micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links |
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Welcome to the musings and notes of a Cadillac, Michigan based writer named Micah Holmquist, who is bothered by his own sarcasm. Please send him email at micahth@chartermi.net. Holmquist's full archives are listed here.
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Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution) Aljazeera.Net English Blogs that for one reason or another Holmquist would like to read on at least something of a regular basis (always in development) Thivai Abhor |
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
"The 20 Worst Figures In American History" Right Wing News proprietor John Hawkins asked a number a lefty and liberal bloggers last week to send in their list of " The 20 Worst Figures In American History" to go along with the results of a similar survey he did of right of center bloggers. Those surveyed could list up to 20 people and did not have the option of ranking them for the purposes of the survey. 36 bloggers, including micah holmquist, responded and the results are in with the number after the name reflecting the vote tally: Honorable Mentions: Boss Tweed (5), Roger Taney (5), James Earl Ray (5), Charles Manson (5), Rush Limbaugh (5), Jerry Falwell (5), Roy Cohn (5), Dick Cheney (5), John C. Calhoun (5)Amongst those surveyed, Scoobie Davis, Lisa English, Jane Finch, Pandagon, Michael J. Totten and Kevin Wagner have published their lists. Here is my own list: George H.W. BushThe majority of those on my list had their impact in the last century, which may reflect my greater interest in that period of history as well as how no individuals can be blamed primarily for genocide against Native Americans and slavery. Many on my list did some very good things and I don't want to make it seem like I discount that as this was the one issue I struggled with while coming up with my list. Ultimately I decided that trying to weigh the bad and the good is an intellectual method that bears little relation to the real world. LBJ's foreign policy was despicable. LBJ did a lot of good in terms of civil rights, even if his motivations were anything but pure. One doesn't discount the other as both are, IMHO, true. A full understanding of LBJ would include both of these facts. With this in mind, I decided to comply my list based on the 20 "Americans" who I believe did the most harm to the world, with special attention given to avoiding listing people for symbolic reasons. Eight of my selections ended up on the larger list, FWIW. |