The problem with Hitler or Stalin or whoever isn’t that they somehow make their citizens literally unable to choose for themselves; it’s that they hit them with terrible punishments when they choose the “wrong” way.
Stalin didn’t only punish people who choose the wrong way but also because he feared that they might be against him.
Hitler did horrible things to jewish people and other groups because of their identity and not because an individual did something wrong.
Sure. And Hitler started a world war, and Stalin suppressed varieties of artistic expression that he didn’t like, and both of them did plenty of other awful things. I wasn’t purporting to give a complete account of all the awfulness of Hitler or Stalin or any other tyrant. I was commenting on one particular aspect of human tyranny, the one already being compared against divine tyranny in this discussion: their tendency to try to control subjects’ behaviour by coercion.
Stalin didn’t only punish people who choose the wrong way but also because he feared that they might be against him. Hitler did horrible things to jewish people and other groups because of their identity and not because an individual did something wrong.
Sure. And Hitler started a world war, and Stalin suppressed varieties of artistic expression that he didn’t like, and both of them did plenty of other awful things. I wasn’t purporting to give a complete account of all the awfulness of Hitler or Stalin or any other tyrant. I was commenting on one particular aspect of human tyranny, the one already being compared against divine tyranny in this discussion: their tendency to try to control subjects’ behaviour by coercion.