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Favorite Historical Figure
Topic Started: May 31 2015, 04:58 AM (217 Views)
Neomi
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No Rank Coffee Mode

Clearly I'm not sure. I feel it should be Abraham Lincoln but I don't know. :/
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

Good question! I have to admit, I sometimes give different answers to it depending on how I'm feeling at the time :P .

The thing is, it depends on what I'm looking for. Do I look for a highly talented leader who constructed an empire that spanned an entire continent? Do I look for the person who did the most to help the most people? Do I try to find the most morally good person, even if they were never in a position to directly help many people (e.g. because they were persecuted during their lifetime)? Do I look for someone who had an admirable determination to stand up for their beliefs, even if they are beliefs that I personally do not share? Do I look for someone who was a fascinating and highly complex character, even if aspects of them were misguided or downright unpleasant? These five questions would almost certainly yield five very different answers.

Another part of the problem is that world history is simply so vast that it's impossible to study the whole thing. So, whichever metric I'm using to judge historical figures, I can only use it to judge people from the bits of history with which I'm already familiar.

So, unfortunately, I don't yet have a definitive answer - and I'll probably have to study more history before I do. But, hopefully, I've given people some ideas of where to look :P .
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Jarkko
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Christian. Exterminator of Spammers.

I'm Christian, so naturally my first answer would be Jesus.

My Lord and Saviour (or any Biblically-recorded figures for that matter) aside, though, it's not such a straightforward answer. I do have a huge respect for those who take a stand for the oppressed, the downcast, and the "undesirable" - Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce, etc. - though.

There are few politicians and leaders of the past that I have total respect for, but I'd say Abe Lincoln does fit in to that small number. The only Canadian PM I've held in total respect is Lester B. Pearson. (As such he'd be the only leader of the country of Canada that I'd ever put in a Civilization game. :P )
Edited by Jarkko, May 31 2015, 07:02 PM.
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Mechanized
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Realistically speaking, Hippocrates.

I can't imagine where medicine would be without the man, and it's amazing that those who go into medicine take the Hippocratic oath.
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