Too many people—at least, too many writers of the kind of fiction where the villain turns out to be an all-right guy in the end—seem to believe that if someone is the hero of their own story and genuinely believes they’re doing the right thing, they can’t really be evil. But you know who was the hero of his own story and genuinely believed he was doing the right thing? Hitler. He believed he was saving the world from the Jews and promoting the greatness of the German volk.
Was this bit absolutely necessary? It comes across as almost a cliched invocation of the Nazis. This would probably be better received if one had a different example or no example at all.
This is on the whole a minor criticism more about presentation than anything else. Your general points seems worth-while.
No it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I was deliberately being a bit cliche. Normally I avoid cliches, but it felt right rhetorically here. I don’t know if it really was.
Had I been extra-concerned about avoiding confusion, I would have also pointed out the difference between attempting to invoke the Nazis to prove a general rule, and invoking the Nazis as a counter-example, and that I was doing the latter here. I failed to do that. Oh well.
Was this bit absolutely necessary? It comes across as almost a cliched invocation of the Nazis. This would probably be better received if one had a different example or no example at all.
This is on the whole a minor criticism more about presentation than anything else. Your general points seems worth-while.
No it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I was deliberately being a bit cliche. Normally I avoid cliches, but it felt right rhetorically here. I don’t know if it really was.
Had I been extra-concerned about avoiding confusion, I would have also pointed out the difference between attempting to invoke the Nazis to prove a general rule, and invoking the Nazis as a counter-example, and that I was doing the latter here. I failed to do that. Oh well.
I think the disagreement may disappear if you taboo evil.