Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down Which Historical Events Were Horrible But Ultimately Necessary

People Break Down Which Historical Events Were Horrible But Ultimately Necessary
white wooden fence on green grass field during daytime
Photo by Mathis Jrdl on Unsplash
Make us preferred on Google

As we enter the third year of the global pandemic, with cases continuing to ebb and flow, it's hard not to look back on whether or not this could have been avoided, and what the world might be like today had Covid-19 not spread throughout the world.

With that in mind, one also can't help but wonder whether or not there will, in fact, be some good to come out of this.

Many people have pointed out how people will likely be more diligent with their hygiene, companies might re-examine the possibilities of working from home and disability, not to mention how much we value our friends and loved ones, after not being able to see them and hug them for months on end.

Begging the question, was the global pandemic one of the many necessary evils endured by the human race?

Redditor Appropriate-Cut8001 was curious to learn what horrific historical events people felt were, at the end of the day, necessary for multiple reasons, leading them to ask:

"What’s an event in history that everyone agrees was horrible but also agrees it was necessary?"


The Tylenol Murders

"The Tylenol murders."

"That sucks to say because 7, I believe without looking it up, people died."

"It caused the safety seals to be placed on every bottle containing any type of pill you can go pick up over the counter."

"Who knows how many of those seals have prevented another tragedy."- thegardensofbabylon

The Glen Cinema Disaster

"The Glen Cinema Disaster."

"Without it we would be locking fire doors on kid's movies."- pinkpringlesupremacy

The Titanic

"The sinking of the Titanic sure got people serious about ship safety and probably saved a lot of lives, especially since this was right before WWI."- Dictator4Hire

"This is a horrific thing for me to say, I have a degree in archeology with a concentration in maritime archeology, but Titanic sinking saved countless lives in future sinkings."- LadySigyn

"Sinking of the Titanic."

"Led to major changes about lifeboat capacity, as in everyone gets a spot, a dedicated iceberg watch and 24hr manned radios for starters."- jollyralph

The Plague

"The plague ironically gave poor workers the opportunity to get better wages and a few more rights than in the past where they were basically slaves to the rich."

"I don't know a lot about that time period so I don't know the details, but I always thought that was kind of a neat thing to come out of a horrific situation."- walkinghomeat3am

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

"The triangle shirtwaist fire, for the amount of time I spent learning about this in school I think it’s pretty important."

"Kinda set off the alarm for how badly people were being treated."- 6245stampycat

Extinction

"I guess whatever wiped out the dinosaurs since it made room for even bigger a**holes."- A-dog-named-Trouble

The World Wars

" Germany loosing both world wars."

"I am german and I truly believe we wouldn't be a such a modern democracy with a relatively young code of laws if it wasn't for the damn WW."

"It is good to have a state set back to 0 sometimes."

"Some laws and some phrases in a constitution just don't belong into the 21st century."

"Also, I like the current state of national pride here."

"Yeah, Germany is a great country and I feel home here, but we don't celebrate our past and are very careful when celebrating our achievement."

"I think this might be a good thing because I travelled many countries where national pride shut down legitimate criticism of history or politics."

"No matter how much you want to believe your country is the best."

"They all suck one way or the other."

"It is important to remember these dark times and learn from them."- datbarricade

"World War 2."

"Germany didn't deserve the way it was treated after World War 1, and I personally believe World War 2 changed how the countries handle reparations after large-scale wars."- P_Solaris

The origin of the breathalyzer

"1966."

"A drunk driver ran over a class of 10 boys and their teacher."

"One boy of the class survived because he was home sick."

"One day before the funeral, the Belgian government enforced the breathalyzer."- akisomething

Sampoong Department Store Collapse.

"Sampoong Department Store collapse."

"There was a research that only 2% of buildings in South Korea were safe."- Willy0126

Russia's Invasion

"This is more of a funny event/fact, but it belongs to this as well."

"When Napoleon Bonaparte with his army were invading Russia, they absolutely destroyed Russian first line on Russian borders and little in them."

"The rest of the army started fleeing back into the inland heading to Moscow."

"Napoleon chased them."

"During this chasing the winter started and Napoleon’s army was running out of food and resources, so Napoleon said that, they will raid Moscow, loot it and continue to the Russian inland."

"But, general of Russian army has invented an idea to raid Moscow first, steal everything from their own very important city and when Napoleon arrived there, it was empty, so they remained in the middle of hostile land, without food, water, something to warm or anything similar to that."

"And that’s how the great Napoleon was defeated."- VostiiiiikCZ

Pre- testing medicines

"The issues with thalidomide cause everyone except for America could see the danger of unregulated and lack of testing in medication."- ConnorMcJesusGoat

Vipeholms Experiments

"Probably the vipeholms experiments."

"Absolutely horrible but lead to some major breakthroughs in dentistry."- MjauDuuude

Radium Girls

"The whole Radium Girls tragedy."- EnoughtoLiveBy

Slavery

"Hear me out because this starts off very rough."

"But slavery was a key factor in terms of music."

"By no means am I saying it was right."

"And I’m well aware that its pretty f*ckd up to say."

"But without it, modern music would be nothing without it."

"Slaves would sing melancholic songs which turned into blues, those blues notes inspired jazz and rock."

"Which inspired a new approach to the 70s-80s synth music."

"Which inspired 90s hip-hop."

"You get the point."- Individual-Brief-345

All of Them.

"Pretty much everything on Fascinating Horror’s channel."

"All horrific disasters that led to devastation, but ultimately resulted in better laws and regulations, preventing even worse disasters in the future."- Dragoncat99

It is important to remember that tragedies have a way of bringing people together, and possibly look at life with a brand new, far more optimistic outlook.

Even if one can't help but wish it didn't come at such a painful cost.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshot of Donald Trump during ribbon-cutting ceremony
Newsmax

Video Of Trump Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Is All Kinds Of Awkward After Media Ban Backfires Spectacularly

President Donald Trump's decision to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House prompted a network boycott in solidarity and a ribbon cutting ceremony on the White House's South Lawn came with completely indecipherable audio because the press pool has decided to stop filming daily events.

Footage from a Monday ribbon cutting ceremony revealed that the sounds of the Marine One chopper just yards away drowned out Trump's remarks. The far-right network Newsmax was on the scene, and even they had to admit that Trump's attack against the free press seemed to be “backfiring just a little bit.”

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshots from Chris Gallant Instagram reel
@_gallantny/Instagram

Gay Congressional Candidate Refuses To Be Ashamed Of Fetish Model Past After Attacks From Conservatives—And We're Cheering

Openly gay New York congressional candidate Chris Gallant is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the New York Army National Guard and volunteer firefighter on Long Island. He was an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration and served in a union leadership role with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

But he is being attacked for another job he once had.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mike Johnson flanked by other Republicans
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

House Republicans Get Hit With Epic Reminder After Tweet Warning About Communists Building Walls

After the official House Republicans X account tweeted a warning that "every communist country eventually builds a wall," critics were quick to point out the party's general hypocrisy.

President Donald Trump has long advocated for the United States to construct a border wall, making it a cornerstone of his immigration policy back in 2016. Since then, Republicans have continued to defend the wall as necessary for reasons of national security.

Keep ReadingShow less
Shailene Woodley attends the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Shailene Woodley's Stylist For The Emmys Calls Out 'Super Rude And Mean' Comments About Actor's Look

Shailene Woodley has plenty going on right now, including her first Emmy win and an ex-fiancé suddenly sharing intimate details about their relationship. Yet somehow, the internet has decided her red carpet outfit is the situation requiring immediate attention.

Woodley attended Monday’s 78th Primetime Emmy Awards after already having a pretty good reason to celebrate. The 34-year-old won her first Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for playing Annie Clay in season 2 of Hulu’s Paradise at the Creative Arts Emmys on September 6.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jennifer Lopez
Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Minnesota Shoplifter's Mugshot Goes Viral After People Think She Looks A Lot Like Jennifer Lopez

BREAKING: Megastar Jennifer Lopez has been arrested for shoplifting in Minnesota—oh wait, it's just a woman who LOOKS like Jennifer Lopez.

But like, really, really looks like Jennifer Lopez. So much so her mugshot is going viral.

Keep ReadingShow less