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History is full of people who tried to warn their fellow humans about something terrible they believed was going to happen…and then it did.
And it happens a lot in our personal lives, too.
Let’s hear from folks on AskReddit about people who tried to warn about something bad and no one listened to them.
Start now!
1. The accident.
“They were building a big baseball stadium in Wisconsin and it was a considerably windy day. The crane operator was tasked with lifting a large structure but refused stating dangerous gusts.
The site foreman dismissed the crane operator and called in one who would do the job with no pushback. Well the crane tipped over with a load and workers were k**led. Foreman and second operator were arrested, and iirc the first operator won a wrongful termination lawsuit.”
2. World Trade Center.
“Rick Rescorla, Director of Corporate Security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, published a report in 1990 detailing the vulnerability of the World Trade Center parking garage.
He and a colleague found they were able to freely walk into the garage, which contained many structural support columns, unchallenged by any security. Additionally no ID checks or screening was done on any of the entering delivery vehicles. Three years later a truck bomb was driven into the garage and detonated in an attempt to damage the buildings structure.
Later he and his same college would correctly predict the next attack on the building would come from the air. The evacuation plan and drills he put in place are credited with saving over 2,600 lives on September 11th.”
3. Tragedy.
“Roger Boisjoly.
Engineer involved with the Space Shuttle program who warned his superiors for months prior to the Challenger disaster that launching in cold weather could cause the O-rings to fail.
Care to guess what caused the Challenger disaster?”
4. Design flaws.
“Turkish Airlines flight 981 would never have happened if McDonnell Douglas and Convair had heeded Dan Applegate’s warning about the cargo doors coming open during flight.
He wrote a memo after the nonfatal American Airlines flight 96 advising that the doors had design flaws which would cause them to show as properly latched even when they weren’t. If nothing were done, he said it would lead to catastrophic failure that would likely result in the loss of the plane.
However, the fixes would be expensive and no one agreed who would eat the cost, so proper upgrades were put off. Instead, they tried implementing cheaper band-aid solutions that would ultimately prove ineffective.”
5. Crazy story.
“Ignaz Semmelweis often described as the father of hand washing.
In the 1800s he discovered that maternal mortality could be drastically reduced by doctors washing their hands between patients. He was largely ignored and his book got absolutely slated.
This is supposed to have contributed to him having a mental breakdown and he d**d in a psychiatric hospital.”
6. He was right.
“French general Ferdinand Foch reportedly called the Treaty of Versailles a “twenty-year armistice”, ie not conducive to lasting peace.
WWII broke out approximately twenty years later.”
7. No one listened.
“Harry Markopolos notified the SEC three times that whatever Bernie Madoff was doing wasn’t legit and should be investigated.
And all three times he was ignored. He talks about it in his book No One Would Listen.
Check it out if you want to see a real facepalm example of government incompetence.”
8. A visionary.
“H G Wells said he wanted his epitaph to be “I told you so. You da**ed fools!”
In The Land Ironclads (1903) he had written about a stalemated war fought by trench warfare that was broken by the invention of tanks, predicting what would happen in WWI.
In The War in the Air (1907) he predicted how airplanes would be used in war, including aerial bombardment of cities, and saw his predictions come true in WWII.”
9. September 11.
“Colleen Rowley warned her FBI superiors in June 2001 that names on their jihadi watch list were taking flying lessons but not interested in learning how to land
Her report didn’t get read until October.”
10. German history.
“Bismarck warned the ruling German monarch of his time that Germany’s status in Europe and the relative peace of the continent would last for only a short time.
After his forced resignation, Bismarck said: “Jena came twenty years after the d**th of Frederick the Great; the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this”.
Twenty years later, Germany loses WWI and almost collapses.”
11. Ugh.
“Pearl Jam warned us about Ticketmaster years ago.
Nobody listened, now we’re stuck with them…and only them.”
12. A warning.
“In 2005, Courtney Love was asked what advice she’d give young, up and coming actresses.
She said “If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party at his Four Seasons hotel room, don’t go.”
And for whatever reason, you didn’t see her in many movies after that…”
Do you know any stories like this?
If so, let us know in the comments.
Thanks, friends!
