This is where that old self comes out. I am a supporter of the Empire but like anything else, it has its own weaknesses and flaws.
I have raised myself for nearly a decade now believing in the SIth Code and believe it in about every sense possible. If you understand it, you get an idea of why the Empires are run the way they are. They consider anyone weak to be thrown under the bus or made meager slaves. This works to a certain extent though one of the biggest flaws was actually Emperor Sidious implementing a species policy. While it worked for its intention (keeping a unified state of humans and creating a status caste), it neglected the idea that a few "aliens" so to speak could become a force to be reckoned with which of course resulted in massacres which resulted in the Rebel Alliance.
It is due to that it created its own unique problem and with it, became an "Evil" figure. I am honest in saying that the entire species regiment made the Galactic Empire in itself very evil as it created a huge amount of problems and massacres. While there was some good in the Empire (read Lords of the Sith), there is plenty of bad and I mean PLENTY of bad. In the Galactic Empire sense, they were the bad guys and no way around it.
Now if we focus on say the Sith Empire on the Cold War stage, it is not entirely evil nor should it give the idea of evil. They were marauders, warriors coming to conquer and keep what they have to themselves. While the up and mighty deal is still there, the social caste is dramatically different from the Galactic Empires. Humans while still held in perstiege, aliens were still given ways to serve and fight in their military though it was favored more to humanoids like Duros and Zabaraks. However the top of the caste with Sith with humans being the "second class" so to speak. This was a behavior that was adapted later into the Brotherhood of the Sith and a central reason why Darth Bane wrote in his journals about ignoring the idea of anti-alien sentiment since everyone has a reason. Even Darth Revan before his concussion (memory wipe) was given the same chances and saw uses in them.
While it is a poor argument to say if that made the past less evil, it is honestly the truth if you think of the amount of death between them. Slaves existed on both sides but the Galactic Empire kept a huge status quo on slavery to run almost every aspect of the empire including mass execution after building the death star and sex slaves for twi'leks and the amount of corruption going on that Sidious actually knew about. If you check against the Sith Empire, they were TAME compared to the likes of the Galactic Empire which while evil in poisoning slaves and building, they at least had a more fair treatment and knew what the hell they were doing in a larger scale, kicking in the Republics teeth in when they wanted and playing the peace. If you want to argue, tell me how long it took for the Rebel Alliance to kick the Galactic Empires ass and kill the Emperor and compare to the Sith Empires war and the amount of time required to even conquer a few planets. When you get that answer, you never want to look at the GE again.
[member="Gavin Coral"]
If you wish to discuss a bit more, by all means hit me up. Been a retired Sith for a very long time and had to study things like this for a good long while.