Why couldn't bitcoin be hosted on the internet? I was wondering why bitcoin wasn't hosted on the internet? Why create a completely separate decentralized network, I thought the internet was already decentralized. For example, couldn't they have rented a few amazon ec2's or some other servers hosted on xyz host and call it a day?

(Sorry for newb question)
First of all, bitcoin is on the internet, and the Internet is not decentralized, its managed by several private companies, universities and governmental institutions.

You said "couldn't they have rented a few amazon ec2's or some other servers hosted on xyz host and call it a day"

I don't know who do you mean by "they" whoever you mean, just replace it by bitcoin users and the answer is Yes, I've rented some servers on Amazon and it's connected to other bitcoin nodes.