Do you have an idol?

Idol, no and never.
A person worth admiring, sure: Giordano Bruno.

[Edit]
Well… After a minute or so thinking, actually there is a person nearly an idol of mine. The earliest known troll who maxed the level: Zeno of Elea.
 
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I do have a couple, but maybe idol is too strong a word.

There's a lot of amazing people throughout history, which I'm sure were troubled in their own ways. Hard to name them, since they're a lot, but I will mention some of the most recent ones which are still alive.

- Julian Assange - He's a frikkin' hero for what he did. He pretty much got the whole world to come after him. Made a lot of enemies with a lot of nation-states that have been or are doing a whole lot nasty stuff in the world. He shone a light in a lot of dark corners. Which needed to be done imo. The balls he must have. I really wonder if he really grasped the magnitude of what he was doing, and the consequences.

- Edward Snowden - Another recent hero of mine. For some similar things like Assange. He also must have balls of steel to do what he did. To have the guts to pretty much end your life of normalcy, and just decide to do the right thing. Brilliant!

- Noam Chomsky - he's a superb human being, with a whole lot of knowledge when it comes to history and politics. He's always my go-to-guy for the truth.
 
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Our great Lord and Savior President Trump of the United States.:cool:

"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Joking aside I do admire a few past leaders though.

Let's see if you guys can guess.:biggrin:
 
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Couchpotato said:
Our great Lord and Savior President Trump of the United States.:cool:

"On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Joking aside I do admire a few past leaders though.

Let's see if you guys can guess.:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Derek Smart and Genghis Khan?
 
Genghis Khan maybe but lets go with Alexander the Great, Caesar, Augustus, Charlemagne, & Napoleon. All great men who left their mark on history.

I'm leaving out many more who had great ambition and achieved them.
 
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Marie Curie - a long time ago, when I was working in science field.

I don't have any "idols" anymore, but I do look up to my hubby and mum a lot ;)
 
I thought you meant idol as in statuette of Cthulhu or Moloch ;-) But humans? hm. I have huge respect for great scientists and mathematicians, Riemann, Gauss, Einstein etc who moved their disciplines forward to such a degree…but I don't think I've ever "idolized" anyone. Of course, I also have a great deal of respect for those people who have risen above terrible adversity - like someone who's survived a very bad start in life and somehow fought their way through and remained (or became) a 'good' person. They don't have to be big names that everyone knows. I know some people who are social activists (not in the online sense) - people who *go* into gang ridden areas and put their lives on the line to try and lead kids away from crime and drugs. I think that is pretty amazing. I don't idolize them, but I am very grateful they exist and do things that I'm not capable of doing, or too afraid too. Sorry for the rambling post :)
 
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booboo said:
I thought you meant idol as in statuette of Cthulhu or Moloch ;-) But humans? hm. I have huge respect for great scientists and mathematicians, Riemann, Gauss, Einstein etc who moved their disciplines forward to such a degree…but I don't think I've ever "idolized" anyone. Of course, I also have a great deal of respect for those people who have risen above terrible adversity - like someone who's survived a very bad start in life and somehow fought their way through and remained (or became) a 'good' person. They don't have to be big names that everyone knows. I know some people who are social activists (not in the online sense) - people who *go* into gang ridden areas and put their lives on the line to try and lead kids away from crime and drugs. I think that is pretty amazing. I don't idolize them, but I am very grateful they exist and do things that I'm not capable of doing, or too afraid too. Sorry for the rambling post :)
Click to expand...

There is no apologizing in DArt threads :)
 
I have one of these on the bookshelf...

hpl-cthulhu.jpg
 
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Alfred the Great, for how he helped bring Britain together, fought off the Danes, and put such an emphasis on the masses being educated, which earned him no favours with the church. When the kid walked to Rome as a child, you kind of know he was destined for greatness.

The eighth Dalai Lama, for the leadership role he took on, then walked away from when his work was done and focused on teaching. That man was absolutely true to himself.
 
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Nope, no idol’s nor would i ever have one. I don’t trust people enough. You may see someone who may appear “idol worthy” on the surface but does despicable things when no ones looking.

Besides spending time on following what someone else has done or is doing takes time away from trying to improve myself. Which should be the ultimate goal anyway.
 
Fenrir Wolf. I can't stand any of the current religions so have decided to make my own. He is behind all my stories now. A pagan god that eats all the heathens.

I have never done well with putting humans, any human, up on a pedestal as we are all pretty much the same inside. I never really got the attraction with hollywood, rock bands, or the like. They are all just people.

I actually thought about this question for a long time. The closest person I could come up with is perhaps Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams.
 
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I really like these champions of science and philosophie:

Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Friedrich Gauß ...
 
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"…for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

george%2Beliot.jpg
 
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sakichop said:
Nope, no idol’s nor would i ever have one. I don’t trust people enough. You may see someone who may appear “idol worthy” on the surface but does despicable things when no ones looking.
Click to expand...

But doesn't that work in reverse as well? Meaning, you may see someone who may appear "terrible" - but is actually a fantastic person once you get to know him or her?

Of course, in my book - there are no fantastic or terrible people.
 


:biggrin:



But, no, I do not. At least I could not think of anyone.

This "getting to know" someone is very true. You start seeing the cracks. And yes, as Dart says, this works both ways. But in either case, idolization is out of question.
 
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I don't have idol but I have a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter and Obama. There are lots of other folks who I respect but many well known people are scums.
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Btw I can respect someone even if they fail to do a good job as I tend to respect people for intent not execution.
 
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