"The World Is Contaminated" — People Are Sharing The Biggest Screw Ups In Human History, And It Ranges From Funny To Educational
Recently, a post from a now-deleted Reddit account on the popular Ask Reddit page caught my attention. The post asked, "What's been the biggest fuck-up in the history of humans?" and naturally, I had to share. Here are some of the most on-the-money answers:
1."Putting screens in the hands of toddlers."
—u/sloshingsausages
2."The US government planting kudzu in the 1930s (as a make-work project) all over the southern US to combat erosion. The vine has swallowed up entire forests."
—u/dontpaytheransom
3."The Khwarazmian Empire, while never quite a world player, was still a considerably-sized nation of the ancient world. Never heard of it? There's a reason why..."
"In 1218, a party of Mongolian emissaries was sent by Genghis Khan to open possible trade routes. The local governor, who was the uncle of the Khwarazmian Shah Muhammad II, had the party arrested. He apparently suspected it was a trap, though it appears to have been a genuine gesture of trade negotiation. We'll call this arrest 'Fuck-up #1.'
Displaying an unusual amount of patience for a man of his reputation, Genghis then sent three ambassadors to try and diplomatically resolve the situation. Shah Muhammad II refused to punish his dear old uncle for his actions, and instead decided to execute at least one of the Mongolian ambassadors, or possibly all three. He sent the severed head of one ambassador back to Genghis Khan as a lovely little parting gift, which was 'Fuck-up #2.'
"There was no 'Fuck-up #3,' for Genghis then decided that the 'fucking around' phase was over for the Khwarazmians, and the time of 'finding out' had begun."
"He led an army of as many as 200,000 battle-hardened Mongol warriors straight into the Khwarazmian Empire, and did what he did best: unleashed hell.
Within two years, the Mongols utterly annihilated the empire: they sacked and destroyed its cities, chased the shah into exile, and killed possibly as many as 10 million people; not just Khwarazmians, but anyone else who happened to be in the way. Because of Muhammad II's refusal of diplomacy, the Khwarazmian Empire was wiped from existence."
—u/WildBad7298
4."On this note, one of the biggest policy fuck-ups is the Mongol policy of having to return back to Mongolia to elect a new khan after the death of the old one. This single policy outright halted many of their major campaigns and subsequently saved much of Europe and Asia from the all-conquering Mongol armies."
"The most historically significant instance of this was the conquest of Europe after Ogedai's passing. Having defeated Poland and Hungary, it's said that there wasn't a standing army in Europe capable of stopping the Mongol invasion of Central and Western Europe.
Ogedai's death resulted in the Mongol withdrawal from Europe. Had he lived a few more years, it's very possible that the Mongols would have swept through central and western Europe, drastically changing the course of history."
—u/SantiCathorla
5."Microplastics are going to be the lead of this decade."
—u/not1337
6."Adding lead to gasoline."
—u/don0tpanic
"The same guy who invented leaded gasoline also invented freon. Thomas Midgley Jr., the greatest inventor of evirotoxins in history!"
—u/firelock_ny
7."I mean, Japan attacking Pearl Harbor can be on this list too. It set off a series of fuck-ups."
"1. Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, officially dragging the US into the war.
2. A few days after the US declares war on Japan, Hitler declares war on America.
3. The war is brutal and ugly. The US builds the atomic bomb and uses it.
4. Truman and Churchill effectively tell Stalin to go fuck himself after the war, and immediately kick off the Cold War and nuclear arms race.
5. 80 years later, those fuck-ups are still reverberating through the geo-political landscape."
—u/noreast2011
"One thing I find fascinating is how after the Pearl Harbor Attack, and up to the Battle of Midway, the Japanese thought they had pretty much won. They thought that US morale was very low, and the US would want to sue for peace at any moment. They completely miscalculated the effect Pearl Harbor had on the US."
—u/MotorBobcat
8."When Noah allowed those two mosquitoes on the ark. I mean, seriously, dude???"
—TallDarkHandsome365
"On that subject, brutally executing the one true Son of God is a pretty epic fuck-up, and he didn't even stay dead."
—u/Seanay-B
9."The invention and widespread use of plastics."
—u/Alexander_da_ok
10."In terms of death attributable to a single individual? Lysenko and his agricultural reforms."
"Some 15 million dead in the Soviet Union from starvation; of course, they lied and said it was working great. So China followed and implemented it as well. The farmers were told to eat all their food reserves because we'll have so much produce with this new Soviet farming technique that our stores will be overflowing. And there were another 15 million or so dead.
And that's just the most direct effect; Lysenko completely ruined centuries of livestock breeding by arguing genetics was anti-revolutionary. If you just care for them enough, any and all will be equally capable of x, y, or z. A nice thought, but genetics still exist whether you believe it or not. It wasn't limited to livestock; the scientific field was essentially gutted and researchers ended, career or otherwise."
—u/TNT1990
"This is what happens when you appoint an unqualified political loyalist instead of a real expert. Lysenko's only real skill was sucking up to the party. RFK Jr. is this generation's Lysenko."
—u/Cynykl
11."Prince Arthur Tudor dying shortly after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and leaving Henry to replace him as heir to the English throne."
—u/TrespianRomance
12."It will be AI."
—u/anarchy_sloth
13."Turning Hitler away from art school."
Photo 12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images, NBC
—u/TheOrionNebula
"I've often wondered about this. Perhaps he wouldn't have become the catch-word for evil, but the conditions existed for someone else to rise in that vacant spot all the same. Poverty, inflation, turmoil, the rise of communism, the fallout from the loss of the Great War, etc. Would it have turned out better or worse? No idea."
—u/AdamTheEvilDoer
14."Despite the fact that I am using the internet, I'm going to make a case that the internet is our biggest fuck-up."
"We're dependent on it. Even if we ever wanted to stop using the internet for things, at this point people's heart monitors and C-PAP machines and all kinds of other life-sustaining medical equipment would result in the loss of tons of lives.
It seems to be hugely responsible for diminished attention spans, a general sense of more labor being involved in things that require large amounts of attention. I don't know about you, but everyone I know is reading less than they used to, and while that's anecdotal, I'd be curious how much others are experiencing this."
—u/JusAxinQuestuns
15."Not decarbonizing in time to prevent catastrophic global warming. We're heading full throttle for the cliff right now, with no brakes."
—u/Sarah_Cenia
16."Plastic. Social media. Nuclear bombs."
Javier Zayas Photography / Getty Images, Historical / Corbis via Getty Images
—u/ceremoniousone
17."Using PFAS in almost everything through the '90s. Thanks, now the world is contaminated and everyone is getting cancer."
—u/BallBearingBill
18."The moment our species decided that we could turn healthcare into a for-profit business, I think, will turn out to be one of the most epically stupid and relentlessly human things we have ever collectively thought up."
—u/starspider
19."When Benito Mussolini declared war on the Allies, over 40% of Italy's naval warships were in foreign ports. Upon declaring war, they were seized immediately by the foreign countries they resided in."
—u/Adamskiiiiiii1
20."The last season of Game of Thrones."
—u/Porcflite
And a final thought to leave you with: "We probably don't know about it."
—u/GhostWriter888
"Scary but this is the true answer really."
—u/GohanAwakens
So, what do you think of these? Were any big screw-ups left out? Let me know down in the comments! Or, if you have something to share but want to do so anonymously, you can check out this anonymous comment form.
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