Case in Point Henry Ford
2006-11-13 14:36:57 · 17 answers · asked by martin 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
We all live in our society... most "great men" held the prejudices of their time.
Martin Luther was a terrible anti-semite.
So was Richard Wagner, and Richard Strauss.
Certainly the great minds of the Enlightenment weren't thinking about women when they said "all Men are created equal." Thomas Jefferson held slaves and had sex with them.
That makes these people human. BUt their accomplishments are still very important to religion, culture, political thought.
Nobody's perfect (well, some people say one man was perfect, but he's a man-god.). As long as we don't engage in "hero worship," thinking our founding fathers, or musicians, or philosophers, or movie stars, are perfect, holding some beliefs of the time does not destroy the person's other accomplishments.
2006-11-13 14:43:51 · answer #1 · answered by Perdendosi 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Most great men were bigots. Henry Ford was anti-semite, probably because of his close friendships.
I think you don't throw out the baby with the bath-water.
You call it what it is, but he still was a good man for his accomplishments. If he had funded nazism, that would be different, at least for me.
2006-11-13 22:41:08 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe so. I wouldn't stomp on George Washington or Thomas Jefferson's legacy because they owned slaves (though they freed the slaves after their deaths). FDR imprisoned hundreds of thousands of American citizens because they were Japanese. But FDR is still considered pretty unanimously by history to be one of the greatest Presidents we've had. These things have to be put into historical context. Every "great man" has negatives just as our history is filled with eras we would look back upon as being unfair. We'll never become the idealized city on the hill that Ronald Reagan spoke of but we will continue to strive for it just as he wished.
2006-11-13 22:42:15 · answer #3 · answered by jbortfeld 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If our founding fathers were alive today, there is no way any of them would have gotten anywhere. Lincoln was an attorney who never won a case! Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Ben Franklin was a womanizer. Ethan Allen belonged to a group who pulled British sympathizers out of their homes, covered them in HOT TAR and put feathers on them--torturous! So, my answer is that, yes, you can both accomplish great things and have abhorrent beliefs.
2006-11-13 22:43:50 · answer #4 · answered by melouofs 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think many great men have been bigots, I think we are all have a little bit of predujuice in us in one way or another, some people are racist, some don't like gays, some don't like fat people. Bigots, are just people that are proud of who they are, for the most part, or at least educated bigots are and they have no problem admitting it openly.
2006-11-13 23:24:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Greatness has too many meanings to define in this way. Henry ford was a great business man. Mother Theresa was a great humanitarian, etc.... one thing to remember, we ALL have faults.
2006-11-13 22:44:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He was a great business man who happened to be a bigot and you can not destriy history if you like honesty
2006-11-13 22:45:46 · answer #7 · answered by devora k 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bigot label, like any label, changes in criteria over time. Many of our founding fathers were slave owners. Were they bigots? Can you imagine that going on today? Of course not.
2006-11-13 22:44:38 · answer #8 · answered by Action 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What about Henry Ford...?
2006-11-13 22:39:08 · answer #9 · answered by My Evil Twin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have to be careful about labels. He may have done some good things, but it doesn't mean he was great. Ask the people he helped then ask the ones he didn't. great is often in the eye of the beholder.
2006-11-13 22:39:49 · answer #10 · answered by doktordbel 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋