I’ve honestly lost count of how many people this applies to.

    by InsertANameHeree

    33 Comments

    1. Me: Wow, Chaucer was such a fun character in that Knight movie. I wanna go read Canterbury Tales, see if any of those threats he made are paid off in literature!

      Me when I get to that one tale: ……………………………………. oh.

    2. How come Jewish people were hated and blamed for problems everywhere they went? Like it wasn’t just a couple of countries, it was all of them.

    3. posidon99999 on

      Redditor vs nuance. It’s possible to admire an individual while also acknowledging their shortcomings and issues

    4. WanderingKing on

      Historical context is important for understanding that certain views were held by certain people in certain times

      Historical context is NOT important when acknowledging their views were fucked up as hell

    5. WitnessTurbulent8305 on

      My favorite examples

      Common Teddy roosevelt W

      Unexpected Oliver Cromwell W

      Emperor tyberius and caligula???

    6. Historical figures: ‘I have pioneered the arts, sciences, and the very concept of democracy.’ Also them: ‘But first, let’s talk about why I’m irrationally mad at a specific bakery.’

    7. JustTheOneGoose22 on

      I’m not defending bigotry or racism but you can’t hold historical figures, especially those in the distant past, to your own modern values and standards. We don’t do it in reverse.

    8. Tolkien wins here – Dwarves based on medieval interpretations of Jews yet are incredibly noble, warrior people who are trusted implicitly by Men and have Nordic names because Tolkien was comparing them to Nordic heroes.

      And then his letter to the Nazis about whether he was Aryan or Jewish is brilliant – ” I regret to inform you that I am not one of those immensely talented people (Jewish)”

    9. therealpaterpatriae on

      Hence why we try to use historical relativism. Even the few historical figures who didn’t try to kill Jews often had very regressive views or actions relative to today. Hell, a lot of people like to say the Caliphs were really kind to the Jews, but that depends on the individual caliph and even then they were still forced to pay a specific tax and often were forced to live in certain sectors of the city.

    10. Or for people about a century ago, their views on Eugenics and quote unquote undesirables. And probably yours too yea.

    11. HumaDracobane on

      Opinions about other religions, sexual liberty, female rights, etc.

      Surprise, surprise! The globalism we have today and the idea of “accept everyone, since it is their life and we had nothing to do with that. Live and let others live.” was not a thing in the past.

    12. darthmaliketh on

      Kant with his views on race, though thankfully he did recant them later. Also Grant, but he retracted them too.

    13. Everyone goes on about how dumb it is to be a single-issue supporter of something, but what about single issue haters?

      I think that a little bit of racism (for someone in the far past) can be ignored if the rest of their work is really good.

      Like Edgar Rice Boroughs. Immensely racist man. Tarzan’s entire core plot is Immensely racist. But the books are really fucking good and modern scifi and adventure wouldn’t be what it is without him.

    14. The_Mad_Medico on

      I get this, Im a massive fan of the accomplishments of Ayatollah Khomeni, Saddam Hussein and Momar Gaddafi, but their opinions on Jews are disquieting.

    15. Smash cut to Nestor Makhno shooting someone in the face because they held up “Death to Jews. Love Nestor Makhno” sign.

    16. Gigantopithecus1453 on

      Honestly, if I really like a historical figure, I’ll allow them having some opinions of the time which I disagree with. Dostoevsky was fiercely antisemitic and hated poles and catholics, but considering he was a Russian in the 1800s I don’t hold it against him much

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