I studied history in college and the subject is littered with extremely flawed characters. Of course it is, it’s the study of humans doing stuff! When you take history courses as a kid, however, those flaws don’t often make an appearance. It’s not until later, when we’re a bit older and can reasonably understand human complexity, that we start to see those problems.
Redditor u/TGYHJDFGH asked:
“What beloved person in history should be hated?”
And the answers were pretty interesting! As you read, I’m going to nerd-ily caution you to remember that these are people from other times and other cultures, so some grains of salt may be warranted. (Not for you, Dickens. Not for you.)
1. Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens [tried to have] his wife, the mother of his children, committed to an insane asylum so he could run off with a teenage actress.
2. P.T. Barnum
Most people know but due to the romanticisation of The Greatest Showman, people should know that he was a maniac that did ungodly experiment on living beings, locked people in cages, abused them and mocked them. All whilst earning pocket from them.
3. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was a fraud and an abuser. The book Edie is a great read, but sad.
4. William Hurt
William Hurt. I remember seeing tons of praise for him when he passed recently.
Thing is, he beat and raped Marlee Matlin back in the 80s. She discussed it in her memoir. When he was approached about it, his response wasn’t to deny it, but to apologize for any pain he “may have caused” to her.
If you want to praise his acting, fine. But remember what sort of person he was behind the characters you loved on film.
5. John Kennedy Sr.
He decided that Rosemary (his daughter) who was 23 at the time should have a lobotomy; he did not inform his wife of this decision until after the procedure was completed. And then they sent her away to an institute.
In her early young adult years, Rosemary Kennedy experienced seizures and violent mood swings. In response to these issues, her father arranged a prefrontal lobotomy for her in 1941 when she was 23 years of age; the procedure left her permanently incapacitated and rendered her unable to speak intelligibly.
6. Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock, the guy probably was one of the best filmmakers ever, yes. but it’s worth mentioning how much he abused his actors, including sexually harassing Tippi Hedren.
7. Henry Kissinger
Kissinger may be a nobel peace prize winner, but a lot of dead people because of him.
8. Steven Tyler
He at 27 years old, bought a 14-year-old child got her addicted to drugs, and raped her for three years before he got her pregnant made her get an abortion then dropped her back off at her parents house.
9. Oprah
She’s also responsible for popularizing people like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, John of God, and nonsense like The Secret
10. Caesar
I respect tf out of Gaius Julius Caesar but he was a genocidal psychopath. historia civilis
11. Elvis
Elvis Presley. He groomed a then 14 year old and slept with her while he toured.
12. Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
If John Candy puts you in a headlock for over an hour, you’re an asshole.
13. Edward VIII
King Edward the VIII was a nazi sympathizer who possibly colluded with the Germans to retake the throne in the event of an invasion and conquest of Britain.
He wasn’t just a love sick romantic who gave up his kingdom for a woman.
14. Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison, he totally fucked Tesla over.
15. Westinghouse
As far as fucking Tesla over, Westinghouse is probably the bigger culprit.
He persuaded Tesla (admittedly a poor businessman) to rip up the contract he had with Westinghouse granting him royalties for every KWh produced with his generators, based on a probable lie that he was in financial ruin, whereas he was just seeking
It likely would have made him one of the richest men to ever have lived if he hadn’t.
16. Lyndon B. Johnson
He’s definitely the most polarizing in terms of foreign vs domestic policy. On the one hand, the guy who dragged the US into Vietnam, on the other, the best civil rights president ever. I think it’s hard to hate a guy who fought for civil rights like that (and yes, I know he was probably privately racist and said the n-word etc. But what he did was incredibly important).
17. Joel Osteen
A man who is certainly destined for hell.
If you claim to be a Christian leader then make a career out of, well, basically the only documented thing that drove Jesus to violent acts…
Yeah… pretty sure that ain’t gonna go well for you at the pearly gates..
18. Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith… biggest scammer ever
19. Bajpayee
EX PM of India, the fact that no one knows Atal Bihari Bajpayee globally, but he’s also lesser know for inciting a hate mob in North East India that led to a massacre of more than 2000 innocent people. https://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lsdeb/ls11/ses1/0528059603.htm
20. The Wright Bros.
The Wright brothers. The war between them and other aviation pioneers, including Glen Curtiss, created such a blockage in aviation progress, that Roosevelt was forced to call them to the White House as their law suits were a threat to national security.