• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Think of all the shitty historical figures that are celebrated today because a century later no one remembers what they were actually like

    • yukichigai@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Or people do remember but it’s “not polite” to bring it up. How many schools are named after Colombus? Or Edison?

        • enthusiasticamoeba@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          More like what didn’t he do. He had a long list of underhanded and ruthless activities and stole most of his “inventions”.

          • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Specifically, he’s the reason Hollywood is where it is. After his company invented movie cameras, he attempted to collect royalties on any movie created by an Edison camera, even having people harass and ruin movie sets and studios if they didn’t (as most movies were being produced in and around New York). So a lot of studios said “fuck you, you wanna collect, you’re gonna have to work for it” and moved across the country to California.

        • grue@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Look up “Topsy the elephant” (among other things).

        • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          No where near as much bad stuff as the internet thinks, likewise Tesla didn’t do anywhere near as much good stuff as people say - he’s didn’t even invent AC.

          The elephant thing gets hugely overblown too, it was going to be killed regardless, he just suggested a quicker and less cruel method (they had intended to hang it)

    • roguetrick@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      At least Henry Ford was a successful businessman while he moonlighted as a fascist. I bet SpaceX is his only company that will survive, and he doesn’t run it.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      It’s my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sommbitch or another. Ain’t about you, Jayne. It’s about what they need.

      -Malcon Reynolds

    • Stamets@startrek.websiteOP
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      1 year ago

      That’s very true. However those people weren’t shouting their horrific views to the world through an internationally used service. They also weren’t reported on by worldwide media and memed to high heaven. There’s a pretty solid record at this point of Elon being a cuntwaffle. Hard to forget that.

    • Axolotl@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Doesn’t even have to bei a century. Plenty of people thinking Bill Gates is a cool dude, despite the shady and outright illegal shit Microsoft pulled off to make him rich.

      • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        People who think positively about Gates do so largely because of the genuinely positive charitable work he’s done since leaving Microsoft. I don’t think many people are defending Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices.