Comment on Anon is a philosopher

• dojan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  This is true. My running theory, the shit man theory, is that if you take a famous person from the past they’re most likely a shithead. For example;

  Mahatma Gandhi was a nazi-loving racist who would gather young and underaged apprentices with whom he’d sleep naked to prove how virtuous he was by not raping them.

  Mother Theresa didn’t pay her workers, withheld medical attention on the grounds that if they took people to proper medical facilities they’d not use hers, re-used needles and knowingly spreading infectious diseases (like HIV), would purposefully make people suffer because suffering is godly.

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  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I think there are two explanations for it:

    • the type of person that gets sufficient attention to be remembered long-term has a bit of a god complex
    • everyone has good and bad parts, and each gets magnified in historical texts

    It’s probably both in most cases.

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