History is filled with blunders and mistakes so epic that they literally changed the course of humanity.
But I’m willing to bet that we don’t even know about a lot of them.
So we’re gonna get educated today!
What do you think was the biggest mistake in human history?
AskReddit users shared their thoughts.
1. Never ends well.
“Invading Afghanistan.
Every. Single. Time. It. Has. Been. Tried.”
2. Bad business move.
“Blockbuster not buying Netflix.
They had Netflix nearly defeated with their mail dvds.
Then the new CEO said “F that, let’s improve our stores”.”
3. Mo’ money, mo’ problems.
“It f**ked the Romans, f**ked the Chinese, f**ked the Americans, Europeans and it will f**k the next big superpower and it will continue to f**k 8,000,000,000 people for the pleasure of roughly 1,000,000.
It is the main and root cause of misery in all the world in EVERY AGE we have history for for an untold millions of years of collective human years.
Allowing money in politics.”
4. Started WWI.
“The wrong turn Franz Ferdinand’s driver made that went right in front of Gavrilo Princip.
Imagine you’re Gavrilo Princip. The as**ssination plot you and your friends had been cooking up for about the last year or so has been a complete and total disaster, just a monumental f**k-up of the highest degree.
You’re staked out at this deli thinking maybe, just maybe the car will pass by, and by some stroke of sheer luck, it does.
If you’re Princip, this is nothing short of serendipity.”
5. He was right.
“Voting for people based on what side of the political spectrum they’re on.
George Washington himself advised against political parties because he thought they would cause too much division in this country.
Unfortunately for everyone, he was right.”
6. The coup.
”
I don’t know about the entire history, but the coup to depose the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 1950’s to increase oil profits was very bad. It lead to:
An authorian and oppressive regime with no legitimacy.
An revolution opposing that regim lead by clergy.
A theocratic and anti-western Iran.
A Iran that opposed western democracies attempts at a democratic foreign policy, including the World Trade towers’ attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Proxy war in the middle-east against Saudi-Arabia, which in turn made it possible for ISIS to emerge and created the need for millions of people to leave their homes and become refugees.
All because an oil company wanted to keep profits.”
7. Hmmm…
“Imperial Germany not hanging V.I. Lenin and his cohorts in the Black Forest.
Instead they were returned to Russia.”
8. Brexit.
“David Cameron promising a Brexit referendum to prevent losing voters to another single issue rival party.
Whatever your thoughts on Brexit, I think it’s pretty clear that Cameron only did this because he thought he could easily get a Remain result and maintain the status quo.
So he essentially accidentally lost the country its EU membership.”
9. Agriculture.
“Agriculture.
Led to a population boom and now we have huge amounts of people rather than hunter gatherers.
The amount of human suffering borne of agriculture is unsurpassed.”
10. The workweek.
“Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a five-day, 40-hour workweek for many workers.
The 5 day work week that came with the Fair Labor Standards Act, while pivotal because it brought minimum wage, overtime, and Child Labor laws, was the beginning of over-working in America.
Despite many health benefits (both physically and mentally) of the 4-day work week, we’re way too far gone as a country (America) to ever get past an archaic mindset that benefits employers more than employees in today’s times even though more time off with 4-10’s has shown to improve productivity and company wide morale along with fewer sick days.
So not really a “mistake” because it brought OT, minimum wage, and other things, the 5-day work week is a mistake that has grown into an unstoppable monster.”
11. Some say that’s how it happened.
“Barack Obama mocking Donald Trump at the Correspondents Dinner led directly to his 2016 run…”
12. Uh oh…
“Social Media.
Humans are not wired to have that many social interactions and maintain that many relationships.
Plus the echo chambers it allows people to create for themselves, no matter how conspiratorial or vile their beliefs, means that stupid/evil people are no longer shunned into changing their mind.
Not sure it was worth being able to see what a celebrity had for lunch or what new “dance” your younger cousin and her tween friends are doing.”
Now we want to hear from you.
What do you think was the biggest mistake in human history?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
