, don’t get me wrong, he was an evil and despicable person, so was Mao, and Pol Pot, and so are several of the modern dictators named. But Hitler was the singular engineer of some of the worst atrocities the world has seen. What he did not directly plan he ordered planned and done.
“People are not evil, only their actions are evil” -I forgot. Probably not worded correctly either, but you get the point
To post #73, It’s actually the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. (look at the vatican) There are too many to choose from, but I think Fred and Rose West are way at the top. And the Ken and Barbie murdering team as well. I give up trying to pick the worst in dictators, tsars, emporers, etc….
People seriously need to get off the “Religion is evil” kick. If you’re an atheist, that’s all fine and good, but there’s no reason whatsoever to think that religion is evil. People have twisted religion to their personal views, yes, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest that religions are inherently evil (except for the most blatant offenders, such as Satanism).
To post #73, It’s actually the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. (look at the vatican) There are too many to choose from, but I think Fred and Rose West are way at the top. And the Ken and Barbie murdering team as well. I give up trying to pick the worst in dictators, tsars, emperors, etc….
Mao
Dan:
I understand what you’re saying, but read some of my points above about this. The reason we tend to lessen Stalin’s crimes is because he was, in a sense, “successful,” where Hitler was not. In other words, Stalin remained in power until he died in peace. Hitler was defeated, forced to take his own life.
It’s a mistake to believe that Stalin did not *intend* the crimes committed under him. They very much *were* intended. That they were depicted as “policy” whereas Hitler’s crimes were depicted as the atrocities they were is an example of how Stalin’s ideology was more finely honed than Hitler’s. Stalin was better at running his ruthless, horribly evil show. Hitler by comparison, was not as adept.
sorry about my double post, I was having trouble with the site.
i think a lot of things can be linked back to our animal instincts, ***** drive labido and what not are are all our brain telling us to continue our gene pool survival of the fittest and what not. humans pigs dolphins and apes all got to smart for that urge and so now we do it for the pleasure and still get the same results. Anyway what im trying to say is abortion in someways could be linked to this, lions and may other animals will kill the newborn of other males to ensure there gene pool ocntinues, abortion is usually a result of the parent/s fearing they wont be able to care for there newborn or provide for it, this may be natural instinct kicking in telling them by having this child they may be also putting themselves at risk of not being able to reproduce later down the line or when they are ready, call it evil but there are such things as necessary evil.
Adoption is probably the better way to go
Nah, some people are evil. Like I said, wouldn’t matter where they were, they would do evil things. From the get-go. Born wrong, bad seed, missing something. Something wired wrong, do not get pleasure/satisfaction/stimulation in the same way the rest of us do. Yup, real, not science-fiction, whispy smoke and evil spirits. Likely some neurological defect or something.
Varying degrees of course. Otherwise there would be no lawyers or talent agents.
Sorry, post was for phender bender.
Randall:i beleive hitler was actually better at running things then stalin but hitler was being was put under more pressure from the allies while stalin had allied with them nad the only time stalin faced a real problem in the war was the eventual operation barbarossa(i think thats its name)which he already prepared for because both sides knew their truce wouldnt last forever.
Certainly I agree that Hitler and Stalin are extremely evil men, and either would be my choice right now, but how are we defining evil? Does one really have to be a ruler of a country to qualify for this? If Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch (sp) had failed, would he be less evil? Or is it because of his “evil-ness” that he managed to be ruler? I forget who earlier mentioned the fact that we’re all believing in some version of Absolute Truth by arguing this, but it would seem we’re obviously not not even all arguing the same Absolute Truth (for example, we have differing views on abortion). So I wonder how we can argue about this when no one has defined it yet.
I think its the combination of wealth and power, or the attempt to gain wealth and power, that lead people to evil. Although some do use it for good, like Batman
i dont think religion is evil, i think its the fact that so many religions dont accept others have different religous beliefs and go out of there way to force there religion on others that results in so many wars. To a certain extent aethiests going around bagging religion are doing the exact same thing the religous people are doing by forcing there beliefs on those that dotn wanna hear it.
I think the world would be a better place if everyone just accepted everyone for who they are and what they believe.
dahmer has my vote, just the extent he went with S&M, cannabalism and dissolving peoples brains for his *****ual pleasure
Hitler.
What was his solution of what to do with people who didn’t fit his image? Annihilate them.
What a piece of *****, talk about no tolerance.
Canuck: if Hitler had not come to power we wouldn’t know him – obviously we can only include people we are familiar with. The position of power he gained allowed him to do evil things – without that power he may have done nothing worse than paint ugly paintings and write racist literature.
Having read quite a bit about Stalin and even some about Hitler, it isn’t really fitting to call them evil- even though they killed millions, they were not psychopaths. Hitler loved his sister, mother and his dogs, had a deep sense of duty towards his family and as a child he enjoyed practical pranks. Stalin loved his wife and his adopted children very much, and was known to be a generous, funny (if stern) guy in person. They murdered people, and that is awful and horrible, but it was not as though they typically sat down and said, kill this guy, this way. Stalin did this, but that was politically motivated and fairly common. The most evil person I can think of is Ted Bundy- killed and tortured random people and animals in an extremely personal way for *****ual reasons, and felt no remorse. That scares me more, and seems more evil, because you could always stand some small chance of talking your way out of trouble with Stalin or Hitler, but if Ted Bundy decided he wanted to kill you, he was going to do it and nothing you could say or do would change that.
I guess I just find psychopaths more frightening than dictators.
my science teacher
my vote could go either way for Hitler of Stalin, Im saying Stalin just for his stats.
marx for inventing communism
Nancy “Nostrils” Grace has most of my hate at the moment. She needs to realize that she’s no longer a prosecutor and driving innocent people to suicide, without remorse, is pretty Evil.
My ex-husband. Ok, he isn’t the MOST evil but he is definitely in the top ten.
Right behind jono’s science teacher.
Albert Fish or Allister Crowley
Well, stuff sucked before Stalin also, you know,
and it wasn’t him alone,
but yeah, Stalins up there on the list.
Either way, I go with Hitler,
he DIRECTLY killed the most people, I believe,
and I don’t know what was with Hitler,
he was crazy.
The thing that really puts Hitler ahead of Stalin is the fact that Hitler kept really meticulous records of everything he did. You know why? So that if he failed in his “final solution”, (which he assumes he would), then somebody else could take what he did and work off of it.
Like blueprints.
Stalin didn’t do that, he just did what he did. He didn’t think, “Well, if I fail, I want someone else to carry on my work, so I better leave instructions…”
And aadude: Don’t be stupid. It’s not Communism that’s bad, it was the political corruption. Communism is the perfect system. It just doesn’t work.
Richard Chase.
What that man did with a knife, and to that baby…
The ones who did the most damage were just lucky to have that power at their disposal, this guy did what he did with no power. He obviously had mental retardation, but still.
sorry people, but im gonna have to with jesus here, more people have died as a result of his teachings over anyone else alone, some estimates ranging from 30-100 million losses because of christians, including sanctioned and encouraged rape on young girls during the plagues, torture, shunning, destructions of entire civilizations, religions, and cultures, sorry dudes, but jesus takes the cake.
i personnally evil and good do not exist that all men can do evil and good. its just in the eye of the beholder.. oh that and hmm i should say i have a a friend. yes a friend its not me who would say gandhi.. i think hes insane but he says he ended imperialism
jeus never preached christianity.he preached a message of love and tolerance.christianity was only born many years after his death.you must remember he was always a jew
genghis khan and atilla the hun are a tie
Aleister Crowley but in a good way
to king — except youre wrong, jesus never did, he preached killing non christians, and people who didnt abide by gods will, who wouldnt be prosthelytized, and besides if say he never did kill anyone directly, well, hitler never directly killed a jew, or anyone (except for in ww1 when he was a soldier, im not sure but he mightve killed someone, took 4 french prisoners though!)
mom424: Does having a mental illness make someone evil?
I still think Jim Jones was the most evil. People say that everyone in Jonestown committed suicide, but babies don’t commit suicide.
jeff: are you serious?
i wouldnt say jesus or god (god doesnt really count as a person now does he?) its peoples misconstrueing what he taught (if you beleive in that sort of thing) that leads to the evil act. 100 people can read the exact same sentence and still interpret 100 different ways.
specialk – actually, most of the sickos mentioned here were not religious, but anti-religious, and specifically, often anti-christian. Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Hitler, PolPot.
No argument, people have done wicked things in the name of religion, but they have done so in the name of just about every ideology. However, some ideologies, like atheistic communism and nazism (social darwinism) have done the most damage.
But I vote for Mohammed. His ideology is basically anti-semitic, violent, AND invokes God on top of that – makes Hitler look like a bit of an amateur.
See also:
Atheist Atrocities
Modern Myths About Christianity – Witch Hunts
The Real History of the Crusades
The Religion of Peace
for me it is a tie between Josef Mengele and Lyndon Johnson and Pol Pot. Honorable mention has to go to Hitler and Stalin
I would just like to throw out there a few other names. Most the discussion seems to be on the 20th century. There are 6-8 thousand years of history before that.
I am not sure what exactly defines evil but these guys and gals are no saints:
Caligula (possibly crazy), Erzabet Bathory of Hungary (bathed in the blood of virgins), Vlad the Impaler (killed many is cruel and unusual ways), etc.
I cannot think of any others off hand but I am sure ancient history holds a treasure trove of evil men and women.
149. Cambrex101
Agree with your comments. I’d also say Hitler is the most evil because of the calculated way he went about his killings. Not to mention the hatred and bigotry that he inspired and still inspires today, ie. through neo-nazi groups and white supremasists.
Stalin was a nasty piece of work, though I think a lot of the deaths he was responsible for were the result of his economic policies (like Mao), whereas Hitler went out specifically to wipe out an entire race of people.
to phender, yes i am serious, hitler never actually killed anyone, his soldiers and the like did, but he himself no, unless you believe the story of his death, which i dont. so if a person doesnt need to directly kill anyone, but as a result of their teachings the deaths be caused, or by their policies, or otherwise, than by all means jesus takes the cake still…
Oh and i’m not sure the USSR was exactly “a thriving nation” before Stalin took over.
A little tidbit to consider in the Hitler/Stalin contest here. When considering statistcs, consider the fact that during World War II 6 millions Jews died at the hands of Hitler’s system and roughly 10 millions civilians including many Germans, but does anyone know how many Russians died in that war? Would you believe 20 million!
And, you want cruelty? Consider how Hitler slowly strangled the leaders of the July 20 assasination attempt. Hours of film were made of their long torcherous deaths. They were stangled to the point of death and let down only to repeat the strangulations again and again until their bodies could no longer function anymore. Those taking the film finally had to leave the area and leave the cameras running because they were to ill to watch anymore. It is told that Hitler watched the film over and over for hours on end.
141. KaCe – March 13th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
In terms of evil psychopaths i’d go for Richard Ramirez. Check out this quote:
“I love to kill people. I love to watch them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop. Or I would cut them with a knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood.”
Pure evil that.
Satan, anyone?
Bob Ross.
You just know he was a closet serial killer.
Stalin,Charles Manson,Jim Jones ,Dracula,Caligula
many also forgot to mention people like
Rasputin ,Josef Mengele ,Albert Fish,Marquis DeSade,Charles Manson, Tex Watson, Ted Bundy,Torquemada,Idi Amen, Henry the 8th, Atilla the Hun, Ivan The Terrible, Nero, Andrei Chikatilo , Gary M_ Heidnik , The Zodiac, Jack The Ripper, Dennis Rader… to name a few
Phender Bender; No, of course not. Evil is not the same as mentally ill. Mentally ill (in the legal sense) requires that you cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. Or alternatively, so far removed from reality you actually believe you are doing the correct or necessary thing. These fellows know the difference between right and wrong, they know how society feels about their actions. They do not care. They care only for themselves and their own twisted gratification. Bundy knew what he was doing was wrong, Stalin knew the consequences of his policies. Neither cared, they considered themselves separate from the rest of humanity, and all that mattered was their needs. No matter how sick and perverted those needs were.
jeff-hitler intended to kill people.he invaded poland ,czech republic,france and most of europe.you dont fight a war without intending deaths.he also used his power so that the final solution went ahead.
im not a christian myself but can you find me any of jesus’ teachings that sanction violence?
also you must remember the subject is most EVIL man.not deadliest,not murdorus but evil man
Quit with the evils of Religion would y’all please? Do you guys know that most of the evils of the Catholic/Christian church were for secular reasons. Secular means related to the world, or not of religion. In other words, politics. The Spanish Inquisition was a tool used by Spain to spread its influence. It worked, man they were all over the globe. Almost all the excesses blamed on Religion, were not caused by Religion, but Religion was hi-jacked to further secular aims.
By the way, I don’t believe in any particular religion, I just don’t believe it to be inherently evil. A few humans I know of; but that’s a different story.
To hit a few key points:
Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and other genocidal dictators: Each could easily be considered the most evil. Just to clarify, evil and insane are in no way the same. While each was extremely evil, each of these men was completely sane and aware of his actions.
Dahmer, Bundy and the like: Compared to Hitler and his fellow fascists, these serial killers were insane and evil. These men, unlike the others, had no “good intentions” or even any cause in their own minds.
Christianity, the Church: Yes, the Church has led to millions of innocent deaths, whether Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Protestants, women, homo*****uals… However, there are two points to be made: First, unlike men, the Church is a continuing body which, at this time, is not evil and is not killing people. If I was alive 500 years ago, I could easily say the Church should top the list in evilness, but today I do not see any evil in the Church.
Second, the actual Bible teaches kindness, as Voltaire said “Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.” Going with from a previous Lenin quote, Seneca once said “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” Christianity just like most religions is meant to be good, teaching life lessons. The problems come when either the leaders teach their own prejudices or when the “common people” believe every word literally. I think I could say that the world would be better with religions that do not in any away impress their own beliefs on others.
GW Bush: No way. Our president, while he has his flaws, is not evil. Very few (if any) innocent people suffer daily because of the president. One specific thing is that our soldiers are not taught to kill civilians.
In truth though, I cannot say the US say clean hands. Between the native American genocide, slavery, imperialism and Japanese internment, I can comfortably say the US has some apologies to draft.
The most evil man invented central privately owned banks like our Federal Reserve. Nothing like developing a system to enslave all of mankind. There is really nothing more evil and dangerous than unchecked greed and power without conscience.
mom424: I find it hard to believe that a sane man could kill so many people. I feel bad enough when I have to kill lobster before I cook it.
what about genghis khan? from what i have read it matters what side you were on if he was a good guy or not. he didn’t conquer half the world with out killing anyone. just some one else to throw into the mix.
GEORGE BUSH!!! No, JK JK! Actually, Hitler but I don’t know…
I think God is(if he exists). How can someone so powerful and apparently loving sit back and watch young children suffer with cancer and other things while pedophiles and murderers are walking around with not a care in the world?!?!? I know he gave us free will and blah bah blah, but anyone with a heart could not sit back and let this happen.