I'm getting really sick of the "famous people who were actually jerks," "most overrated person in history," "who do we celebrate who was actually a terrible person," etc questions because Reddit always circle jerks the same half dozen answers. Steve Jobs was an asshole to work with. John Lennon had some violent tendencies in his youth. Mother Teresa said some questionable things about the poor. Edison fucked up Tesla's shit. MLK plagiarized part of his dissertation. Gandhi slept with his 13 year old niece to test his willpower.

I hate to be the one who has to break it to you Reddit but nobody is a saint, including actual saints, and there is nobody, no matter how good, who didn't also do some horrible shit in their time. And even that is setting aside the fact that most of these complaints are bullshit anyway. Yeah Steve Jobs was a real demanding asshole but his draconian nature was one of the principal driving forces behind Apple's success (which is why a lot of CEOs run their companies that way). John Lennon grew up in a poor, working class neighborhood where domestic violence was a norm but he overcame that (a fact Reddit likes to ignore). Mother Teresa said a couple of questionable things about the poor but she still did more than any of you to help them. Edison was an unbelievable asshole and he was wrong about DC current but there are still a number of inventions he is legitimately responsible for (no he did not steal all of them). Yes MLK plagiarized but still somehow managed to get the whole Civil Rights thing going anyway. And you know something, Gandhi passed the test, he successfully refrained from fucking his niece so really we should be congratulating him. Gandhi slept with his niece and didn't fuck her: another gold star for him.

Columbus really is an overrated asshole though.