Fidel Castro has died
I would encourage the commenters in this thread who see Fidel&#x27;s legacy as a black-and-white matter of an &quot;evil dictator who did bad things and was wrong about economics&quot; to step back, bear witness to the objective facts about Fidel Castro&#x27;s life (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Fidel_Castro" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Fidel_Castro</a>), think sincerely about what could lead a highly intelligent and charismatic person to become or follow Fidel Castro (as many have), and take a moment to reflect on the complexities of global politics in the 20th century.<p>I am not a fan of Fidel Castro - quite the opposite - but humans are cut from a common cloth. When we see revolutions turn into dictatorships, and idealism deteriorate into a cynical fight to survive, it is foolish and dangerous to dismiss the dictators and revolutionaries as &quot;evil&quot; or &quot;idiots&quot; or some similarly otherizing term. It is dangerous because it means we are refusing to learn from history, and to apply the lessons of other lives to our own. Fidel Castro&#x27;s mistakes are our mistakes to repeat, or to learn from.<p>If you hold yourself holier than Fidel Castro, and think that celebrating the death of someone you perceive as &quot;evil&quot; is prudent, take a deep long moment and try to learn something non-trivial from his life. &quot;Fidel Castro&quot; in the particular was not some kind of unique demon who plagued humanity. He was a charismatic revolutionary who occupied a very complex time. His life&#x27;s trajectory was in many respects one of tragic failure. He may have, in reality, occupied a very dark corner of history, but that is for us to learn and judge, not to assume.<p>If you think you&#x27;re better, then do better. Be better. Don&#x27;t refuse to acknowledge the humanity of another person because you believe you can totalize their entire life under a cheap tagline.