A brilliant person is not always a good person.
Samuel Morse, for instance.
The inventor who contributed significantly to the birth of the single-wire telegraph, and the code named after him.
Well, Samuel may have been a genius who contributed to the evolution of society. But he wasn’t a good person.
He was a racist.
A committed supporter of anti-immigration laws; a hater and sworn enemy of Catholics (especially Irish immigrants).
The popists, in his opinion, were invading the USA as the result of a conspiracy plan which had, as its ultimate aim, that of making the Land of Freedom “a system of the darkest political intrigue and despotism”.
Gangs of NY vibes here, huh?
As a good racist, he was also a staunch defender of slavery.
He saw nothing wrong with it, being, as himself wrote:
“a social condition ordained from the beginning of the world for the wisest purposes, benevolent and disciplinary, by Divine Wisdom”.
Ah, there is another aspect of Samuel Morse’s life that makes me dislike him.
Although it is incomparably less serious than his political views.
He hated pizza.
During his stay in Italy (1829-1830), when he was still a promising painter, Morse visited Naples.
There he had the opportunity to try pizza for the first time.
But he wasn’t at all enthusiastic about it. Quite the opposite…
He described it as a
“species of the most nauseating cake … covered over with slices of tomato or tomatoes, and sprinkled with little fish and black pepper and I know not what other ingredients, it altogether looks like a piece of bread that has been taken reeking out of the sewer”.
Don’t get me wrong: you don’t judge someone by their personal tastes in food.
But the fact remains that Samuel Morse was a d*ck.
And, whatever your tastes in food are, if you’re interested in my in my copywriting and/or content writing services, just DM