Hall of Fame or Wall of Shame

[elle_winters]

Hall of Fame, Hall of Shame

This is a section where I've judged 10 of History's greatest legends and inducted them into the HALL OF FAME...or (if their actions causes such) Hall of SHAME.
Feel free to comment on what you think!

1. Darwin: Charles Darwin has been nominated for the Hall of Fame. Darwin’s theory of evolution and widely conclusive data research in the Galapagos Islands has lead to his nomination to the Hall of Fame. Through Darwin’s research new branches of biology have been formed and are being studied. More importantly Social Darwinism received some of its widest support in the U.S where the laissez-faire economics developed after the successful War of Independence. The leading Social Darwinist in American academic circles was William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), who viewed the capitalist system with great favor because it allowed the free play of the ‘competition of life’. The idea of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ was applied, therefore to every aspect of life, including government.
2. Rousseau: Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been nominated for the Hall of Fame. He was a major philosopher, writer, and composer of the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist theory. His writings made way for the Romanticism era. Rousseau saw a fundamental divide between society and human nature. Rousseau believed that man was innocent when he is in the state of nature, but is corrupted by ‘geological events culminating in society.
3. Louis XIV: King Louis XIV has been nominated for the Hall of Fame. He was known as the Sun King and believed in the Divine Right of Kings. However, this did not stop him from continuing the work of his predecessors to create a centralized state governed from the capital in order to sweep away the remnants of feudalism in parts of France. He succeeded in breaking the power of the provincial nobility, much of which had risen in revolt during his minority, and forced many leading nobles to live with him in the Palace of Versailles. Thus, he has long been considered the archetypal absolute monarch of early modern Europe and would therefore make Machiavelli proud.
4. Peter the Great: Peter the Great has been nominated for the Hall of Fame. Although this nomination could simply be supported by the fact that he made his advisors bite into a cadaver, other aspects of his Great career have also been taken into account. Peter the Great carried out a policy of Westernization and expansion that transformed the Russia into a major European power. Peter the Great brought in personal advisors to help transform Russia. He supported westernization in hopes that it would make the vast Russia a superpower to be reckoned with.
5. Calvin: John Calvin has been nominated into the Hall of Fame. Not as well known as his inspiration Martin Luther, Calvin was a French theologian during the Protestant Reformation who established the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. Calvinism was inspired by the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther and embraced in France.
6. John Tetzel: John Tetzel has been nominated to the wall of Shame. Tetzel was a German preacher remembered for selling indulgences. Tetzel told the people that need indulgences to go to heaven. The indulgences cost money and many couldn’t afford them. He was clearly robbing the peasantry. He is known to have a couplet attributed to him, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings the soul from purgatory springs." In 1517, Tetzel was trying to raise money for the ongoing construction of St. Peter's Basilica . Though he has also been nominated to the Hall of Fame, because historically his selling of indulgences inspired Martin Luther to write the ninety five theses. Tetzel ultimately belongs in the Hall of Shame. Shame on you!
7. George W. Bush: George W Bush has been nominated to the Wall of Shame. First of all, speaking quite frankly, there is shady business that involves the invasion of Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction and Iraq’s involvement in the terror attacks upon the United States of America. Not to mention, the patriot act and the suspension of Habeas Corpus. Needless to say, that with the rickety gas prices and falling economy, people were looking forward to the end of his term. George W Bush has earned himself an honorary place in the Hall of Shame.
8. Michelangelo: Michelangelo has been nominated to the Hall of Fame. was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci. Among his most renown works are the statue of David and the Painting in the ceiling of Sistine Chapel.
9. Mussolini: Benito Mussolini has been nominated for the wall of Shame. Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party . He is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922. He sided with Germany during World War Two. As dictator of Italy, Mussolini's foremost priority was the subjugation of the minds of the Italian people and the use of propaganda to do so; whether at home or abroad, and here his training as a journalist was invaluable. Press, radio, education, films-all were carefully supervised to create the illusion that fascism was the doctrine of the twentieth century, replacing liberalism and democracy.
10. Joan of Arc: Joan of Arc has been nominated for the Hall of Fame. Dressing incognito as a man, Joan of Arc became the miracle and moral leader for the French during the Hundred Years War. Joan was a peasant girl born in France. She led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of King Charles VII. She was captured by the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old. What a hero!