Greatest persons in history/present.

Solace

Chieftain
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Sep 10, 2010
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If you could take the greatest people from history (and the present) and put them all in a room together (with a common language), who would you pick as the greatest people from history? You can pick anyone from any time period, you can even pick people who aren't Americans if you wish. They could be philosophers, politicians, military leaders, celebrities, human rights leaders, or anyone. In that room together they would discuss and debate their beliefs, theologies, and other things. They could also tell you about their lives if you wanted them to. Here are the people who I'd pick:



Abraham Lincoln (American; 1809 – 1865)
Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States during the American Civil War.


George Washington (American; 1732 – 1799)
George Washington was the first President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military during the American Revolutionary War.


Hayley Williams (American; 1988 – present)
Hayley Williams is the lead singer of Paramore and winner of several "most beautiful female" awards.


Socrates (Greek; 469 BC – 399 BC)
Socrates was a Classical Greek philosopher.


Benjamin Franklin (American; 1706 – 1790)
Benjamin Franklin was an American inventor and politician.


Martin Luther King, Jr. (American; 1929 – 1968)
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a non-violent human rights activist who fought for the equal rights of African Americans.


Franklin Delano Roosevelt (American; 1882 – 1945)
Franklin Roosevelt was the President of the United States during the Great Depression and most of World War II.


Mahatma Gandhi (Indian; 1869 – 1948)
Gandhi was a political and spiritual leader of India. He was a pacifist and believed that India should become independent through non-violent actions.


Julius Caesar (Roman; 100 BC – 44 BC)
Julius Caesar was a consul of the Roman Republic who was assassinated by his friends out of fear that he would become a dictator.


Karl Marx (German; 1818 – 1883)
Karl Marx (and Friedrich Engels) was the author of The Communist Manifesto and is often regarded as the father of communism.


Albert Einstein (German; 1879 – 1955)
Einstein was a German philosopher, he responsible for the Atomic Theory.


Nikola Tesla (Austrian; 1856 – 1943)
Nikola Tesla was an Austrian inventor, he was responsible for the creation of commercial electricity.


Stephenie Meyer (American; 1973 – present)
Stephanie Meyer is the author of The Twilight Saga books. She's possible the most influential person alive, so much so that not only does she have an army of teenage girls worshiping her, but her work has also led to the creation of a subculture and to real life teenagers physically biting eat each others' necks.


Nelson Mandela (South African; 1918 – present)
Nelson Mandela was the first black South African president and a member of the South African resistance. He fought against the racist pro-white Apartheid regime in South Africa. He was eventually arrested by the Apartheid regime and sentenced to (manual labor) prison for 27 years and exiled. He was later released when the apartheid regime was abolished and free elections were allowed in South Africa. He was then elected President of South Africa, and despite being beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and terrorized by the white South Africans, he instead pardoned them, let them keep their political offices, and put an end to racial segregation. I recommend this movie about him: Invictus


Winston Churchill (British; 1874 – 1965)
Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. Unfortunately, like most politicians, he made some mistakes. And by mistakes I mean he was accused of mistreating Indian and Bengali (people from Bangladesh) subjects of the British Empire.


Charles de Gaulle (French; 1890 – 1970)
Charles de Gaulle was the leader of Free France (an anti-Nazi resistance movement) during World War II. He later became the President of France and the (Co-)Prince of Andorra.


Bill Gates (American; 1955 – present)
Bill Gates is the founder of the Microsoft Corporation, inventor of Windows, and one of the world's wealthiest men. He is a prime example of how capitalism works.


Vladimir Lenin
Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks (communists) during the Russian Civil War. He was also the first Chairman of the Soviet Union.


Jesus Christ (Roman; 5 BC – 30 AD)
Jesus is, well, Jesus.


Gautama Buddha (Indian; 563 BC – 483 BC)
The Buddha was the creator of Buddhism.


Wovoka (American Indian; 1856 – 1932)
Wovoka, also known as Jack Wilson, was an American Indian (Northern Paiute to be exact) who lived on an American Indian reservation. Eventually he created his own denomination of Christianity (called Ghost Dance), in which Jesus was an American Indian. He prophesied that Jesus would return and make all of the white people go away (and bring back the buffalo). He also prophesied that if you wear a shirt advertising his religion that you would become immortal and not even bullets could kill you. Eventually several hundred of his followers (primarily women and children) were massacred (Wounded Knee Massacre) by the United States Army.


Swede Momsen (American; 1896 – 1967)
Swede Momsen was an Admiral in the United States Navy and an inventor. He is responsible for the first and most important deep sea submarine rescue in history. I highly recommend this book about him an the rescue: The Terrible Hours


Napolean Bonaparte (Corsican; 1769 – 1821)
Napolean was a French monarch and military leader during the Napoleonic Wars. He conquered most of Europe, including the Holy Roman Empire.
 
Leonhard Euler and Karl Friedrich Gauss.

EDIT: And Newton of course.
 
The guy who invented sliced bread, because he invented the first greatest thing.
 
George Washington(British, later American)(1732-1799)

Effective leader of forces British and later American and apparently very hard to kill. One of the people who made the USA the way it is today.

Jesus Christ(Roman)(5BC-30AD)

Founder of the world's most dominant religion today, and a way cool guy.

Muhammad(Arabic)(570-632)

Founder of the world's second most dominant religion and the first leader of Arabia.

Buddha(Indian)(563BC-483BC)

Founder of another dominant religion/philosophy and an OK guy.

Vladimir Illyrich Lenin(Russian)(1870-1923)

Leader of the Russian Bolshevik Party during the Russian Civil War and first leader of the USSR.

Victoria(British)(1819-1901)

Queen of the UK at its height and also known as the "Grandmother of Europe" due to her many children marrying into royal families all over Europe.

Meiji(Japanese)(1852-1912)

Emperor of Japan who opened the doors to Western Civilization and caused Japan to be Industrialized and later a Colonial Power.

Julius Caesar(Roman)(100BC-44BC)

Last Consul of the Roman Republic and spreader of Roman Culture into Barbaric France.

Chuck Norris(American)(1940)

The Memetic Badass we all know and love, he also has many facts about him and was a Martial Artist for some time.

Mr. T(American)(1952)

Another Memetic Badass, was on the A-Team and pities the fool. He also is able to change the World of Warcraft.
 
All the scientists. Let the politicians, historians, artists, economists, warlords etc etc hobnob and bicker. We shall discuss the nature of the universe and our planet itself.
 
Invite ICP too, just for the lols.

Eh, the genius bruiser types might pummel them. As much as ICP is distressing, I don't think they deserve that.
 
Julius Caesar (Roman; 100 BC – 44 BC)
Julius Caesar was a consul of the Roman Republic who was assassinated by his friends out of fear that he would become a dictator.

Caesar was already dictator for life when he was assassinated :mischief:. He was assassinated more from a general fear that he would become another Sulla, and because the senators were afraid they would become irrelevant if he stayed in power. Or at least that's what I remember, I'm sure I'll get Dachspwnt on this though.

Stephenie Meyer (American; 1973 – present)
Stephanie Meyer is the author of The Twilight Saga books. She's possible the most influential person alive, so much so that not only does she have an army of teenage girls worshiping her, but her work has also led to the creation of a subculture and to real life teenagers physically biting eat each others' necks.

If you're going to choose her because of vampire subculture, the least you could do is realize that she is irrelevant. The ones you really should be talking about, for one, is Anne Rice, as she was the one that really sparked this fascination with vampires as anything other than evil monsters à la Bram Stoker.

All Meyer did was take an interesting genre, and totally subvert it's cannon, and turn secretive interesting characters into bland, often non-faceted ones that have no personality, and even less development, and turning it's gothic subculture into gaggles of obnoxious 13 year olds that have no grasp on reality (evinced by the fact that they can't realize that Edward in the stories is a terrible person), and screaming, even more obnoxious 40-something year old mothers that wish they were 13 again.

Moreover, Meyer isn't even talented as a writer. Her prose is bland, and her vocabulary is extremely limited. She brings shame to lit majors.
 
I would say Adolf Hitler was very important for unfamiliar reasons.

His genocidal policies are a big factor in why scientific racism theories were discredited by academia after the war when the world saw the atrocities commited at the death camps.

If it wasnt for him we still might have forced sterilization and euthanasia based on disability, race, and so on today wouldnt you say?
 
When making "greatest whatever" lists, always show your bias without fear! :rockon:

Akhenaten - Cuz he was awesome, and I prefer the Amarna statues to those other boring statues of the 18th dynasty.

Imhotep - He was a physician, architect, engineer, poet, philosopher, minister, and a commoner risen to deity status. And there is a movie about him, but it messed up every detail about his life.

Hatshepsut - First person willing to crossdress to get what she wanted.
 
The 3 greatest persons in history:

The Earl of Sandwich - invented the sandwich.

Elisha Gray - invented the synthesizer.

Al Gore - invented the internet.
 
no Obama? Shame.

Hope and Change.

Seriously though. Twilight chick over Obama? That's just silly.
 
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