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Thomas Edison Was A Douche (The Oatmeal!)

17 May

I keep a list of blog ideas so that on days when i have no idea or inspiration i can just open up the list and pick something.

After doing the post on the victrola, i had researched quite a bit about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla and always meant to get around to doing another post on them. Specifically about what a dick Edison was and how brilliant Tesla was (although Tesla had a bunch of paranoid obsessions including a big antisemitic streak.)

So imagine my delight when the funniest dude on the internet, The Oatmeal, drew a new strip all about Tesla and to a degree spelled out some of the ways in which Edison was a douche.

Since i cannot top The Oatmeal, i’m going to do something i’ve never done before, i’m going to simply turn today’s post lock, stock and barrel over to The Oatmeal and simply reprint his post. Because i love The Oatmeal and him hating me would make me cry, let me be clear: From here on in this is The Oatmeal, who has won the internet through awesomeness and who can be found here.

 
20 Comments

Posted by on May 17, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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20 responses to “Thomas Edison Was A Douche (The Oatmeal!)

  1. Marz

    May 19, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    Tesla vs Edison T-shirt to proclaim your true geekiness:
    http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/sciencemath/ea08/?srp=3

     
  2. Dan

    July 19, 2012 at 12:09 am

    So basically, Edison is like Steve jobs and tesla is like Wozniak.

     
    • AJ

      January 19, 2013 at 9:00 pm

      Steve jobs is like Edison, Dennis Ritchie is like Tesla. GET IT RIGHT

       
  3. gates

    September 11, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    Edison is more like Bill Gates or Nathan Myrhvold.

     
  4. paulms

    March 22, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    Listen douchebags, i actually speak a degree of serbian/croatian so i understand what you asshats are saying. CUT IT OUT. This is not a forum where you numnuts can spew your hate speech at each other. I will delete all your genocidally hateful comments immediately and ban your sorry asses. I don’t care which side you’re on, you do a shame and disservice to all of your fellow countrymen who aren’t douchebags.

     
  5. paulms

    March 22, 2013 at 11:18 pm

    That last comment may seem rather strange, but that’s because you’re not reading the 2 comments that got posted which got taken off. Unfortunately i also took off a commenter’s previous, non hateful comment because he couldn’t resist posting a follow up with absolutely unacceptable, hate filled rhetoric in response to another utter douchebag. And by douchebag, i mean flaming asshole. I have no tolerance for this crap.

     
    • Emil

      March 29, 2013 at 1:45 am

      E brate,eto kad govoris hrvatski ionako mi se neda pisat engleski…ovako,jbg malo smo se zanili,malo me brat srbin naljuti i dogodilo se sta se dogodilo…sve ok.ja sam samo htio da se zna ono sta san napisa u prvom komentaru o tesli koji si izbrisa,to je meni bilo bitno…volim vas svih :*

       
  6. Friend Freeman

    June 14, 2013 at 5:02 am

    najljepsi clanak koji sam vidio, tesla je bio introvert , introverti unapređuju planet, dan i danas sve se stavlja na extravertaciju da ne kazem na sociopatstvo . edison je samo znao prezentirat stvari i situacije nije danas nista drugacije , nazalost . Nije vazno od kud je tesla bio, vazno je da prepoznamo takve ljude danas i da im ih poguramo i budemo uz njih, a mnogi to nece cak koji postuju teslu i sve znanstvenike. Percepcija , percepcija , vazno je vidjet i djelovat, ne samo barit curice naokolo 😀

     
  7. Laura Todd

    March 31, 2014 at 12:52 am

    I have seen no proof that Tesla had “a big antisemitic streak.” Could you please back this up? Edison, on the other hand, DID. He fired one of his engineers for being a Jew. Matt, I love your comic, but you’ve got some facts wrong.

     
  8. Swag

    April 28, 2014 at 8:25 am

    nob cheese

     
  9. JP

    June 13, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    Tesla was not displaced in time, his efforts would face the same obstacles today. Our world and society cares about money and benefit to the individual, not the greater good. Tesla didn’t care about money, he loved his work and believed it would benefit humanity. Steve Jobs was a corporate asshole, just like Edison.

    I don’t know why we suppress those who can help us the most.

     
  10. mvy

    March 22, 2015 at 9:40 am

    Edison also ruined George Melies, a pioneering film maker, by making copies of Melies’ films, not paying him his dues and running him out of the business.

     
    • Bogdan

      July 8, 2015 at 8:48 am

      And lets not forget that Edison also tried to steal the credit of Louis Le Prince work.

       
  11. Kimberly Davis

    March 15, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    How do you know Tesla did in fact invent all of these things you claim? Where did you do your research??

     
  12. Paul Guaglardi

    December 12, 2017 at 1:08 am

    Thank you for educating me.

     
  13. psyicic

    October 2, 2019 at 8:59 pm

    Thanks for this fantastic article, I am glad I found this
    website on bing.

     
  14. arlene j davidson

    July 22, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    Edison also publically electrocuted an elephant named “Topsy” AND PEOPLE PAID TO WATCH! Beyond disgusting!

     

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