LordChaverly Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 To the OP - over-rated by whom? By anyone contributing to this thread. So far I have had pleasure in rubbishing the posthumous reputations of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Mother Theresa and Jack the Ripper. I could add JFK and Robert Kennedy also, plus a few more if i though about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Then it is the "Big Men" (and Women) of the canon - a historical figure is pretty much over-rated by definition. The historical figures that aren't over-rated are the ones we've never heard about, and hence aren't historical figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sccsux Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 The historical figures that aren't over-rated are the ones we've never heard about, and hence aren't historical figures. Like the inventor of the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordChaverly Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Then it is the "Big Men" (and Women) of the canon - a historical figure is pretty much over-rated by definition. The historical figures that aren't over-rated are the ones we've never heard about, and hence aren't historical figures. You are beginning to sound like Donald Rumsfeld, with his reference to known unknowns, known knowns and unknown knowns, or whatever he said. Hence there are historical figures we know and historical figures we don't know, plus of course figures who are not historical at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I'm simply saying that the notion of "Historical Figure" as it's being used here, is synonymous with a "person of exaggerated historical importance". In answer to the OP - who are the most over-rated historical figures? All of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 The "Unknown unknowns" declaration by Rumsfeld was the most insightful, correct and intelligible thing he has ever said. There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know. --edit I wouldn't normally want to be associated with Rumsfeld, but in this case, I'm very happy to be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuey Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Go on I'll bite. Let the flaming begin:- Nelson Mandela - A second rate communist terrorist who's only claim to fame was getting caught too easily (in possession of 48,000 anti-personnel mines and 210,000 hand-grenades if the court report can be believed). Since he has been released he has had the chance to use his voice for the good of Africa as a whole. During this time hes stayed remarkable quiet about other dictators like Mugabe. Whilst Apartheid was undoubtedly bad, can you honestly say things are better for black South Africans under the ANC? the only people benefiting are the ANC leaders. A strange type of double think that lets people view him as a hero but thinks Muslim terrorists should be hung. Mother Theresa - A fanatic with a good sense of PR who was more interesting in spending cash on more convents that reliving poverty. She claimed "suffering was gods gift" and opposed birth control even though it was a sure way of relieving poverty for many families. She cozied up to and took money off some of the worlds worst despots yet didn't spend the cash helping the poor. When she was sick did she turn to her own clinics, no she went to a private clinic in California. As far as sainthood, the evidence is just laughable. Her picture cured someone of a tumor that her doctor said she didn't have in the first place. go on then. You can all tell me they are heros and should be worshipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnvqsos Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 The Nuremburg trials were especially set up to try Nazi leaders on charges of genocide and other war crimes that were commited in violation of the Geneva Convention... Mush ! It existed for that purpose and that purpose only. Some other poster was spaced out enough to suggest that Winston Churchill should have been tried in an International Court. So was this an international court,or not-you have evaded the qustion?Winston Churchill wrote to Mussolini in the 1930s to congratulate him in thwarting the unions,which casts doubt on the man's integrity.He also used troops to block the passage of food to striking miners in Wales where he is still reviled! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister M Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Death turns an angel into god. Yes I was thinking that too the other day when I heard a mini biography on the radio of Ian Curtis, the singer from Joy Division who ended his life at a young age. I don't want to besmirch the character of someone who isn't here to defend themselves, but the way that the respondents talked you'd have thought he invented music - not just made a small contribution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radomu Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Christopher columbus... he didn't discover america. It was Giovanni Caboto (known in English as John Cabot). No one discovered America until the first Siberians reached Alaska during the ice age by crossing the Bering Strait. That's the first record of homo sapiens actually entering the Western Hemisphere as we know of. But the first European to do so was Lief Ericsson. And no, Colombus got to America before Cabot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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