The Daily Mail newspaper recently did a survey in which they asked college students from 37 countries around the world to list historical figures in two categories: heroes and villains. Their responses were then ranked on a Top 10 list. So let’s start with the Top 10 Heroes of World History:
1. Albert Einstein
2. Mother Theresa
3. Mahatma Gandhi
4. Martin Luther King, Jr.
5. Isaac Newton
6. Jesus Christ
7. Nelson Mandela
8. Thomas Edison
9. Abraham Lincoln
10. Buddha
And next we have the Top 10 Villains of World History:
1. Adolf Hitler
2. Osama bin Laden
3. Saddam Hussein
4. George W. Bush
5. Joseph Stalin
6. Mao Zedong
7. Vladimir Lenin
8. Genghis Khan
9. Saladin
10. Qin Shi Huang
No surprise to see Hitler, Stalin, and Mao on this list, but did you notice that some of them are ranked below Dubya? I guess that claptrap they spew on Fox News about Bush being such a great man is as ridiculous to the rest of the world as it is to most of us here in the United States.
As for the list of heroes, the only one that surprised me a little bit was Isaac Newton. There’s no doubt that he was a genius and a great man, but should he be that highly ranked? Maybe you have your own Top 10 heroes and villains. I’m sure no two lists will be the same. Matter of fact, it might be fun to share this list with your Facebook friends and see if they agree or disagree.
