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submitted 4 weeks ago by IceHouse@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

For me it has to be Malcom X, I'm not American, but I read his autobiography when I was young and it left a life long impression on me about justice and resiliency. He grew up in an extremely oppressive society, his dad was murdered and his mother was sent to the loony bin and he was clearly lost and traumatized. When he went to jail he was smart enough to be like what the hell, why am I here? Educating himself and channeling his energy into caring about others and justice transformed him into one of the most powerful and well respected leaders of his time.

He is often denigrated by Americans as violent and contrasted with King Jr. but by all accounts whenever he was in a position to project violence he chose de-escalation like during the Harlem riots and saved lives as there were people in the US in positions of military power who would have loved an excuse to do to them what they did to the indigenous across the entire country.

He was angry but principled and really set a template for me about how to be a leader and help me process my own anger and channel it into something more positive.

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[-] Truffle@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

Galvarino! The fiercest Mapuche warrior. He was captured by the spaniards at the Lagunillas battle, then they proceeded to mutilate him by cutting off both his hands and released him back to his people. There he planned his vengeance against spaniard occupation and became their leader. He headed the Millarapue battle with two machetes tied around where his hands had once been. Talk about badass! He was captured and executed quickly but remained a rebel icon forever.

[-] ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thomas Sankara.

[-] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

Hans and Sophie Scholl, brother-and-sister members of the White Rose resistance movement within nazi Germany, who were executed for producing a series of anti-nazi propaganda leaflets at the ages of 24 and 21 respectively. I always have a soft spot for people who use art and language to combat fascism, and Sophie in particular had a real way with words:

The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.

And her final words before being executed:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?

NB: I should note that there's a bit of conflict about this, as the nazi executioners were not meticulous record keepers. But it seems that it was either this or "Your heads will also roll", but either way she apparently said both and either one is great IMO.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

Cincinnatus

[-] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Fernand Point, Chef, La Pyramid.

Besides the champagne every morning, this chef was one of the first to emphasize mentoring young cooks.

"You may be born to cook, but you must learn to roast."

Point was a large man, and he liked to eat. It is said that he rose early every day and ordered all the food that would be required from his regular purveyors (he forbade the recycling of leftovers from the previous day; "Every morning the chef must start again at zero, with nothing on the stove," he wrote. "That is what real cuisine is all about") and then sat down to a solitary breakfast — a light snack, like two or three roast chickens — accompanied by a bottle or two of Champagne. For his 50th birthday, on Feb 25, 1947, he cooked a modest dinner for his friends (and himself): foie gras parfait, warm woodcock pâté, a mousse of trout from the Rhône with crayfish sauce, cardoons with truffles, beef à la royale (stuffed with ham and truffles, garnished with cockscombs and more truffles), aspic-glazed cold truffled Bresse capon, Saint-Marcellin goat cheese, a marjolaine (invented by Point, this now famous cake is an elaboration of the classic merinque-and-buttercream confection called the dacquoise), lemon sorbet, and assorted fresh fruit, all irrigated with Dom Pérignon, Château Grillet 1945, and Hospices de Beaune Cuvée Brunet 1937.

He was generous with others as well as himself. In an era of obsessively secretive chefs, he shared his knowledge freely. He loved serving large portions to his customers, and roamed the dining room making sure that everyone was satisfied. He assigned young chefs to work side-by-side with their most experienced colleagues. "It is the duty of a good chef," he wrote in Ma Gastronomie, "to hand down to the next generation all that he has learned and experienced."

Read More: https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/daily-meal-hall-fame-fernand-point/

[-] CyberMonkey404@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

Just what kind of health does one has to have to drink a bottle of champagne each morning? How did his liver handle it?

[-] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

He was a big dude...and health was his last concern.

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Teddy Roosevelt

[-] PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

Enkidu. Dude was pivotal in providing companionship to the king that stopped, or at least slowed, his general rape and molestation of the lower classes.

[-] CooperRedArmyDog@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

John Brown Fidel Castro Joseph Stalin

[-] Teppichbrand@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago

I really liked the Behind the Bastards-podcast about Stalin

[-] vodkasolution@feddit.it 1 points 4 weeks ago
[-] pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Churchill. Without him it's not unlikely that the UK would've accepted Nazi Germany's peace offer.

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this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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