Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Aug 22, 2015 10:35:31 GMT -5
Had to be done. Notice the fervent obsession with religious types and marxists (same thing) making people into superhuman figures they can worship? Must be part of the collectivist mindset.
www.ricestandard.org/the-most-overrated-figures-in-history/
History is replete with grand and noble figures, many of whom have rightfully been remembered for their great deeds and admirable goals. Unfortunately, history is also full of frauds and morons who, by shrewd manipulation or terrific luck, have entered the popular imagination as heroic forces for good. With that in mind, I’ve set out to rank the most undeservedly admired figures in history.
Angry comments and insightful additions are welcome:
#10: John Maynard Keynes
You have to give Keynes a certain amount of credit: it takes a very clever person to transform the Potemkin village concept into a wildly popular approach to economic policy. You have to give him even more credit once you consider that this approach has generally retained its popularity despite its complete failure to generate positive results after more than seven decades in practice. From all that, one thing is certainly clear: his approach to economics may suck, but he was clearly a damn fine salesman.
#9: Mother Teresa
This adorable old fundie has received almost unanimously positive coverage for decades now, ostensibly for her good works and commitment to India’s poor. As it turns out, though, she spent considerably more money expanding her network of convents than she did securing supplies for the sick and the poor. Ironically, this saint-to-be was troubled most of all by the use of birth control and fought strenuously against it, which means it’s probable that she substantially increased the ranks of the sick and the dying worldwide.
#8: Confucius
If you’ve ever feared that perhaps you’re too free and independent, or secretly longed to become a robot, then Confucius has just the thing for you: the chance to be an entirely replaceable shell into which the orders and desires of your social superiors can be poured in lieu of a personality. A few dozen generations of automatons later, your descendants will enjoy such luxuries as fitting in, doing what is expected of them, and being so utterly devoid of individual character as to have no further need of first names.
#7: Nelson Mandela
Though he now lives comfortably off the admiration (and money) of the millions of glossy-eyed, semi-literate Westerners who cling to his every word, this unabashed communist’s achievements fall far short of his legendary status. Mandela is perhaps history’s most successful beneficiary of the “looking-better-by-comparison” effect, which probably says more about Apartheid South Africa than it does about him. Without that obvious evil to stand out against, Mandela has been noticeably lackluster in his defense of human rights, especially given his refusal to speak out against notable despots like Robert Mugabe and his open praise for others such as Fidel Castro and Muammar al-Gaddafi.
#6: Abraham
If such a person ever existed (and there’s no credible reason to believe that he did), then he was surely the progenitor of more violence and hatred than any other person in history: Judaism begot Christianity, they both begot Islam, and between the three of them, the monotheisms are probably mankind’s most evil creations. At any rate, the man was prepared to murder his own son because he heard a disembodied voice telling him to do so. How might the world look if he’d had the decency to take the knife to himself instead? One can only wonder.
#5: Muhammad
This one’s a no-brainer: how many Saudis fly aircraft into the nearest skyscraper if not for the belief that they do so on God’s orders, as revealed to the mountebank Muhammad? The man’s convenient ability to experience a revelation whenever it suited his purposes would land him in prison or in therapy today, but luckily for him (and unfortunately for the rest of us) he lived at a time when a man hallucinating in a scorched desert cave could claim to be the messenger of god without shame. Give him his credit, though: Muhammad is surely the most successful con man in history, which is every bit as impressive as it is tragic.
#4: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Who would’ve guessed that one president could inflict such lasting damage on a country? From his gross expansion of the federal government to his insistence on vacuous economic measures that surely did more to lengthen the Great Depression than to curtail it, FDR was basically the personification of incompetent statesmanship. The next time the economy takes a southward dip and a new chorus of hucksters begins to call for a fresh wave of ineffectual “economic stimulus,” just remember: it all began with Roosevelt.
#3: Martin Luther King, Jr.
The man wasn’t nearly as revolutionary a figure as he’s been made out to be by “black” people desperate for a hero of asinine identity politics and glib “white” people happy to find an easy outlet by which to fend off charges of racism. The main problem, however, is that the vapid cult that has formed around him has helped make “Dr. King” one of the most obstructive clichés in political discourse today, with countless speeches and arguments dedicated to discerning the nature of King’s “dream.” Unlike most on this list, his mention isn’t based on any particularly unsavory aspects of his character or deeds. Nevertheless, his inclusion on this list will draw the most contempt, and for the most banal reasons. (Side note: I dream of non-cliché responses.)
#2: Jesus
Never mind that there exists no credible evidence to suggest that this person ever lived, and certainly no credible evidence to suggest that he was one manifestation of a divine being with some sort of multiple personality disorder. Even as a fictional character, this man has inspired an enormous amount of violence and hatred. But was he really worth it? His advice to his followers included such things as “take no thought for the morrow,” another way of saying “to hell with life; just worship me instead.” Apocalyptic crazies have been invoking this third-rate cult leader ever since. Worst of all, the man had the gall to die without leaving humanity the secret for converting water into wine.
#1: Gandhi
This backward, superstitious ascetic has become a legend among those skilled in the art of cliché, not for his crazy religious ideas (mercifully) but for the wicked notion that the victims of injustice should never take direct action to stop it. Along with his profound hatred of all things modern and his belief that natural disasters were caused by sin, this makes him possibly the most highly regarded anti-humanist in history. As if all that weren’t bad enough, he had a truly remarkable capacity for devising vacuous yet seemingly profound one-liners, most of which have been reducing the minds of dim Western youth to slush ever since.
Honorable Mention
In no particular order:
The Dalai Lama – a man who wants to free Tibet from China so he can bring it under his own (supernatural) autocracy and yet another beneficiary of the “looking-better-by-comparison” effect.
Tutankhamen – a deformed little boy whose greatest achievement was being the only pharaoh insignificant enough to escape the attention of grave robbers.
Che Guevara – a communist, murderer, and sadist whose fate as a tool of ironic capitalism is strikingly appropriate.
Princess Diana – an ineffectual, spoiled brat who became the “People’s Princess” precisely because she was nothing at all like the people who so admired her.
Joan of Arc – a schizophrenic whose most noteworthy accomplishment in life was her death.
Woodrow Wilson – a man who botched the settlement of World War I so thoroughly that he guaranteed a future war in Europe and an end to peace in the Middle East.
Jacques Derrida – a huckster whose genius lay in the ability to make dimwits think of themselves as intelligent for “understanding” his inane word salad.
Mikhail Gorbachev – a dedicated communist who thought he would strengthen, not weaken, the Soviet Union with more open governance and thereby scored the greatest “own goal” in history.
www.ricestandard.org/the-most-overrated-figures-in-history/
History is replete with grand and noble figures, many of whom have rightfully been remembered for their great deeds and admirable goals. Unfortunately, history is also full of frauds and morons who, by shrewd manipulation or terrific luck, have entered the popular imagination as heroic forces for good. With that in mind, I’ve set out to rank the most undeservedly admired figures in history.
Angry comments and insightful additions are welcome:
#10: John Maynard Keynes
You have to give Keynes a certain amount of credit: it takes a very clever person to transform the Potemkin village concept into a wildly popular approach to economic policy. You have to give him even more credit once you consider that this approach has generally retained its popularity despite its complete failure to generate positive results after more than seven decades in practice. From all that, one thing is certainly clear: his approach to economics may suck, but he was clearly a damn fine salesman.
#9: Mother Teresa
This adorable old fundie has received almost unanimously positive coverage for decades now, ostensibly for her good works and commitment to India’s poor. As it turns out, though, she spent considerably more money expanding her network of convents than she did securing supplies for the sick and the poor. Ironically, this saint-to-be was troubled most of all by the use of birth control and fought strenuously against it, which means it’s probable that she substantially increased the ranks of the sick and the dying worldwide.
#8: Confucius
If you’ve ever feared that perhaps you’re too free and independent, or secretly longed to become a robot, then Confucius has just the thing for you: the chance to be an entirely replaceable shell into which the orders and desires of your social superiors can be poured in lieu of a personality. A few dozen generations of automatons later, your descendants will enjoy such luxuries as fitting in, doing what is expected of them, and being so utterly devoid of individual character as to have no further need of first names.
#7: Nelson Mandela
Though he now lives comfortably off the admiration (and money) of the millions of glossy-eyed, semi-literate Westerners who cling to his every word, this unabashed communist’s achievements fall far short of his legendary status. Mandela is perhaps history’s most successful beneficiary of the “looking-better-by-comparison” effect, which probably says more about Apartheid South Africa than it does about him. Without that obvious evil to stand out against, Mandela has been noticeably lackluster in his defense of human rights, especially given his refusal to speak out against notable despots like Robert Mugabe and his open praise for others such as Fidel Castro and Muammar al-Gaddafi.
#6: Abraham
If such a person ever existed (and there’s no credible reason to believe that he did), then he was surely the progenitor of more violence and hatred than any other person in history: Judaism begot Christianity, they both begot Islam, and between the three of them, the monotheisms are probably mankind’s most evil creations. At any rate, the man was prepared to murder his own son because he heard a disembodied voice telling him to do so. How might the world look if he’d had the decency to take the knife to himself instead? One can only wonder.
#5: Muhammad
This one’s a no-brainer: how many Saudis fly aircraft into the nearest skyscraper if not for the belief that they do so on God’s orders, as revealed to the mountebank Muhammad? The man’s convenient ability to experience a revelation whenever it suited his purposes would land him in prison or in therapy today, but luckily for him (and unfortunately for the rest of us) he lived at a time when a man hallucinating in a scorched desert cave could claim to be the messenger of god without shame. Give him his credit, though: Muhammad is surely the most successful con man in history, which is every bit as impressive as it is tragic.
#4: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Who would’ve guessed that one president could inflict such lasting damage on a country? From his gross expansion of the federal government to his insistence on vacuous economic measures that surely did more to lengthen the Great Depression than to curtail it, FDR was basically the personification of incompetent statesmanship. The next time the economy takes a southward dip and a new chorus of hucksters begins to call for a fresh wave of ineffectual “economic stimulus,” just remember: it all began with Roosevelt.
#3: Martin Luther King, Jr.
The man wasn’t nearly as revolutionary a figure as he’s been made out to be by “black” people desperate for a hero of asinine identity politics and glib “white” people happy to find an easy outlet by which to fend off charges of racism. The main problem, however, is that the vapid cult that has formed around him has helped make “Dr. King” one of the most obstructive clichés in political discourse today, with countless speeches and arguments dedicated to discerning the nature of King’s “dream.” Unlike most on this list, his mention isn’t based on any particularly unsavory aspects of his character or deeds. Nevertheless, his inclusion on this list will draw the most contempt, and for the most banal reasons. (Side note: I dream of non-cliché responses.)
#2: Jesus
Never mind that there exists no credible evidence to suggest that this person ever lived, and certainly no credible evidence to suggest that he was one manifestation of a divine being with some sort of multiple personality disorder. Even as a fictional character, this man has inspired an enormous amount of violence and hatred. But was he really worth it? His advice to his followers included such things as “take no thought for the morrow,” another way of saying “to hell with life; just worship me instead.” Apocalyptic crazies have been invoking this third-rate cult leader ever since. Worst of all, the man had the gall to die without leaving humanity the secret for converting water into wine.
#1: Gandhi
This backward, superstitious ascetic has become a legend among those skilled in the art of cliché, not for his crazy religious ideas (mercifully) but for the wicked notion that the victims of injustice should never take direct action to stop it. Along with his profound hatred of all things modern and his belief that natural disasters were caused by sin, this makes him possibly the most highly regarded anti-humanist in history. As if all that weren’t bad enough, he had a truly remarkable capacity for devising vacuous yet seemingly profound one-liners, most of which have been reducing the minds of dim Western youth to slush ever since.
Honorable Mention
In no particular order:
The Dalai Lama – a man who wants to free Tibet from China so he can bring it under his own (supernatural) autocracy and yet another beneficiary of the “looking-better-by-comparison” effect.
Tutankhamen – a deformed little boy whose greatest achievement was being the only pharaoh insignificant enough to escape the attention of grave robbers.
Che Guevara – a communist, murderer, and sadist whose fate as a tool of ironic capitalism is strikingly appropriate.
Princess Diana – an ineffectual, spoiled brat who became the “People’s Princess” precisely because she was nothing at all like the people who so admired her.
Joan of Arc – a schizophrenic whose most noteworthy accomplishment in life was her death.
Woodrow Wilson – a man who botched the settlement of World War I so thoroughly that he guaranteed a future war in Europe and an end to peace in the Middle East.
Jacques Derrida – a huckster whose genius lay in the ability to make dimwits think of themselves as intelligent for “understanding” his inane word salad.
Mikhail Gorbachev – a dedicated communist who thought he would strengthen, not weaken, the Soviet Union with more open governance and thereby scored the greatest “own goal” in history.
