NationStates Jolt Archive

We all have role-models, people (both past and present) who we respect and who we wish to emulate. Some people take this to an extreme (These people we will call 'stalkers') but others take a healthier stance and often go no further than advocating what their role-models advocated. Some people don't even go that far, there are times when you simply admire somebody without having any desire or making any effort to emulate them. This is normal, and there are quite a few people who I hold in high esteem that I don't really hold on a pedestal as a role-model. But other times there are people who seem so close to that point, but then they say or do something that makes you go "Wow.....and I actually like this guy?"

Earlier today I was browsing through Wikipedia, looking at the article for the Battle of the Crater to be specific, and I clicked on the link to go to General Ulysses S. Grants Wiki page. A nice page, not much that I didn't already know (excepting his involvement in the Battle of the Crater), but at the bottom there was a link to to Grants Wikiquote page. For those who don't know, Wikiquote is a Wiki page that has nothing but quotes attributed to various personages, films, books, etc. Well, I'm reading Grants quotes, and suddenly I practically fall out of my chair.

Now, most of Grants quotations were nice little tidbits. Stuff about the Civil War("Let us have peace."), about life in general ("Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor."), about law("The will of the people is the best law."), about religion("Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate."), and some were just plain funny ("I know only two tunes: one of them is 'Yankee Doodle', and the other one isn't."). But then I got to this one quote that was like a kick in the teeth.

"I have long since believed that in spite of all the vigilance that can be infused into post commanders, the special regulations of the Treasury Department have been violated, and that mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders. So well satisfied have I been of this that I instructed the commanding officers at Columbus to refuse all permits to Jews to come South, and I have frequently had them expelled from the department, but they come in with their carpet-sacks in spite of all that can be done to prevent it. The Jews seem to be a privileged class that can travel anywhere. They will land at any woodyard on the river and make their way through the country. If not permitted to buy cotton themselves, they will act as agents for someone else, who will be at military post with a Treasury permit to receive cotton and pay for it in Treasury notes which the Jew will buy up at an agreed rate, paying gold."

I mean this is a list of expressions advocating peace (Or war only when peace is threateed), a seperation of Church and State, a representative government, and tunes to whistle to. Then, out of nowhere, we get this one that does not make me a happy little camper. It's only one of eleven quotes on that page alone, but it still makes me suddenly think "You know what? Let's re-evaluate what we think of Grant."

Has anybody else that you've begun to like, some author or sports figure or politician or soldier, suddenly just thrown themselves down the drain with a single action?

Alas, racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism were not only endemic in Grant's day (as well as more recent times), but were considered to be acceptable and perfectly normal beliefs. People looked at you funny if you weren't anti-Semitic.

Times change, sometimes even for the better.

Has anybody else that you've begun to like, some author or sports figure or politician or soldier, suddenly just thrown themselves down the drain with a single action?

Weren't your founding fathers slave owners?

You need to take into account the time people lived in when judging them.

We all have role-models, people (both past and present) who we respect and who we wish to emulate. Some people take this to an extreme (These people we will call 'stalkers') but others take a healthier stance and often go no further than advocating what their role-models advocated. Some people don't even go that far, there are times when you simply admire somebody without having any desire or making any effort to emulate them. This is normal, and there are quite a few people who I hold in high esteem that I don't really hold on a pedestal as a role-model. But other times there are people who seem so close to that point, but then they say or do something that makes you go "Wow.....and I actually like this guy?"

Earlier today I was browsing through Wikipedia, looking at the article for the Battle of the Crater to be specific, and I clicked on the link to go to General Ulysses S. Grants Wiki page. A nice page, not much that I didn't already know (excepting his involvement in the Battle of the Crater), but at the bottom there was a link to to Grants Wikiquote page. For those who don't know, Wikiquote is a Wiki page that has nothing but quotes attributed to various personages, films, books, etc. Well, I'm reading Grants quotes, and suddenly I practically fall out of my chair.

Now, most of Grants quotations were nice little tidbits. Stuff about the Civil War("Let us have peace."), about life in general ("Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor."), about law("The will of the people is the best law."), about religion("Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate."), and some were just plain funny ("I know only two tunes: one of them is 'Yankee Doodle', and the other one isn't."). But then I got to this one quote that was like a kick in the teeth.

"I have long since believed that in spite of all the vigilance that can be infused into post commanders, the special regulations of the Treasury Department have been violated, and that mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders. So well satisfied have I been of this that I instructed the commanding officers at Columbus to refuse all permits to Jews to come South, and I have frequently had them expelled from the department, but they come in with their carpet-sacks in spite of all that can be done to prevent it. The Jews seem to be a privileged class that can travel anywhere. They will land at any woodyard on the river and make their way through the country. If not permitted to buy cotton themselves, they will act as agents for someone else, who will be at military post with a Treasury permit to receive cotton and pay for it in Treasury notes which the Jew will buy up at an agreed rate, paying gold."

I mean this is a list of expressions advocating peace (Or war only when peace is threateed), a seperation of Church and State, a representative government, and tunes to whistle to. Then, out of nowhere, we get this one that does not make me a happy little camper. It's only one of eleven quotes on that page alone, but it still makes me suddenly think "You know what? Let's re-evaluate what we think of Grant."

Has anybody else that you've begun to like, some author or sports figure or politician or soldier, suddenly just thrown themselves down the drain with a single action?



Oy vey.

I'm happy to say the only man I've ever used as a role model, Walter Payton, never did anything that would make me react like taht. At lest not as far as I know.

If anyone out there knows something about him that I do not, I ask to be left to my ignorance. lol :D

Weren't your founding fathers slave owners?

You need to take into account the time people lived in when judging them.

Not all were, but yeah, most of them were, and I do take that into account.

I'm not saying that I suddenly despise Grant and comdemn him to Hell, far from it, just that he's no longer that far up on my list.

Also, the fact that he did nothing to stop the rampant corruption in his cabinet during his Presidency helps contribute to this.