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74 Comments
- JepthaAxe, on 12/23/2008, -1/+24Dear Mr. Higgins:
I realize that 6 is a relatively limited number to work with, but considering that we're looking at letters that changed the world (that is to say, the world), one would think the 95 Theses would be somewhere in, say, the top 5.
Sincerely,
Jeptha - theirishman16, on 12/23/2008, -2/+23What about the other Martin Luther-The one that gave the world freedom from the Catholic church with his letter that he nailed to a church door?
- ShannonGB, on 12/22/2008, -2/+21Good one, these are the types of Diggs people need to know.
- Goombellaofgoom, on 12/23/2008, -0/+17What about the Declaration of Independence?
- doom777, on 12/23/2008, -2/+17So anglo-centric. What about the open letter by the Soviet Astronautics to the Soviet government not to go after Vladimir Vysotskii?
- benologist, on 12/22/2008, -3/+17Unsurprisingly no open letter posted on a blog made the cut. It does however set the precedent for a hilarious follow up article..... 60000000 open letters that were only read on digg.
- d1rtfarm, on 12/23/2008, -1/+1395 Thesis?
- frakintoaster, on 12/23/2008, -3/+15How can the "Open Letter to the Kansas School Board" is on the list and not the Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Martin Luther not be included?
- inactive, on 12/23/2008, -1/+11If I were making a list of important open letters I might include Martin Luther over Bill Gates.
- blumer, on 12/23/2008, -0/+9No kidding. FSM hasn't changed the world. It just changed 4chan and digg.
- wellstd1, on 12/23/2008, -1/+10Yea, while the majority of Digg users may not agree with Christianity there is little doubt that this was one of the most important letters in our history. Who knows how our lives would be now under the Catholic Church at the time.
- Vidalsassgirlie, on 12/23/2008, -5/+13I'm glad his noodliness made an appearance in the article.
RAmen - bimini, on 12/22/2008, -8/+15Really interesting...especially Flying Spaghetti Monster!
- jehan60188, on 12/23/2008, -4/+11yah, I was expecting the Ninety-Five Theses on there, too.
more evidence that mentalfloss magazine is total *****. - johanesw, on 12/23/2008, -1/+8they forgot einstein's letter to the us gov't abt the nazi nuclear program
- ScottyAnimal, on 12/23/2008, -0/+7A Modest Proposal??
- StrawberryFrog, on 12/23/2008, -1/+8I was expecting to see Martin Luther's open letter to the church at #1. I sparked off centuries of religious wars across Europe, not to mention people leaving for all kinds of places that offered freedom to practise their faith. Places such as, oh, America or something. it "changed the world" all right.
Leaving that off just makes the list not worth reading. - Mujokan, on 12/23/2008, -0/+5Lemme just post to recommend Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anicius_Manlius_Sever ... - carbonfilament, on 12/23/2008, -0/+5This is perhaps the only list I've seen on digg that has been worth my time, being as intellectually stimulating in the long term as it is entertaining in the short term. Well done.
- EggSaladKing, on 12/23/2008, -0/+5I consider this a fail since it does not contain Dijkstra's seminal letter "GO TO Statement Considered Harmful."
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd02xx/EWD215. ... - FireandFlame, on 12/23/2008, -0/+5For some reason that got me in the mood to play Red Alert 2 again.
- inactive, on 12/23/2008, -0/+5"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of agression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. …"
It's amazing how this quote fits in todays political climate.... - chaiwalla, on 12/23/2008, -0/+4Dugg for use of "epistolary" and for Sigfried Sassoon.
- gwaggy12, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3Haha, good call. I think they missed a few.
On the other hand, I now know what J'accuse! means. - UnterDenLinden, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3Exactly, that broke the list for me, I wanted things that actually changed the world, not a letter that people think is funny.
- SexyGeniusNinja, on 12/23/2008, -2/+5FSM while being funny is a powerful political statement nonetheless. Evolution is one of the most powerful useful and well supported scientific theories ever created (possibly "the") and this letter is a satire defending separation of church and state as well as science over superstition. FSM fights the root causes of injustice and intolerance instead of the symptoms. It might now be on par but it is powerful and important and its actual stature is a matter of opinion.
- damonic, on 12/23/2008, -2/+5Agreed. This is so much better than an XKCD comic.
- bdbr, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3Its mentioned at the bottom; that's all it really deserved. It didn't change the world; it didn't even change iTunes much (most of their stuff is still DRMed, even music that isn't DRMed elsewhere).
I dugg up this article because it didn't credit Steve Jobs for the slow death of DRM that's been taking place for years. - shipwreck58, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3Pretty good stuff. I was gonna mention the ZImmerman Letter (Telegram), however I came to my senses when i translated the word OPEN. :)
- Chalks777, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3lol?
- pinguwin, on 12/23/2008, -1/+4I buried it for this very reason. Goombella, there were 95 theses but one letter. Essentially 95 bullet points in modern vernacular. Once I noticed that Luther's letter wasn't included, I didn't bother with the rest.
- RumpleForeskin3, on 12/23/2008, -2/+5A photoshop tutorial for the holidays is better than an XKCD comic.
- aenegeling, on 12/23/2008, -0/+3How about Gao Zhisheng's open letter to the Chinese Communist Party leaders. While its effects haven't changed the world as such, it's had a fairly big impact. Definitely worth a read.
http://cipfg.org/en/index.php?news=290 - zadadka, on 12/23/2008, -3/+5No.6, Billy-boy Gates.
Only read the article to ensure that one was there. - Chalks777, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2Eating babies. More important than software piracy.
- Goombellaofgoom, on 12/23/2008, -2/+4There were 95 of them, last I checked.
- bdbr, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2I'm digging you up because that's interesting stuff, but large written works don't sound much like an open letter.
- Chalks777, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2incidentally, "nailed to a church door" is kind of misleading. The church door was basically the bulletin board of the day. It's akin to saying "He pinned a note to the bulletin board"... much less dramatic, I know.
/life of the party - TheUngod, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2They totally forgot David Cross' letter to Larry the Cable Guy. Pft.
- Stavrosian, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2Plus ça change and all that.
- TedTschopp, on 12/23/2008, -1/+3Yea it was interesting, he included Martin Luther King, who was named after the reformer, but not the man himself. Talk about in accurate.
Interestingly enough the author responds to this point of with the following in the comments:
"If I do expand this article, there’ll be a whole segment on religious open letters — for example, Corinthians. And I feel like there’s a rich vein here, so I probably will be posting a follow-up in the new year. "
To which I say, that letters 1 (MLK) and 4 (FSM) are both semi-religious in nature. - UnterDenLinden, on 12/23/2008, -1/+3I agree, there have been far more influential letters. How about the letters of Paul in the bible. While you may not agree with them, surely those have changed the world more than that one guys letter about his fake religion that wasn't even taken seriously. The authors just included it to get readers since everyone seems to like it.
- bruuks, on 12/23/2008, -1/+3Martin Luther's 95 theses?
That changed the world. - Stavrosian, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2As I understood it, Gates' letter was viewed as little more than a joke by those it was intended to sting. I'm surprised to see it mentioned at all.
- SexyGeniusNinja, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2What about these open letters?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m68-oWBh9Ow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvPXI95hgnA&fea ...
As someone who had an entire bike stolen once these letters really hit home...
I couldn't find a video for "Dear Guy I Clotheslined As You Went By on Your Bicycle." but there is a transcript at the below link.
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~clee/kith.htm ...
Truly life changing. sideWALK *****. - neko6, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2My first fought too. But it wasn't very influential, only groundbreaking.
- Mujokan, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2That's true, but he wrote The Consolations of Philosophy while awaiting execution, so it sprang to mind as a message to the world somewhat like an open letter. That's my story, anyway. Or I may not have read the topic very carefully.
- PCGCentipede, on 12/23/2008, -2/+4Dugg for FSM
- UnterDenLinden, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2That's like saying 95 mouse, you need plural.
- thedude42, on 12/23/2008, -0/+2Well, there were 6 letters. I'm guessing the author of this post did, in fact, read the letters. However, it is questionable whether any time went in to researching anything about the subject these letters addressed beyond the glance at wikipedia.... but hey, this is the Internet. The land of the eternal 365 page desktop calendar with recycled fun facts and mildly humorous statements.
can has bury? -
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