In your opinion, who is/was the greatest human being of all time?

[Egitor]

I'm going to have to say... nobody.
While there were a lot of greats, in religion, science, technology, politics and many other fields, I don't think one woman or man can be said to be "the greatest". Every single one has flaws and weak areas they're trumped in by others, just as every single one of the people reading this thread

 

[Cody211282]

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That's cool, but you, eh... you may want to check up on him a bit more before saying awesome.

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That guy always shows up in lists of greatest people, however:
[ul]
[li]He decribed Mussolini as a "very great man."[/li]
[li]He advocated the use of chemical weapons to displace "primitive tribes."[/li]
[li]He said of the Japanese, "we will wipe the out, every last one of the, men women and children, there will not be a single one left on the planet."[/li]
[li]He authorised 226 members of the Nazi Security Battallions to fight alongside the British Army against the Greek Resistance which had just liberated Greece from Nazi occupation.[/li]
[li]He allowed Italian fascist war criminal Pietro Badoglio to escape charges.[/li]
[/ul]

I think your missing the point that he saved England's ass, and without him the Americans would have had to start an invasion in Britain, or come up from Italy. It's amazing how fast people forget that.Not to mention he was the only british PM with the balls to stand up to Hitler, I find it funny that an American has to say this.

 

[Bubble]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPosEhkx5vI

How can you argue with that? Norman Borlaug has saved countless lives.

 

[Cody211282]

Jesus. Even if you don't believe in him, there are plenty of facts that prove he existed, and he's had a bigger positive impact on the world than any other man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages

I could go on but I'll stop there.

I didn't know Jesus rode into battle and tourchered people, oh wait he didn't. Honestly that's like saying Mohamed was a bad person because of what his followers are doing now.

 

[Shane the Llama]

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That's cool, but you, eh... you may want to check up on him a bit more before saying awesome.

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That guy always shows up in lists of greatest people, however:
[ul]
[li]He decribed Mussolini as a "very great man."[/li]
[li]He advocated the use of chemical weapons to displace "primitive tribes."[/li]
[li]He said of the Japanese, "we will wipe the out, every last one of the, men women and children, there will not be a single one left on the planet."[/li]
[li]He authorised 226 members of the Nazi Security Battallions to fight alongside the British Army against the Greek Resistance which had just liberated Greece from Nazi occupation.[/li]
[li]He allowed Italian fascist war criminal Pietro Badoglio to escape charges.[/li]
[/ul]

I think your missing the point that he saved England's ass, and without him the Americans would have had to start an invasion in Britain, or come up from Italy. It's amazing how fast people forget that.Not to mention he was the only british PM with the balls to stand up to Hitler, I find it funny that an American has to say this.

It's amazing how fast people forget that not doing a simple google search before posting nonsense in the guise of fact can make them look foolish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Italy

 

[Burningsok]

Ya know who is literally God?

Eric Clapton.

I went to one of his concerts at the beginning of this month, July 3rd. It was amazing

 

[Cody211282]

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That's cool, but you, eh... you may want to check up on him a bit more before saying awesome.

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That guy always shows up in lists of greatest people, however:
[ul]
[li]He decribed Mussolini as a "very great man."[/li]
[li]He advocated the use of chemical weapons to displace "primitive tribes."[/li]
[li]He said of the Japanese, "we will wipe the out, every last one of the, men women and children, there will not be a single one left on the planet."[/li]
[li]He authorised 226 members of the Nazi Security Battallions to fight alongside the British Army against the Greek Resistance which had just liberated Greece from Nazi occupation.[/li]
[li]He allowed Italian fascist war criminal Pietro Badoglio to escape charges.[/li]
[/ul]

I think your missing the point that he saved England's ass, and without him the Americans would have had to start an invasion in Britain, or come up from Italy. It's amazing how fast people forget that.Not to mention he was the only british PM with the balls to stand up to Hitler, I find it funny that an American has to say this.

It's amazing how fast people forget that not doing a simple google search before posting nonsense in the guise of fact can make them look foolish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Italy

yes but that wasn't the primary push, and for a good reason(honestly I find it rather funny that you think I'm a moron). They didn't use Italy as the primary offensive because they have these nice mountains that are fun to ski down but a ***** to fight in, if that had been the main invasion route it probably would have taken another year or so to win.

Honestly do you think everyone is so retarded that they didn't pass 5'th grade history?

 

[Pegghead]

Greatest person who ever lived you ask? The answer, SEXY RUSSEL!

 

[Burningsok]

The first person I thought of was Muhammad Ali. The guy has done some very amazing things after his retirement from boxing.

 

[strongbow1075]

I am going to go with the first person to pick up a rock and use it as a tool/weapon

 

[Trebort]

Great for what reason?

I'd say Adolf Hitler.

Let's face it, his name will be remembered for all time, most people could not name somebody who has invented something really useful to the human race, but there is not a person alive today who does not know Hitler.

 

[.p-0-q.]

BAT-MAN do i need say more?

 

[Shane the Llama]

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That's cool, but you, eh... you may want to check up on him a bit more before saying awesome.

Winston Churchill, that man was awesome.

That guy always shows up in lists of greatest people, however:
[ul]
[li]He decribed Mussolini as a "very great man."[/li]
[li]He advocated the use of chemical weapons to displace "primitive tribes."[/li]
[li]He said of the Japanese, "we will wipe the out, every last one of the, men women and children, there will not be a single one left on the planet."[/li]
[li]He authorised 226 members of the Nazi Security Battallions to fight alongside the British Army against the Greek Resistance which had just liberated Greece from Nazi occupation.[/li]
[li]He allowed Italian fascist war criminal Pietro Badoglio to escape charges.[/li]
[/ul]

I think your missing the point that he saved England's ass, and without him the Americans would have had to start an invasion in Britain, or come up from Italy. It's amazing how fast people forget that.Not to mention he was the only british PM with the balls to stand up to Hitler, I find it funny that an American has to say this.

It's amazing how fast people forget that not doing a simple google search before posting nonsense in the guise of fact can make them look foolish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_invasion_of_Italy

yes but that wasn't the primary push, and for a good reason(honestly I find it rather funny that you think I'm a moron). They didn't use Italy as the primary offensive because they have these nice mountains that are fun to ski down but a ***** to fight in, if that had been the main invasion route it probably would have taken another year or so to win.

Looking back at my post, I see that it was too harsh. I'm sorry, and I really don't think you're a moron. I see what you meant now, I just wanted to make sure that people weren't making things up. I was reading a message board argument on another site and was frustrated by the idiocy of some of those involved. I shouldn't have let that translate into anger at you, so once again I apologize.

However, I must still contend that anyone who advocates the use of lethal force against so-called "primitive tribes" does not deserve the title of Greatest Human Being. If someone like that truly deserved such praise, it would be a sad reflection on humanity. Churchill in particular aggravates me, as he seems to have been an incredibly charismatic hypocrite. I don't contend what he did for the world, but the OP asks who the greatest human being of all time is, and therefore the morality of any nominees must be taken into account alongside their actions and impact. To use a relevant example, Hitler did great things for Germany, but the Holocaust and other such actions he took easily take him out of the running for the title under discussion.

Finally, I find the hypocrisy of Churchill benefitting so much from Hitler's predilection for gassing ethnic/cultural groups (he gained international support, willing recruits for his army, and public support for any and all costs of the war) while simultaneously supporting the gassing of different groups to be disgusting, and the idea that we should turn a blind eye to Churchill's more genocidal tendencies simply because he was a proficient strategist and remarkable orator is equally disgusting.

Edit: Once again, I want to apologize for making an attack on you personally. It was stupid of me.

 

[Doclector]

Nathan Fillion.

Forget Malcolm Reynolds. Forget Buck. And definately forget whoever the hell he played in white noise 2. This guy was Bill Freakin' Pardy.

Cookie for whoever gets the reference.

 

[AMMO Kid]

Without starting any kind of religious discussion, Jesus has influenced the world more than any other man in history.

 

[herpaderphurr]

Whether you are Christian or not, whether you believe in an all-powerful deity or not, the fact is that the human being called Jesus did exist, and has influenced history... a shitload.

Not to try and start a religious debated or anything, but this is what bothers me about that... people say that there was a man named jesus and it has been proven. Ok, so there was a guy that was alive, that doesn't mean anything or everything he did was real/true. That is like saying they found a lost piece of the trojan horse and therefor the whole Iliad was true.

I know. But the people influenced by this man believed that he did those things, and those millions of people in turn influenced the course of history.

 

[zehydra]

Greatest it what sense? Greater is a mathematical term, and I don't think you can sum up a person into one number. Thus, I can't give you an answer.