The Top Ten Evilest People of All-Time

American Spectator ^ | April 5, 2019 | Larry Alex Taunton

[Twotone]

Have you ever wondered who the evilest people to ever walk this earth are? Adolf Hitler always seems to be the go-to reference in such conversations. It is a difficult thing to quantify. Do we do it statistically — that is, according to who killed the most people — or should it be based on their evil influence on history? My list relies on both. Of course, it’s totally subjective, but those making the Top Ten might surprise you. So, starting in reverse order, I give you a list of people who will make you feel better about yourself:

10. (tie) The Kims: Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong-un

This is quite possibly history’s worst political dynasty. In addition to starting the Korean War that killed 3 million people and their refusal to officially end that conflict, this grandfather-son-grandson trio has created one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Without the protection of a meaningful constitution and the Rule of Law, citizens are frequently starved, beaten, imprisoned, murdered, indoctrinated, and forced to worship the Supreme Leader. At least North Korea serves as a nice answer for millennials who ask, “Dad, what was the Soviet Union like?”

9. The Sanhedrin of Jesus’ Day

Somebody from the Bible should make this list, and while there are a number of fine nominees, I decided it should be the majority of those who were members of the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ day. Why? Many who reject Jesus as the Son of God do so because they didn’t see his miracles or hear his teaching. By contrast, the Sanhedrin saw and heard both. Rather than believing in Jesus when they saw him perform miracles, their hatred for him grew.

[humblegunner]

In some cases a bit of abuse is justified.

[YogicCowboy]

Actually, we do not agree. You used the words, “personally evil.”

I have researched the man several times over the years. I do consider him evil on a personal level - but not on a trans-personal level. (He died before that ambition could be realized.) Many petty criminals are evil on a personal level.

The trans-personal - societal, cultural - evil resulted from his books, which were an extrapolation of his personal evil on a darkly grand scale.

If I had exploited my father and friend, Engels, as Marx did, and abused my chambermaid, as Marx did, and done the other things he reputedly did, then those of my family and friends would rightly call me “personally evil.”

Francis Wheen in particular exposed the man for the fraud he was. A good and kind man Karl Marx was not.

[21twelve]

“Charles Darwin was a truly evil man.”

I was also thinking of a person - or people - that create the ideas, rather than the actual deed-doers.

So when I saw Darwin - I agreed. However, I’m not sure that he is the one that is evil. His intent was just “science” - even if he was wrong about his ideas. (His theory of evolution - with it being a slow, gradual thing is now seen as impossible by today’s evolutionists who go for the huge genetic change in one speciman - the “hopeful monster”). I don’t agree with either.

Anyway - I’m not sure that I would consider Darwin himself evil. His theory of evolution? Perhaps, if an idea can be evil.

I was thinking along the lines of Karl Marx - who spawned the idea of Communism. So then that would cover Lenin, Stalin, Mao, the millions dead in Vietnam, Laos, Pol Pot in Cambodia, etc.

Thinking about it more (Cuba, Venezuela, .....) - Karl Marx.

[21twelve]

After reading the other posts - I may be wrong about Marx himself being evil. Mistaken and misguided and wrong (like Darwin imho)- but evil???

[wardaddy]

He should have in any event noted Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea dissented and urgently argued against what they were insisting upon Pilate

Arimathea I think paid for Jesus tomb....he’d originally bought it for himself..

Both he and Nicodemus feature prominently in early Christian lore especially in Catholic , Orhtodox and mainline Protestant sects

Joseph even testified to Caiphas that Jesus had arisen from Joesphs tomb he’d allowed for Jesus burial

Nicodemus and Joseph defended Jesus at risk to themselves and indeed Joseph was imprisoned for sometime before being freed by sympathizers

Both also paid for the herbs and spices and essence oils and helped prepare Jesus body for burial

Some scholars think Joseph traveled as far as Britannia proselytizing...some scholars disagree

Anyhow that is two Pharisees of the Sanhedrin who should have been spared the authors condemnation especially since Jesus himself forgave them for their transgressions ceding they were simply carrying out providence

This is from memory someone can and will correct me I’m sure...I’m no holy roller but my butt was on the pew most Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights in the 60s and 70s and even now I attend a fair amount....wifey is kinda adamant at times

[Churchillspirit]

Some interesting names on that list.

Thanks for posting.

[humblegunner]

I consistently scored in the top half of the top one percentile of college-bound students

Astounding!

[from occupied ga]

Kind of hard to get the Oxford dictionary in a post

[The KG9 Kid]

Not to mention especially when the author summons up magical invention and cultural lore, assigning it to be factual history.

“Someone from the Bible should make this list” was where I started rolling my eyes. He didn’t disappoint. If he’d instead said “Someone from religion-craft should make this list”, I’d expected Martin Luther or Marcion, Augustine, Ambrose, Chrystosom and Constantine.

[dead]

Again, I will state this fact – which was my only contention. “Evilest” is a word. I was correcting the poster who said, in obvious error, that it wasn’t. I never said it was an eloquent word or that it wasn’t awkward, in fact I said I would use “most evil” myself. Usage of the word evilest can certainly be considered to reflect a bumpkinesque vernacular, though bumpkinesque is not really a word.

But “evilest” IS a word. This is a demonstrable, inarguable fact. It is in the Mirriam-Webster dictionary. Prior to the application of any multipliers, the word will get you a score of 10 in Scrabble.

I never asserted any positive attributes to the word or its usage, only confirmed its existence as a real actual word in the English language. My correction was correct. If you have any other opinions as to its status of the word, you can take them up with the editors of the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, but since this is sort of their area of expertise, I doubt you will win the point with them either.

I have little doubt that you can also find the word in the OED, but you have to pay money to access it online and I do not have a printed version within arm's reach.

[humblegunner]

I have researched the man several times over the years.

Amazing!

[Albion Wilde]

Hey, I’m on your side! Thanks for the spirited defense of your position re “evilest.”

[dead]

Hey thanks, man - I was just auto-blasting everybody who commented, though auto-blasting is not a word!

[NetAddicted]

Topten is an interesting FR keyword.

[NetAddicted]

I, too, scored in top half of top one per cent. Would be interesting to talk to ya.