Thomas Edison: Not As Bad As You Think?

Thomas Edison gets a lot of hate. Too much, in fact. I wanna make my defense of this inventor and why the bad he did in life shouldn't negate the good.

[Guardias]

People want historical figures to be either pure good or pure evil. Far too often we forget that they were human just like us.

[benpeters]

Thomas Edison: I alone will own the movie industry!

Disney: Hold my singing teacup

[samcavanagh]

wow that bit about film producers moving to LA because of edison is really interesting, never knew that.

[zaedin]

Time to learn about Thomas Edison from my favourite history teacher, Vladimir Lenin.

[WAMTAT]

He was a complex human, like everybody else.

[spicylatte]

Tesla and Edison were both smart and amazing inventors, they both deserve lots of credit for what they did

[kaily]

You know I think I was more susceptible to the semi-hate train there is for Edison on the internet before I actually picked up a book. For anyone who hasn't picked up a book I would recommend doing that. A biography always gives you a much more open eye than any articles I read about Edison/Tesla/electricity on the internet.


Anyway, the book I read was "Tesla: Inventor of the Modern" by Richard Munson and though it's obviously not an Edison biography, there was a lot about Edison as well as his relationship with Tesla that I never read on the internet. His rivalry with Tesla was petty and their personalities did inherently clash in a lot of ways, but why did no one ever tell me the two of them were actually friends??? Like, level friends? After Tesla's lab burnt down and he lost all his work, Edison offered Tesla to use his lab while he got back to work and even though he did electrocute animals for the sake of his own profits, I was still touched by that. Also worth Edison was not the greediest business titan of the industrial era and I think since he's the most famous people will easily forget that.


Not to defend his bad actions. They're still bad, but I really agree with what you're saying here, op. Hearing this and that about him on the internet really doesn't put his character well into perspective. I'd highly recommend anyone watching this video to pick up a good nonfiction book. Tesla: Inventor of the Modern is a decent place to start.

[dialaskisel]

Sounds like a dude. Not a great dude. But not the worst dude. Except for that whole roasting elephants business. That's pretty low.

[darkmage]

He wasn't a god. Nor was he a devil.

He was human. Same as all the rest of us.

[kylepietrusiewicz]

This is the calmest Edison comment section I've ever seen, also a pretty fair shake given to the man, unlike a lot of other pieces on Edison which are basically just hit pieces and slander.

[MisterSyrup]

I never understand the demand for ideological purity with historical figures. No one is perfect, and times change.

[nicklapallo]

I literally went into this video saying "change my mind" and you did. So, he really was more of a profit driven anti hero than the villian he has been made out to be. Neat.

[mafiousbj]

So basically he was the original Steve Jobs, but he actually did some inventing in his youth?
I wonder how people will talk about Jobs in a few decades, if his reputation will suffer like Edison´s because he didn´t invent most things directly attributed to him in the popular mind.
Anyway grey is not accepted by most people. We want to simplify things and see them either black or white and forget the complexities. This applies to Edison as well as Tesla (better inventor but less charisma/wealth that didn´t let him achieve all his potential)

[danksenzuweed]

So Edison was the "live long enough to see yourself become the villain" type of guy, did a lot of good, created and helped create a lot for things but ended up becoming greedy and and full of himself.

[jamiekamihachi]

It reminds me of my favorite Civil War general, Sherman. He was just an interestingly complex human with tons of flaws but accomplished a lot.

[warrenlehmkuhleii]

“He founded a trust...”
Roosevelt: Oh no you did not!

[richarddavenport]

Guy who said the joke: Tesla
Guy who said the joke louder: Edison

[will]

Don’t forget about the automatic hammer and six legged chair. Those were both his invention as well.

[Steampunkkids]

It’s hard to talk about Edison without including JP Morgan. I feel it was a disservice to this video that JP Morgan was not included as I feel he played a pivotal role in Edison’s success.

[altEFG]

Edison's main flaw was that he was a salty egoist, from what I can gather. He was no doubt very talented, but maybe he could achieve even greater things if he wouldn't let his ego demand that all the glory was his alone.