Haters Gonna Bait

Story Sent in by Christopher:

On a coffee date with Isabel, she asked me about historical figures I admired. I mentioned off the usuals: Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Harriet Tubman, and probably a few more. Then she asked me something strange:

"Who are people from history that you hate?"

"Uh... Hitler. And Stalin."

"No one else?"

"Maybe. But those would be the top two who come to mind."

She groaned like I really let her down and said, "What about Pol Pot, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Mao Zedong, Mussolini, Ho Chi Minh..." and she went on, listing probably close to 40 names, off the top of her head. I had never heard of at least half of them.

When she was finished I said, "I guess I don't like them, either."

"You guess?" she asked, then pounded her coffee and said, "I don't think this is going to work out. I need someone who'll take a stand."

"Okay."

She actually stuck around (and I guess I did, too) for a little while longer for some forced conversation about how Mao Zedong was the greatest mass murderer of the 20th century. When the date ended, I wasn't sorry to see her go.