We hear a lot about the UNDERRATED people in history, but today we’re gonna take a different approach.
We’re gonna hear about the historical figures that people think really weren’t all that great.
Who do you think is the most overrated person in history?
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.
1. Edison.
“Thomas Alva Edison.
An absolute d**k that is remembered for things he never did.”
2. Good old Ronnie.
“Ronald Reagan.
He gets a lot praise from certain folks, but he and his administration started many of the problems that are plaguing the U.S. now.”
3. Throw out the theories.
“Freud.
So many of his theories have been thrown out by now but still he dominates so many classes and textbooks.”
4. Arrrrrrrrr!
“Black Beard.
He was just some pirate in the Caribbean that was known on the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina. No remarkable fighting skills, he wasn’t anywhere near the wealthiest pirate, and no, he didn’t go into battle with a smoking/flaming beard.
And his d**th was even more unremarkable, he was lured into a trap illegally and secretly by a North Carolina lieutenant. It wasn’t even a fierce battle.
Pirates are untrained criminals, the navy were trained soldiers so they took no time in cutting his head off and tying it on a pole facing the Chesapeake Bay.”
5. French hero.
“Charles de Gaulle.
MF was an officer of the army that lost half of France in 2 weeks to the Germans in WW2. Flees like a cockroach to the UK where somehow embodies the spirit of the resistance, somehow receives the tile of General, even though his tasks were not dangerous nor fundamental.
When the allies take over France, he is not in any of the strategic discussions among generals of different armies, nonetheless he walks into Paris as their great liberator. Couple of years later gets elected president (because somehow he has managed to keep his popularity??).
While president, North African colonies declare war (and independence) from France. Many people d**, and the french economy and territories takes a huge blow. Also he managed to dismantle the oldest European university of the world (Université de Paris)…”
6. Wow.
“Ayn Rand.
Elitist prick, complete nut bag, husband a**ser, most likely committed infidelity. Moreover, her ideas are terrible. So dumb. She clearly thinks poor=dumb and useless, when she doesn’t realize how privileged education is what makes someone “productive” in the way that she imagined.
She even says it in Atlas Shrugged, John Gault and Francisco wouldn’t have become who they were if they hadn’t had that one philosophy teacher who became a short order cook because the world is so mediocre and undeserving of his genius.
And the saddest part is so many people after reading atlas shrugged are like “yeah, selfishness is the best, anyone who is poor is weak and stupid. My life is good and it’s impossible to have a good life unless you won it for yourself so I must be the best person ever and all you plebs can eat my s**t.”
Randian economics is a conflict in terms.”
7. Scammer.
“Jordan Belfort.
People praise him as this great money man and stock trader. Legit just made all his money scamming people.
People still follow him on social media and look up to this loser.”
8. “A cocky moron.”
“Robert E. Lee.
And I’m not even talking about the fact that his cause’s success meant the deliberate continuation of slavery.
I mean as a commander he was an over-aggressive, cocky moron who did more damage to his own cause then any general he faced before Grant.
Read Longstreet’s critique of him after the war, especially at Chancellorville and Gettysburg. There’s a reason he only won a single battle (Cold Harbor, which proved strategically indecisive) after Jackson d**d.”
9. Into the Wild.
“Chris McCandless was a f**king moron who does not deserve to be romanticized.
Against all advice, he strolled out into the Alaskan wilderness with no idea what he was doing, with no map, underprepared, undersupplied and with no research into seasonal dangers, smashed up some cabins.
He shot a moose despite not being able to preserve or store the meat, thought he could teach himself to identify edible wild mushrooms, didn’t look beyond the river crossing he initially used where he would have found a hand-operated cable car half a mile away and d**d – probably from eating strange seeds – in an abandoned bus on a known hunting trail.”
10. JFK.
“John F. Kennedy.
Pill-popping, booty-slaying, trust-fund, back alley politician who conveniently only took an interest in civil rights in preparation for re-election.
He was handsome, charming, and his tragic d**th made him seem much better than he actually was.”
11. A real bullsh**ter.
“Mark Antony.
Dude literally had 7 charisma, 10 luck, and 1 intelligence.
He pretty much bullsh**ted his way into somehow being one of the most important figures in Roman History despite consistently being incompetent.”
12. Poor Sid…
“Sid Vicious.
Truly the Kardashian of punk.
No talent, just an attractive image to represent the culture.”
13. Amateur hour.
“Jack the Ripper.
He only has 5 confirmed k**ls.
Amateur Hour.”
14. A hot take.
“Archduke Ferdinand is best remembered for his a**assination, which “caused” WWI.
The reality of the situation is that WWI would have happened whether he was involved or not.
Austria was just looking for an excuse to attack Serbia.”
15. A minor cog.
“Guy Fawkes didn’t orchestrate everything. He was just a minor cog in a conspiracy that he didn’t even know that much about.
He was tasked with a simple objective that he failed. Then, he snitched on every co-conspirator he knew about.
He had one job, and he managed to mess up three.”
16. Just a boy.
“King Tut. He didn’t really do much, he was just a boy who unfortunately d**d young. We just happened to find his tomb and that made him famous.
The tomb itself, while amazing and much to learn from, is a result of his culture and the line he happened to be born into, not really anything HE chose to do.”
17. Overrated!
“Nostradamus apparently predicted the future, but he “recorded” his findings in poems that could be interpreted to match any event.”
18. The King.
“King Arthur.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”
19. Too much credit.
“Paul Revere.
He was much less important in the Revolutionary war than most people think, there are more obscure patriots form his time that did more for America then him, over all one of those people who isn’t bad but gets way to much credit.”
20. The hype.
“For what it’s worth I think Christopher Columbus gets my vote for overrated…
Kids think he’s some explorer genius who was the only one that thought the world was round…. When in actuality it was widely accepted the Earth was round and he used the wrong estimate and should have d**d before reaching the Indies.
But he lucked out there was a continent (which he wasn’t aware of) right where he’d normally have begun running out of supplies and starved.
Fortunately in the last couples decades his hype has been d**ng down.”
21. Body count.
“Ed Gein!
Known as the “most notorious” serial k**ler when he only k**led two people!
He was just a gross grave robber, really.”
22. Gimme a break.
“That bloke who “invented” the wheel.
I mean, there are lots of round things around, dude just took a stone and made it rounder and suddenly everyone was like “oooo look how intelligent he is” forever.”
23. Mr. Lennon.
“John Lennon.
He poke about peace and love then went home and beat his wife.
Sure he made some catchy tunes but he was just an a**hole.”
24. Gandhi.
“Gandhi.
He didn’t really win India freedom – WW 2 did.
His support of the Khilafat movement gave a big boost to Muslim separatism in India
His agreement to partition resulted in 1 million d**ths
His idea of “self sufficient villages” resulted in India continuing to remain poor and backward and failing to industrialise.
His promotion of Nehru over far more competent leaders in the Congress.”
25. Charlie.
“Charles Manson.
First of all, he wasn’t some criminal serial k**ler mastermind. He was a slighted drug addicted hippie with a God complex. He may have had followers and instructed them to k**l, but it wasn’t part of some grand design.
To the uninitiated, Manson didn’t actually k**l anyone himself. Since I learned that, it kind of shatters the “serial k**ler boogyman” image he has. Tex Watson was his lieutenant who was in-person in charge of the Tate and LaBianca m**ders.
The Manson family didn’t have the highest k**ls of any serial k**ler, nor were they as v**lent as other m**derers like Dahmer, Norris and Bittaker, or Albert Fish. While the Mansons did get notoriety from k**ling actress Sharon Tate, she wasn’t even the real target.
Charlie had been to 10050 Cielo Drive before to pitch a record deal that failed. Since then, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate had bought the house. So it was effectively random. The others k**led by the Mansons, the LaBiancas, were middle age supermarket owners. Not exactly the kind of people in prime fighting shape.
And yet Manson gets all the credit.”
Now we want to hear from you.
Tell us who you think is the most overrated person in history.
Do it in the comments, please!
