Mankind's worst decisions

A Surprise Left
A Surprise Left Posts: 743
edited July 2006 in A Moving Train
I'm currently reading a book by Stephen Weir titled "Mankind's Worst Decisions and the People That Made Them". Its quite interesting how many of the great minds of the sometimes recent past made some terrible errors eg: Winston Churchill and Napoloeon Bonaparte get mentions. It made me think of some of the other great errors that mankind has made. Can anyone think of some terrible ones?

I won't list all 50 but some that got mentions include Churchill's decision to invade Galliopi, Mao's "Great Leap Forward" and it also all the way back to Adam and Eve deciding to take the fruit from the tree, although one may argue they are simply mythical figures (it would depend on your point of view). Decisions that I would have included would be Pol Pot deciding that killing about a third of his population was a good idea and Hitler going into Russia basically cost Germany victory in WW2.
The wind is blowing cold
Have we lost our way tonight?
Have we lost our hope to sorrow?

Feels like were all alone
Running further from what’s right
And there are no more heroes to follow

So what are we becoming?
Where did we go wrong?
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Comments

  • Byrnzie
    Byrnzie Posts: 21,037
    A Surprise Left wrote:
    Hitler going into Russia basically cost Germany victory in WW2.

    True. The fact that 9 out of every 10 German soldiers killed in World war II were killed on the Eastern front speaks volumes. I find it odd that a lot of Americans like to harbour the illusion that they saved Europe in world war II. The Americans lost approximately 500,000 in World War 2, and the majority of these were in the Pacific.
  • A Surprise Left
    A Surprise Left Posts: 743
    Byrnzie wrote:
    True. The fact that 9 out of every 10 German soldiers killed in World war II were killed on the Eastern front speaks volumes. I find it odd that a lot of Americans like to harbour the illusion that they saved Europe in world war II. The Americans lost approximately 500,000 in World War 2, and the majority of these were in the Pacific.

    The Americans did stop the Japanese at the battle of the Coral Sea though........
    The wind is blowing cold
    Have we lost our way tonight?
    Have we lost our hope to sorrow?

    Feels like were all alone
    Running further from what’s right
    And there are no more heroes to follow

    So what are we becoming?
    Where did we go wrong?
  • dunkman
    dunkman Posts: 19,646
    A Surprise Left wrote:
    The Americans did stop the Japanese at the battle of the Coral Sea though........

    he didnt suggest they didnt???

    he said it was incredulous of the americans to think they saved Europe... and that most men were lost in the Pacific.
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    Head of programming for Fox Cancelling Family Guy?

    Killing Jesus didn't really work out too well for the world either, though that could just as easily be said for birthing Jesus...which was...God's decision?

    Pearl Harbor didn't really work out the way the Japanese planned...in the end.

    "Let them eat cake" - wasn't the most tactful of phrases

    Martha Stuart losing hundreds of millions of dollars for an insider trade that saved her 30,000 dollars?

    Investments in movies starring Pauley Shore and/or Carrot Top?

    "The Vietnam War"
  • keeponrockin
    keeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    the "Mission Accomplished" banner.
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  • jimdietrich
    jimdietrich Posts: 42
    Investments in movies starring Pauley Shore and/or Carrot Top?

    I couldn't agree more about Pauley.
    What movies has Carrot top even been in??????????/
    Anger is a gift
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    jimdietrich wrote:
    Investments in movies starring Pauley Shore and/or Carrot Top?

    I couldn't agree more about Pauley.
    What movies has Carrot top even been in??????????/


    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118836/
  • Riot_Rain
    Riot_Rain Posts: 348
    Inventing money :)
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  • he still stands
    he still stands Posts: 2,835
    Rachel Carson. She campaigned and was the person who effectively banned the use of DDT.

    She has killed more people than anyone in the history of mankind.
    Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
  • cornnifer
    cornnifer Posts: 2,130
    EvilToasterElf wrote:

    Killing Jesus didn't really work out too well for the world either, though that could just as easily be said for birthing Jesus...

    "

    Works out pretty well for me, actually.
    "When all your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse... better find yourself a place to level out."
  • thankyougrandma
    thankyougrandma Posts: 1,182
    Building temples to welcome Gods (any) on earth...
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  • Karas
    Karas Posts: 68
    A Surprise Left wrote:
    Decisions that I would have included would be Pol Pot deciding that killing about a third of his population quote]


    The worst part about it was Pol Pot didn't kill any 1/3 of the population, he killed the smartest, 1/3 of the population including all with experience in medicine, teaching, and government (espeically). He was trying to take the country to Zero, and start a new. This obviosly sent Cambodia into a dismal third world. The prison camp and killing fields were a moving place to visit. Imagine the holocaust museum in DC, but you are at the actual prison camp...
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    of connecting dislocations
    and exceeding limitations
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  • Commy
    Commy Posts: 4,984
    Karas wrote:
    A Surprise Left wrote:
    Decisions that I would have included would be Pol Pot deciding that killing about a third of his population quote]


    The worst part about it was Pol Pot didn't kill any 1/3 of the population, he killed the smartest, 1/3 of the population including all with experience in medicine, teaching, and government (espeically). He was trying to take the country to Zero, and start a new. This obviosly sent Cambodia into a dismal third world. The prison camp and killing fields were a moving place to visit. Imagine the holocaust museum in DC, but you are at the actual prison camp...

    That sort of implies that Cambodia was in an advanced state to begin with. The millions of tons of bombs dropped by the US on the country prior to Pol Pot coming to power sure set the country back a few hundred years as it was.
  • JD Sal
    JD Sal Posts: 790
    President Bush's decision to invade Iraq comes to mind.
    "If no one sees you, you're not here at all"
  • soulsinging
    soulsinging Posts: 13,202
    he still stands wrote:
    Rachel Carson. She campaigned and was the person who effectively banned the use of DDT.

    She has killed more people than anyone in the history of mankind.

    how so? i was under the impression DDT was a bad thing. who did she kill?
  • decides2dream
    decides2dream Posts: 14,977
    i'd think the americas first settlers, in time, deciding to try and wipe out the native peoples rather than try to develop a society with them based on some semblance of balance/harmony.
    Stay with me...
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  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    EvilToasterElf wrote:
    Killing Jesus didn't really work out too well for the world either, though that could just as easily be said for birthing Jesus...which was...God's decision?

    no dead jesus - no christianity.



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    this could be the day
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  • Purple Hawk
    Purple Hawk Posts: 1,300
    This is off topic since it's mankind's worst decisions but Roe vs. Wade represents the most twisted logic of an elite and unaccountable few to dictate their beliefs to an entire nation (and I'm not really a pro-life fanatic). Regardless of your beliefs, the reasoning behind this decision was pretty ridiculous.

    Another bad decision by humanity...appeasing Hitler. War the spineless elites in Europe.
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    And I try to make this kind and clear
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  • LikeAnOcean
    LikeAnOcean Posts: 7,718
    Byrnzie wrote:
    True. The fact that 9 out of every 10 German soldiers killed in World war II were killed on the Eastern front speaks volumes. I find it odd that a lot of Americans like to harbour the illusion that they saved Europe in world war II. The Americans lost approximately 500,000 in World War 2, and the majority of these were in the Pacific.
    Yes we suck.. keep pointing it out. :rolleyes:
  • prytocorduroy
    prytocorduroy Posts: 4,355
    JD Sal wrote:
    President Bush's decision to invade Iraq comes to mind.

    Electing Shrub comes to mind........ Mankind's WORST decision of my lifetime.

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