>>213443197 (OP)
In the book they make it a bit more clear that the Atreides have a massive PR machine and that that's their actual strength, Leto during a scene where he's exhausted starts talking about this a bit to Paul because he's too tired to put the front up anymore.
The difference between the Atreides and the Harkonnen is not their goals or even their stratagems--that's just Kanly, it's an artform in the Empire to fuck over your rivals in insanely cruel and showy ways, the Atreides have assassins and spies every bit as vicious as the Harkonnen--the difference is that the Atreides have personal self control, and hte Harkonnens don't.
When the Bene Gesserit are talking about how some "people" are basically animals ruled by their hungers, the Harkonnen are supposed to exemplify this. Vladimir is always hungry, always fucking little boys, always drinking always being a creepy sick fuck, even when it avails him nothing. DeVries is the same way, so is Feyd and Raban, they're fucking retarded hedonists whereas the Atreides can think about things beyond satisfying their immediate desire for vindication or satisfaction, they can defer gratification for their own advantage.
This is not merely presented as a practical advantage, but as a moral one--the actual moral distinction between the Atreides and the Harkonnen is that the Harkonnen are degenerates, and thus the only ends they turn their abilities to are idiotic animal ones.
