Who would you bump off?

[MonaVox]

In one of my classes today we discussed this.....we were in small groups with a list of 8 people and could choose to have 3 of them killed.

Gandhi
Albert Einstein
MLK Jr
Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso
William Shakespeare
Plato
Abraham Lincoln

The discussions were REALLY interesting.... it's not as easy as it looks.

So which 3 would YOU get rid of?

 

[Lilly]

fym needs a non-sensical good thinking thread. yay mona!

Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso
William Shakespeare

easily. we will always have sports, picasso didn't do anything others weren't doing in art, and william shakespeare is accused of plagarism.

 

[pax]

I agree with Lilly on Picasso and Ruth (sorry Bambino), but knock off Shakespeare? Western literature as we know it would not exist. Remember it's never been *proven* that Shakespeare was actually a plagiarist--it's mostly rumor.

 

[daisybean]

well Shakespeare sorta plagerized.....

Most of his stories are taken from Greek and Roman Mythology and applied to his current time and environment.

Mona I really don't get what you are asking here.....do you mean get rid of the three that were least influencial in society.... as in if these people did not live would society somehow benefit, or be unaffected?

I'd say Einstein...the father of nuclear warfare.....
The Babe... for the aforementioned reasons
Plato...He was part of a whole group of philosphers during his time, just that his work got the most recognition.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso
Plato

i'd have to go with these three for the reasons mentioned, mainly cuz i don't think any of them were extremely influential.

and esp. plato cuz i freaking HATE PHILOSOPHY!!!!

 

[Lilly]

mmm'i think we need to keep plato, without him, we'd lose the entire school of thought he created. there may have been many philosophers at the time, but most were copying him, and even more he was teaching.

 

[Dreadsox]

Well, since I am a Red Sox fan I am stuck. See the Babe was on the Red Sox in 1918 when they last won the World Series. Then they sold him to the Yankees. Now any child whose parent is raising them correctly here in the Boston area is teaching them about the "Curse of the Bambino".

I am afraid to answer either way. If I bump him off is it before the World Series victory?

If I choose him, will my children be forced to suffer the way I have in my life watching the Sox falter year after year?

Actually this is pretty warped........

Now I am going to go religious on you.

Christ said that a man commits adultry in his heart when he even thinks about it. Does this mean we are committing murder by thinking about it?

I am through with this conversation.

 

[adamswildhoney]

easily. we will always have sports, picasso didn't do anything others weren't doing in art, and william shakespeare is accused of plagarism.

I agree with Lilly!

 

[deep]

Babe Ruth and Picasco are easy to eliminate. (I almost think they were included as ringers)

I want to keep Shakespeare. Sure there are no new stories. But, there is brilliance in his style, no one else comes close to him.

I think this exercise was devised with the third pick being the difficult choice.

My third pick would have to be between MLK jr or Einstein. Someone else would have made Einstein?s scientific break through. MLK was a great orator and speechwriter. There were other leaders in Civil Rights and the movement did not end with his assignation. Similar arguments could be made about Lincoln, I guess.

 

[The Wanderer]

Re:

william shakespeare is accused of plagarism.

Lilly, you are an important member of the al queda network.

There, you've been accused...

 

[Angela Harlem]

Argh the horror of it all!.....

I say we disable lilly's account for saying such blashphemous comments about Picasso!

The ones we can 'do away with' are clearly:
Babe Ruth
William Shakespeare
Plato


And yes I'm joking Lil

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

Gandhi
Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso

 

[Cowgirl]

*mouth open and jaw hitting floor at the mere suggestion of removing shakespeare from our planet*

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

Einstein
babe Ruth
Abraham Linkin'

 

[RavenStar]

technically, you didnt have to kill off any of them. The questions says you COULD CHOOSE three of them to be killed. But it says could. And that usually means that you dont have to.

 

[bono_luvva]

shakespeare - mainly for the fact that thousands of students spend way too much time trying to figure out jokes (that may well have been funny in 1600 but that was ages ago...) just to pass a stupid exam.....it's not as if he was the best writer ever.....come to think of it why is there a bloody shakespeare paper??

 

[coolhandlaura]

Albert Einstein
Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso

 

[U2SavesTheWorld]

Well, who would I have killed? Hmmm, they are all dead anyway but I would have to go with Babe Ruth, Picasso, and Ghandi.

By the way, this question made my head implode.

I think we should have a Head Imploding icon.

This will have to do...

 

[Salome]

Babe Ruth
Pablo Picasso
Abraham Lincoln

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

*mouth open and jaw hitting floor at the mere suggestion of removing shakespeare from our planet*

EXACLTY!!! me reading this thread--->

As for who I'd pick...

1) Babe Ruth
2) Pablo Picasso (man I hate to even write that)
3).....nope can't pick one.

Can I use my last choice to save Shakespeare??

 

[hippy]

Albert Einstein
Babe Ruth
Abraham Lincoln

 

[Danospano]

I agree that the easy answer would be Babe Ruth, Picasso and Shakespeare. These men didn't really change the world in respect to technological or scientific realms, but they certainly brought more pleasure to humanity than say Einstein, Lincoln and Plato.

After reading the Gore Vidal biography on Abraham Lincoln I've infered that he never cared the freeing of slaves. His main objective was to maintain a power union of states. You take this key trait away from his historic reputation and he's no more than another U.S. President who stuck his nose in someone else's business. I'd say, bump him

Shakespeare was just a playwrite. He inspired millions of boring, pretentious, and snobby people to believe that they knew more about art and literature simply because they could recite his sonnets and monologues. It's true that he plagarized (i.e. STOLE) almost all of his plotlines, and characters from earlier works. Some of those works came from his peers. His plays alone may be revered, but he could also get bumped and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Babe Ruth was a fat, selfish, slob. He hit 60 home runs when it was unheard of to hit more than 25 in a single season. That's a novelity in the longterm of humanity. Need I say more? Bump his fat skeleton out of notoreity.

 

[MonaVox]

Yeah our class was pretty harsh on Babe Ruth too

Our group got ride of
Babe Ruth
Einstein
Picasso

mainly bc Babe Ruth did a thing fer American spirit during the great depression.... but there'd still be baseball without him... and when you put him with the other names in the list, he seems so out of place.

This guy in my group was REALLY opposed to nuclear weapons and stuff and so didn't want Einstein to be around to have contributed to that...since they've killed so many people and continue to pose a ginormous threat

We couldn't name one of Picasso's works

 

[zooropamanda]

Danospano your opinion about Shakespeare astounds me. I guess Im a boring pretentious snobby person then?
Not made a difference?
Im shocked at all of this.

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Danospano your opinion about Shakespeare astounds me. I guess Im a boring pretentious snobby person then?

I guess I am too.

Also, he did lift some PLOTLINES from earlier works. But plot really wasn't what made Shakespeare great (and he WAS great, IMO). His genius was language, not plot. I'm sorry you don't like his work, but that doesn't mean anyone who did is snobby and pretentious.

 

[Angela Harlem]

I cant believe you would all kill Picasso! Murderers!

On a side note, those who are not blown away or knocked out with Shakespeare's talent are not automatically dumb or uneducated. There seems to be this notion, and by no means in this thread, that to appreciate him or understand him enough requires this certain intellect. That may be true but 'not getting it' or just plain not liking it does not denote the contrary.

 

[bono_luvva]

the thing is...i hate english sooo much.....i can 'do' maths and science but.....i just don't understand whats so fascinating about reading a book that is so hard to undersytand that half the thickness of the book is just vocabulary and explaining jokes.....y'know the ones that aren't funny at all, being centuries old and all...i mean i enjoy reading...but generally i read books for fun and shakespeare is not my idea of fun

 

[hiphop]

Christ said that a man commits adultry in his heart when he even thinks about it. Does this mean we are committing murder by thinking about it?

I am through with this conversation.

I never stop to wonder about teachers

 

[deep]

This exercise is provocative. It makes one think what is important to them, society and humanity at large.



Babe Ruth is on almost everybody?s list. He is my easiest pick. Jackie Robinson is more important to baseball and sports in general than the Babe. Sure, someone else would have broken the color barrier. But, his poise and class were unique.

I love Picaso and his contributions to the twentieth century art movement. Art would have evolved, perhaps differently. I do not lightly dismiss him.

Shakespeare contributions are unmatched to literature and play writing. Moliere is great, Joe Orton?s short career is amazing. Oscar Wilde turned a clever phase. But, Shakespeare is unequaled. And I advocate for his survival.



The third pick is the hardest. I believe Einstein?s break through would have been discovered by someone else.

I believe Ghandi?s passive resistance methods were trail blazing for leaders that followed. MLK jr for example. I admire him greatly, but believe someone else would have came to the forefront. It is hard to imagine ?Pride? without MLK and his demise. I love that song.

Lastly, I do not believe this thread is in poor taste. We are not committing murder in our hearts. I take this thread to mean: What if this person had never been born.

If one is worried about sins of the heart. They should not look at TV or magazines or anywhere you might see advertising. That could lead you to ?covet? things. Remember: ?Thou shall not covet....?

 

[hiphop]

Lastly, I do not believe this thread is in poor taste. We are not committing murder in our hearts. I take this thread to mean: What if this person had never been born.

No, I also don?t believe this thread is tasteless. I just wonder that some teachers seem to have stupid education methods. I wonder that the kids don?t come up and say "What kind of crap exercise is this?"

It would be different if you ask: what qualities of the persons mentioned above do you think are the most important qualities in our world/ society. Then you can not only discuss about if Einstein or Shakespeare is "bumped off", but what contributions Einstein made to this world except of nuclear power. You could speak about Research and Development, and how and why so many physicians work with or are part of the arms industry. What do you think Afghan pupils would think is important for our society, etc. etc. (oh, but then you maybe have to have fear as a teacher that you lose your job because parents think you are a bad influence...?...)

The bump off story seems to make it a thingie to play around with. You could also interprete it like "I got above mentioned people on my black list - who dies first?" so I figure its kinda packed the wrong way - - - imho. Plus I don?t think that this teacher is really stupid, or a bad person, its just a general carelessness that slips in.

(I see this in our news programmes too. Really, in the eighties news were more laid back - not the content, the form. Now you get the feeling of a fanfare, or a hymn, when they play the intros. Every formal aspect gets a little more aggressive, you know, just a little bit.... harder).