imo it’s not really worth ranking them in terms of terribleness.
Yeah, it's like sure there are some that just stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the sheer extent of human misery they caused, and others that stand out for how extreme and monstrous their atrocities were, but framing the sort of middle of the pack ones that were awful but not quite as awful as the very worst ones as lesser evils is kind of... I don't know how to put it, maybe it's just the wrong way of framing it? Like singling one or the other out is only really worth it when it's over how extreme their crimes were, while describing one as "least excessive" or "least awful" comes dangerously close to minimizing their actions, especially when their reason for having done less overall was not intent or ethics but a simple lack of time and opportunity.
Yeah, it's like sure there are some that just stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the sheer extent of human misery they caused, and others that stand out for how extreme and monstrous their atrocities were, but framing the sort of middle of the pack ones that were awful but not quite as awful as the very worst ones as lesser evils is kind of... I don't know how to put it, maybe it's just the wrong way of framing it? Like singling one or the other out is only really worth it when it's over how extreme their crimes were, while describing one as "least excessive" or "least awful" comes dangerously close to minimizing their actions, especially when their reason for having done less overall was not intent or ethics but a simple lack of time and opportunity.