Sorry for the late reply here, but I have much less free time these days.
Because if it is provoked, that makes it okay?
The bigger point that I was trying to make is that the so-called "good" guys in Star Wars tend to be just as evil (if not more evil than) the designated "bad" guys. If the Empire is going to be seen as evil because of the Alderaan incident, the Rebellion is just as guilty for the Endor Holocaust. There are many other instances of this if you pay close attention to the rest of the films, and stop giving the Rebels/Jedi a free pass because they're the side you want to win.
Nice devil's advocate sophistry, but that whole "magical power through embracing anger and hatred, encouraging others to do so to gain his own ends" the viewer sees kinda puts a ding in it, if you step away from the press releases
While it is true that the Emperor advocates embracing anger and hatred, I don't believe that he does so for reasons of pure evil, as the Jedi side of things would have you believe. Rather, Palpatine has learned to embrace the whole of the force and take strength from all of creation. Where the Jedi can never truly be at peace with the universe because they refuse to accept anything they view as dark or unclean, Palpatine has learned to truly be one with everything, and has mastered (or at least attempted) a state of harmony that no Jedi could even dream of.
When Palpatine attempts to get Luke to cross over, he is not trying to turn Luke evil. Rather, he is attempting open Luke's eyes to a greater understanding of the force. Palpatine is trying to awaken the kwizach haderach by making Luke turn to the dark place that terrifies the Bene Gesserit; he is Buffy teaching Kendra the strength that comes from emotions; he is the first Green Lantern able to face the color yellow, and must teach the others to face fear and overcome it (rather than live without it) to triumph over their greatest weakness. Palpatine uses terms like "the dark side" and "hatred" to do this because those are the only terms Luke knows to embody that which he does not know.
Because of this zen-like acceptance that Palpatine has found, it is clear that he is the only character in the entire trilogy who actually tried to bring balance to the force. The Jedi claim to want balance in the force, but this is a blatant lie when you consider their philosophy; how can you have balance in the universe if you refuse to accept parts of it? Palpatine was even willing to die for this cause, too. After all, didn't he encourage Luke to strike him down, knowing that once Luke had embraced
all of his emotions that Luke would finally become the real chosen one from the prophecies?
The real bottom line here is that everything Palpatine has done, from replacing a useless form of government, to overthrowing the oppressive religious regime, to trying to balance the force, are all acts done for the good of the galaxy.
