american nerd survey

If you could remove one person from history, who would you cut out?

Mark Kalar: There is probably not another person in human history that has caused (and continues to cause) as much long-term damage as Thomas Midgley, Jr. (1889-1944). He came up with the idea of adding lead to gasoline, invented Freon and CFCs, and was instrumental in designing the first cruise missile. Lead never goes away, and many CFCs stick around for 140 years, meaning he will continue screwing each and every one of us well into the 22nd century.

Keith Pille: the temptation, of course, is to excise one of the big bads. Say, Hitler or Stalin. Oppenheimer or Teller, maybe. But, crappy as those guys were, you can't really argue that their actions and presence had pretty profound effects on the course of history. I'm not saying that what any of them did was even remotely good or cool; it's just that the sequence of events that led to us being here now almost certainly wouldn't have happened without them. And I like (for the most part) the setup that we've got here now, so I guess I have to tolerate their continued presence in the timestream. Dammit.

So, keeping in mind that I have to stick with someone sort of inconsequential so as not to fuck up my own existence, I'll go with Lee Greenwood. The world would be a somewhat better place if I could go to public gatherings without having to hear about how proud he is to be an American.

Jonathan Shipley: Let me delete, uh, Jesus. I'm going to hell for saying that. But just think of how many people in the history of the world wouldn't have had to die horrible deaths if there wasn't Christianity. Take Jesus, for instance. Poor guy, he had to get crucified.

Amethyst Vineyard: McDonald's founder Ray Kroc. I'm sure he was a really nice guy, but his restaurants are both unsightly and highly dangerous, what with all the hot coffee, wet floors, and toxic hamburgers.

Clint Weathers: As easy as it would be to go with a current political figure or a historical evil, I'm going to have to go with a current evil: David Hasselhoff.