Terrible people you respect.

[CardinalPiggles]

hitler springs to mind, he came from being a lowly soldier in the german army (also had possibly the most dangerous job imaginable), and took the nazi party into power in a such a short amount of time, drew the country out of a recession and into a full scale war in i think... 7 years.

although he did screw the war up itself, greedy bastard.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I know it's only been mentioned by one person here, but why do people consider Napoleon evil? If the mini-series I watched on him (the one with John Malcovich) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253839/] was at all historically accurate, he seemed to be a very charismatic and powerful leader who was betrayed by people he considered to be allies. His biggest mistake was leading his troops into Russia, but honestly, one mistake (albeit, a big mistake) shouldn't be enough to have him considered an evil man for the rest of time, should it? If anything, I consider him to be the victim.

And either way, if it wasn't obvious enough, I respect Napoleon, though I don't consider him terrible.

Kanye West. He is such a douche, but his music is so so good.

This, as well. The man is a genius. Not only does he have fantastic music (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and 808's & Heartbreak are two of the best albums of all time) but he knows how to get famous. Everyone knows his name and that's exactly what he wants.

"Screams from the haters got a nice ring to it."

He is only famous because of all the people who don't want him to be famous talk about him.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Hitler. If he wasn't a bigot, he would possibly be the greatest leader ever.

That's a common misconception, actually.
Hitler was just little bit below average.

The only reason he took over continental Europe was because everyone had been completely fucked because of WW1.
He "recovered" German economy by manipulating the currency and enacting simple Keynesian reform.
Diplomatically, he was a retarded ape. (Start with, "pitting America and Russia against him" and end with "pitting Russia and America against him.")
Even his "Master Race" theory was wrong.

Yeah, people often talk about traveling back in time and killing Hitler like it would actually do some good, ignoring the historical fact that he was merely a product of his time period and environment. Germany was ripe for a fascist takeover and if someone else had done it, it might have been even more destructive and horrifying. Imagine if Hitler hadn't been stupid enough to invade Russia. He might have won. Any imbecile dictator monster on the verge of losing his country who decides to redirect valuable resources to murder his free slave labor force deserves a cyanide tablet.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

Kanye West. He is such a douche, but his music is so so good.

Yup I was going to say this. Kanye West is pretty much a music genius. And his persona is growing on me even though he is a HUGE douche.

Also, Bono is in the same vein. I am not a U2 fan, but the man has pipes, too bad his humanitarianism is all wrong and too in your face.

 

[Derelict Frog]

Real life - Lucky Luciano, pretty much the real life Don Corleone. Rose up from nothing to become a mafia kingpin.

Fictional - In a similar vein; Tommy Vercetti from GTA: Vice City. A right dick. But you can't help but respect him for what he achieves.

 

[Saviordd1]

Putin, president of russia.

He might be a bit of an idiot and douche but he is one BAMF

 

[BlackStar42]

Otto von Bismarck. The definitive Magnificent Bastard, and he had a damned fine moustache.

 

[LobsterFeng]

I can't believe no one has said this yet. The Joker. He's a psychotic murdering monster. But he's so COOL.

 

[Valknott]

Mine is Stalin, too. Because he had an excellent "fuck you guys, I do what I want" attitude, and pulled it off on an epic scale.

 

[Samuel Adams]

Jack Thompson. Just kidding.

Anyways, probably this:

Every person who has gone down in history for doing something terrible was most likely worthy of respect in some detail of his life or career.

Edit: Post 234 =)

 

[Rayne870]

Right now I have to do a research paper on a person or an event during WWII. So I chose Joseph Stalin,(I always liked Russian culture so I chose something dealing with Russia) now he wasn't exactly a great guy with the killings of his own people and others as well, but damn I respect the guy. Just the stuff he did, I think wow that is respectful-ish.

So who or what is a terrible person you respect. Real life, movies, games, etc. just name it.

Rommel, The Desert Fox. Although from what I learned he didn't approve of the death camps and such, but I think his inaction against it condones it in a way. He was a brilliant tactician though, and an honorable warrior from what I understand.

 

[DazBurger]

Churchill - Warmonger, sexist, drunk... But damn if he diden't know how to boost morale.

Putin - Ex. KGB, threatened to nuked Poland over a gas dispute... But he did manage to rebuild a ruined economy and rile up the depressed masses... If he just knew about humanitarism, he'd be perfect!

Simo Häyhä (The White Death) - Finnish sniper and freedom fighter (Or mass murderer?) during WWII, record holder of most confirmed kills in modern history... Over a period of 100 days with only little daylight, he managed to stack up a massive 705 conformed kills (800+ unconfirmed), only using his bolt action rifle and a submachine gun.


[Edit]

Rommel, The Desert Fox.

Argh! How could I forget about Rommel!?
The Nazi General who ignored orders to execute commandos, Jewish soldiers and civilians in general.

The man was even involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler... But got ratted out and chose to commit suicide in exchange for protection for his family.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Here's an original one, Otto Von Bismark.

Don't know who he is?

Their are only three reasons why you have ever even heard of this guy.

1. You took a more advanced history class aimed at European history.

2. Your German and he was part of your history class.

3. You played a Civilization game.

Bismark was the Chancellor of Prussia under William I, he was a master malipulator, taking his semi-nation of Prussia and unifying into the German empire. He never technically was in control of the nation, but he twirled his King more easily then the hairs of his mustache. He is was the most important German figure between Martin Luther and Hitler, and by far is the most interesting. Of course he also malipulated the populous into thinking he was giving them what they wanted (he gave some socialist programs that only worked for a tiny percent of the population and created a paraliment that had no control of the army or international affairs).

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Mine is Stalin, too. Because he had an excellent "fuck you guys, I do what I want" attitude, and pulled it off on an epic scale.

Though he was the only man in Russia that didn't see that Hitler was going to invade, and led more of his own people to death then any man in history.

Literally he exsecuted his own spies that found documents pertaining to Hitler's invasion, and he denied that Germany was invading for several hours after it happened.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Putin - Ex. KGB, threatened to nuked Poland over a gas dispute... But he did manage to rebuild a ruined economy and rile up the depressed masses... If he just knew about humanitarism, he'd be perfect!

Not to mention he could kill you several times over with a pen, with all the Black belts the guy has.

Simo Häyhä (The White Death) - Finnish sniper and freedom fighter (Or mass murderer?) during WWII, record holder of most confirmed kills in modern history... Over a period of 100 days with only little daylight, he managed to stack up a massive 705 conformed kills (800+ unconfirmed), only using his bolt action rifle and a submachine gun.

I fail to see how fending off an invading army (Russia invaded Finland during the Russo-Finish war of 1939, technically not WW2) and doing a good job of it is a bad thing, espicially considering what the Russian army did when it was allowed to invade Germany and "liberate" Eastern Europe.

 

[Littlee300]

Mao
Stalin
Minh
napoleon
Oh and everyone on badass of the week's page.

Pretty much anyone who managed to get shit done even though they killed a lot of people.

I hate Mao but considering how people in China still believe he is god is the most brow raising achievement ever.

 

[Icaruss]

I had long thought out rant but decided better of it all i can say to those of you who profess admiration for bucthers and tryants. For shame.

 

[Plurralbles]

Here's an original one, Otto Von Bismark.

Don't know who he is?

Their are only three reasons why you have ever even heard of this guy.

1. You took a more advanced history class aimed at European history.

2. Your German and he was part of your history class.

3. You played a Civilization game.

Bismark was the Chancellor of Prussia under William I, he was a master malipulator, taking his semi-nation of Prussia and unifying into the German empire. He never technically was in control of the nation, but he twirled his King more easily then the hairs of his mustache. He is was the most important German figure between Martin Luther and Hitler, and by far is the most interesting. Of course he also malipulated the populous into thinking he was giving them what they wanted (he gave some socialist programs that only worked for a tiny percent of the population and created a paraliment that had no control of the army or international affairs).

International politics wouldn't be duly studying history if they left out Bismark. He was an awesome guy.

 

[DazBurger]

I fail to see how fending off an invading army (Russia invaded Finland during the Russo-Finish war of 1939, technically not WW2) and doing a good job of it is a bad thing, espicially considering what the Russian army did when it was allowed to invade Germany and "liberate" Eastern Europe.

Well... WWII started about 3 months prior to the Winter War, so technically it was during WWII.

I find it pretty terrible to kill over 800 people, soldiers or not.

 

[Da Chi]

Napolean, beautiful work he did. Though under-supplying his armies was his downfall.

Stalin was brilliant at what he did, and what he did was reform an entire nation through FIVE YEAR PLANS!

Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Opinionated, preachy and button pushing. But they mean well, even though they aren't exactly tactful about it.

Pope Benedict (Don't know what number he is but he is the most recent one) I guess your view of "Terrible" depends on your opinion of Christianity but this pope has been trying to change things. Usher in radical changes to his religion. You might think he is terrible cause he is changing your religion in ways you don't like. You might think he is terrible because he isn't changing enough. But he is starting to rethink things, and I respect that.