← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · kminta
Thread ID: 18605 | Posts: 17 | Started: 2005-06-09
2005-06-09 21:42 | User Profile
[I]With 50 years of brainwashing, what do you expect? Personally I think the line-up listed below is for Leftist losers.[/I]
[B][URL=http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0%2C12271%2C1500895%2C00.html#article_continue]It's Ali v Oprah in search for greatest American[/URL][/B]
[B]Jamie Wilson in Washington[/B] [B]Tuesday June 7, 2005[/B] [B][URL=http://www.guardian.co.uk/]The Guardian [/URL][/B]
In the running for the prize are eight US presidents, two legendary civil rights activists, several of the most famous innovators in history and, er, a talkshow host.
After Britain opted for Winston Churchill and the French plumped for Charles de Gaulle, the US has been asked to choose the greatest American ever.
The list, whittled down from 100 to 25 on Sunday night, includes the obvious suspects, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King and John Kennedy. But it also contains some names that - at least among a British audience - are likely to raise a few eyebrows, including Oprah Winfrey, the doyenne of daytime television, and Billy Graham, the evangelist.
Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, two of America's most successful and iconic cultural exports, are also in the running.
President George Bush and Bill Clinton make the shortlist, along with the astronaut Neil Armstrong, the Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates, and the inventors of the aeroplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Elvis Presley and Bob Hope are in the top 25, as is Muhammad Ali.
A spokeswoman for the Discovery Channel, which is broadcasting the four-part series, refused to reveal who was leading the field. "The conversation is just beginning," she told the Guardian yesterday. But the smart money is on Lincoln, the first Republican president, who abolished slavery and guided the country through the civil war, or King, the assassinated civil rights leader who sparked the country's conscience over race relations.
Those who appeared in the top 100 list but fell by the wayside at the first hurdle included Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, the pop star Madonna and the embattled Michael Jackson.
The wives of both George Bushes, Laura and Barbara, joined their spouses on the full rundown, which was voted for by more than half a million people, and was evidence, some cultural commentators said, of the continued dumbing down of America.
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born movie star and now governor of California, got a mention, along with Richard Nixon, the disgraced former president, and Martha Stewart, newly released from prison after being convicted of obstruction of justice.
In a change from the European format, under which a celebrity or academic championed a chosen contender, the US version uses a panel of celebrities to discuss the nominees' assets. The public will whittle the remaining contenders down to five, before the live grand finale is broadcast at the end of the month.
The contenders
Muhammad Ali Neil Armstrong Lance Armstrong George W Bush Bill Clinton Walt Disney Thomas Edison Albert Einstein Henry Ford Benjamin Franklin Bill Gates Billy Graham Bob Hope Thomas Jefferson John F Kennedy Martin Luther King Abraham Lincoln Rosa Parks Elvis Presley Ronald Reagan Eleanor Roosevelt Franklin D Roosevelt George Washington Oprah Winfrey Orville and Wilbur Wright
2005-06-10 05:38 | User Profile
Muhammad Ali- moronic jock Neil Armstrong- The monkeys we sent into space had better personalities Lance Armstrong-moronic jock George W Bush- Dummy puppet of bankers Bill Clinton- Dummy puppet of bankers Walt Disney- cartoonist? Are you serious? Thomas Edison-OK talented Albert Einstein- stole theories off an Italian Henry Ford- OK was pretty good to workers, hated "you know who" Benjamin Franklin- some talent Bill Gates-copier of Apple Billy Graham- wrecked real Christianity in the US Bob Hope-Only funny for 1st half of career Thomas Jefferson- Too Jacobin John F Kennedy-creation of PR campaign Martin Luther King-creation of media, preacher could not keep it in pants. Abraham Lincoln- Bad dictator Rosa Parks- Should have been run over by bus Elvis Presley- fair voice, overrated Ronald Reagan- nice man, clueless president Eleanor Roosevelt- The devil's spawn lezzie bitch and UGLY! Franklin D Roosevelt- Saved capitalism----too bad! George Washington- Freemason, to hell with him and his apron! Oprah Winfrey- Phony self-absorbed jig Orville and Wilbur Wright- some talent
2005-06-10 06:14 | User Profile
The presence of so many pop kultur entertainers and athletes--and the absence of serious artists and military heroes--underscores America as an adolescent nation on the verge of senility.
I'd like to have seen R.E. Lee and Mark Twain among the choices. Edison and Jefferson would be my top two picks from this list...
2005-06-10 11:01 | User Profile
It's interesting that Henry Ford made the list, even though he's known to have been an anti-Semite.
If I had to choose from that list, it would be probably be Jefferson. Franklin and Edison would at least get honorable mentions. Most of the rest of the people on that list clearly don't deserve to be there.
2005-06-10 11:33 | User Profile
I watched that. Of all the "greats" in the top 25, all received gushing praise - save 2: "rabid anti-semite" Henry Ford & "slave-owning hypocrite" Jefferson. It was made crystal clear that those gents were Not To Be Voted For.
So I voted for jew-hatin' Hank, just to piss off the Lipshizim. Here's the toll-free number to vote for him:
1-866-669-3109
You can vote via this method 3 times, so don't miss the opportunity to set yarmulkes ablaze with rage.
2005-06-10 12:07 | User Profile
Henry Ford deserves it - due to his nature, he was a respectable man who disliked the real enemies - the Jews. Anyone who dislikes Jews has a good head on him/her.
2005-06-10 13:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Angler]... Edison would at least get honorable mentions. [/QUOTE]
He only invented the light bulb, but then there are Oprey and Mohammed Ali to consider... :blink:
2005-06-10 16:32 | User Profile
[QUOTE=CornCod]Muhammad Ali- moronic jock [/QUOTE]
You went easy on most of these people. Ali was also a racist misogynist who took up psuedo-Islam. But, your point is made. My neighbor is a greater American than most of these people.
2005-06-10 16:51 | User Profile
All politics aside, it's really pathetic how the most highly prized members of society are pop singers, Hollywood actors, and professional athletes. If Thomas Edison and Henry Ford have to fight for recognition alongside Oprah Winfrey and Mohammed Ali, that tells us everything we need to know about what people value today. It's as though mass entertainment has become the be all and end all of people's lives.
[quote=Howard Campbell Jr.]The presence of so many pop kultur entertainers and athletes--and the absence of serious artists and military heroes--underscores America as an adolescent nation on the verge of senility.
It's not so much that we've gone from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between as having gone from collective adolescence to collective senility without adulthood in the middle. Come to think of it, doesn't that describe most people's lives? They try to remain teenagers well into late middle age (faciliated by trashy entertainment, plastic surgery, hormone injections, hair loss treatment, etc), and then they're ready for retirement, the nursing home, or death without ever having experienced adulthood. No wonder Hollywood starlets, professional athletes, and pop singers rate so highly on the list.
2005-06-11 01:21 | User Profile
Far be it from me to quote someone like [B]Adolf Hitler[/B]. But upon looking at this "greatest" Americans list for the second and third time, I think I'll make an exception here.
[QUOTE]When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side.' I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us alreadyââ¬Â¦What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.'[/QUOTE]
2005-06-11 15:32 | User Profile
[QUOTE=kminta]Far be it from me to quote someone like Adolf Hitler. But upon looking at this "greatest" Americans list for the second and third time, I think I'll make an exception here.[/QUOTE] I'd go with Franklin. That guy was multi talented, smart, funny, and a forward thinker. Eddison as a runner up.
The pop culture jerks don't belong, of course.
Ali was a hate monger and a malcontent in his heyday. When I was a kid, sure, he sure could box, but I remember he took that Black Power line over the edge with his Black Muslim rhetoric. He's getting a lot of pity for his "been hit in the head too many times" Parkinson's. How soon people forget, or choose to forget.
How Lewis and Clark, or Winfield Scott (can you say Treaty of Guadalupe 1848 thanks to his success in Mexico?) who did more to build America were left off the list shows how shallow the thinking is that derived it.
2005-06-12 17:21 | User Profile
The list of American contenders here is quite a silly combination of "apples and oranges" from which to choose, without anything in common but relative popularity for different reasons among different "fan bases."
Let's face it, America today is now almost completely devoid of famous living heroes by the standard definition of the word "Hero, i.e.; 1. In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods. 2. A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life."
Instead, the list includes mostly "celebrities and icons" who were/are famous for financially motivated accomplishments without risk to their lives and limbs (except in the area of high-paying contact sports).
Missing from this prestigious list are the "ordinary" men and women who'd risked or lost their lives in the process of such true heroics as carrying, pulling or pushing the children of unknown strangers out of harm's way in vehicular traffic and building-fire situations, or such as throwing their bodies across hand-grenades in crowded bunkers.
Also missing are Audie Murphy and the other Medal of Honor winners.
Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy would not have made the list except that they were assassinated (the same of Martin Luther King), and George Washington except that he was the very first of U.S. Presidents. The inclusions of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are insults to the principles upon which America had achieved its once-deserved and hard-earned reputation for moral leadership in the world.
Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey would not have made the list except that they'd become obscenely rich and thereby "powerful." On this same basis, Steven Spielberg should have been included.
I could go on, but the point I'm making is that none on the list could truly be considered as "heroic" or "great," but only "rich," and/or "famous," and/or "powerful" in the tapestry of oft-revised Human history.
2005-06-12 19:24 | User Profile
George Washington's remarkable career is far more important than merely "being the first" president.
His ability to keep an army in the field while dealing with high troop turnover and the treachery of peers in the Continental Congress lobbying to have him replaced, stabs in the back, and his fortitude in the face of adversity were heroic. Leadership is bloody hard, and Washington, for all that he was plain spoken and not as eloquent as many of his associates, could lead. Was he a flawed man? Sure. Was he a leader of epic proportion? Within the context of the 13 colonies fighting the British, yes.
2005-06-12 19:28 | User Profile
[color=black][font=Verdana]I think the most obnoxious on the list is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Even George W. Bush admitted that he was a war criminal. He brought <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />
2005-06-12 21:49 | User Profile
All pop personalities and most sport figures should be scratched off any list of great Americans. Actually very few are deserving of the accolade "great". George Washington and Benjamin Franklin should be on the top of anyone's list. Robert Goddard and Jonas Salk, should surely be included in the Sciences.(Einstein should be excluded as he was a European, and did most of his productive work before coming to this country.) Mark Twain, H.L. Mencken, and Herman Melville should be noted as great men of letters. Robert E. Lee should head up the short military representation, along with George Patton. A sports should have Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe included.
2005-06-12 22:36 | User Profile
These are the only ones on the list that might have some claim as contenders:
[QUOTE]Thomas Edison Henry Ford Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson George Washington Orville and Wilbur Wright [/QUOTE]
The rest have no claim.
2005-06-13 10:06 | User Profile
They really buried the shank in Jefferson's back last night. That loathesome, effeminate pussy Bowlcut Burns: "Washington and others freed their slaves - but Jefferson just ordered another bottle of French wine" it said with that renowned manly voice. I can easily picture the bastard in a sequined evening gown breathing "Happy birthday, Mr. President" to his ultimate hero, Dishonest Abe - who of course he said was the greatest Amurricun by far.
They also had a Professional Nigga perfessuh on there who had the audacity to state that "Mah-in Loofah Kang was greater than Washington, Jefferson & Lincoln all put together because he wasn't a public official, just an ordinary man who gave his life to change the nation." No mention of plagarism, beaten whores or the Highlander Folk Shul for Nigger Agitators, natch. They also had the obligatory smirking coon commenting on Elvis: "Everything about Presley - his moves, his music, his clothes - came from BLACKS!" Nevermind that rockabilly was a combination of R & B AND White country - or that it was White Scotsmen who were the true orginators of "black" music.
The whole shebang is merely an exercise in Manufactured Consent by the kikes & their yipping goy lapdogs. By using "subtle" hints like jewed commentary & raised eyebrows, the ignernt assholes who think Madonna & Oprah are "great" are all but guaranteed to deliver the desired result. Just like the Big November Sham they stage every 4 years. :caiphas: :dung: