10 Really Horrible Things Done By Great People

The word great is often misused as a blurred adjective. When we think of people as being great, we like to think of them as a glowing example of humanity; someone whom we should all aspire to emulate. Describing people as being great automatically leans us towards respecting them for their accomplishments... without waiting to hear what those accomplishments might be. Great is a dangerous word. For example, take a man who single-handedly brought a nation in chaos to order by stabilizing the economy: he built a strong government and military to protect his nation, and the people flourished under his rule. Doesn't this guy sound great? Of course he does, until it is revealed that he was called Adolf Hitler, among the most evil men in history. The point is that though someone might be great, they aren't necessarily good or even likable. The dictionary's definition of the word great makes no mention of the words like morality in reference to great; people are simply recognized as being great because of what they accomplished. The following ten people were recognized heroes of their times, who all have some dark, shady skeletons smoldering in their closets. It's odd, what history chooses to remember.