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Embarrassing Chapters in US History, Part 3

A follow-up to Parts 1 and 2, not in any specific order just stuff that got left out of the first 2.
Quiz by kalbahamut
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Last updated: September 17, 2018
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First submittedJune 23, 2014
Times taken2,020
Average score66.7%
Rating2.25
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Answer
In 1830 this president signs the Indian Removal Act.
Andrew Jackson
As a result, near 50,000 people are forcibly relocated west. Thousands perish en route.
Their journey becomes known as this.
Trail of Tears
This presidential candidate is accused of being a Muslim who pals around with terrorists and a Kenyan with a forged birth certificate among other things, and has his early work as a community organizer repeatedly disparaged.
Barack Obama
In 1954, to differentiate Americans from godless Communists, Congress adds
these two words to the Pledge of Allegiance.
Under God
Two years later the official motto of the country is changed to this.
In God We Trust
After appearing to win the Tour de France multiple times this man is found guilty of cheating.
Lance Armstrong
Racist laws passed from 1876 to 1965 in various states establish segregation, prohibit miscegneation, and restrict voting rights and collectively come to be known as this.
Jim Crow
Joseph Smith and tens of thousands of followers establish this church in the 19th century.
Mormon
Some sects of the above religion still practice this form of marriage, illegally, to this day.
Polygyny
This oft-celebrated US president brings the entire world to the brink of annihilation in 1962.
John F Kennedy
This self-obsessed douche gains cult hero status
after irreponsibly dissemenating classified information in the 2010s.
Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden
Following the acquittal in 1992 of LAPD officers who brutally beat this man,
riots break out resulting in 53 deaths and a billion dollars in property damage.
Rodney King
909 followers of this crazy person commit mass suicide in 1978
by drinking cyanide-laced FlavorAid.
Jim Jones
Southern Democrats furious over their party's support of civil rights legislation break away and form this, their own party, in 1948.
Dixiecrat
Subsequently, to capitalize on racists' disillusionment with Democrats, Republicans in the 60s adopt this strategy to gain their favor.
"Southern Strategy"
In 1993 two special forces helicopters are shot down in this country. 18 Americans are killed.
Somalia
This science fiction author incorporates the Church of Scientology in 1953.
L Ron Hubbard
This man in 2013 is acquitted on all charges after stalking and killing an unarmed teenager,
citing Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.
George Zimmerman
In a 2005 survey of 34 "Western" countries, only people from Turkey are found to be less accepting of this established scientific Theory.
Evolution
Starting in 1979, 66 Americans are held hostage in this country for 444 days.
Rescue attempts end in debacle.
Iran
This popular TV personality claims the Haitian earthquake of 2010 was caused by the Haitians' pact with the devil. It's not the worst thing he's ever said, yet he's still on TV.
Pat Robertson
relessness
+8
Level 47
Jun 23, 2014
Wow, somebody doesn't like Snowden :). and besides, isn't her name now Chelsea Manning?
tassysurfer
+2
Level 14
Jun 23, 2014
You're thinking of Bradley Manning.
relessness
+1
Level 47
Jun 23, 2014
Yeah, sorry I meant Bradley.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Jun 25, 2014
I have more respect for Manning than Snowden. He's not quite as much of a hypocrite or attention-seeker. But he did allow his personal psychological problems to interfere with his duty and then chose to share thousands of pages of classified documents he hadn't even read or looked at. This was not brave nor heroic it was reckless, irresponsible, selfish, and criminal. An emotional outburst from someone feeling depressed and sorry for themselves, not a courageous stand for what was right.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jul 28, 2015
It's still under review if anything they did was illegal or not, but even if it's determined that it was, it will be a pretty soft and fuzzy case. If people wanted to be upset they should have been when the Patriot Act was passed. Not when Snowden revealed what pretty much everyone paying attention already knew.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jun 23, 2014
His/her/its name/identity was changed/regressed/corrected to Chelsea Manning, at least publicly, after the whole Wikileaks story broke. I'm going with what (pronoun) was called when the story first made headlines and people became aware of _____.

And, I don't have anything against Snowden, except that he's a narcissistic self-righteous goober like I said. And people worship him as some kind of hero when he didn't actually reveal any info that was useful and/or not already widely known while at the same time compromising ongoing intelligence gathering. All in the service of his own ego, imho. Then he came out as a giant hypocrite by fleeing to China and Russia, not exactly known bastions of civil liberty, to save himself from facing the consequences of his own reckless and ill-considered actions, all the while giving speeches trying to paint himself as the martyr while simultaneously campaigning for asylum at some beach resort. Other than all that I'm sure he's a good guy.

kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Jun 20, 2017
And at this point it has become pretty clear that Snowden is collaborating with Russia, as is Assange and Wikileaks. Leaks were designed to undermine the USA, destabilize Europe, break up NATO, etc... because all of this is to the advantage of Russia and its influence. If you believe Russia doesn't do everything the NSA was doing and much worse, then you are very very confused.
SpencerGT
+1
Level 67
Oct 11, 2021
I get that he may or may not be a good guy, but he exposed key details about the government's ability to surveil citizens, no?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
He did reveal classified information, this is true. But he did not reveal anything that the public needed to know that wasn't already known in my opinion. Before Snowden, anyone paying attention could have told you that the NSA was collecting meta data on US citizens. It wasn't a secret. I've asked many Snowden fans what he revealed that was both important and unknown before he revealed it... they've come up with nothing. Usually they default to arguing: "well, he might not have told us anything new, but he did bring more attention to what was going on which was valuable." and that's true. But he could have done this without breaking the law or supplying classified data to Russia and China. If he truly was guided by a desire to do what was right he could have done what was right... and faced the music the same way Woodward and Bernstein did, or Daniel Ellsberg did. But he didn't do the right thing. And that's why he's an international fugitive.
SpencerGT
+1
Level 67
Oct 11, 2021
I'm not sure that I buy that he needed to "face the music" in order to be a good figure.

The music, in this case, would likely have been life in prison, or possibly something more extreme.

I'll admit, I don't know if anything he shared about surveillance capabilities was previously unknown or not. I do remember being shocked at the breadth of the government's ability to track information.

kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
I'd encourage you to read about what happened to Woodward, Bernstein, and Ellsberg. They all faced similar consequences and were exonerated. If Snowden ends up in jail he'll be where he belongs.
camus
+2
Level 78
Jun 26, 2014
Always wondered why JFK is worshipped so heavily. Spying on the opposition party is common political corruption, I guess, but nearly wiping out the world...
kalbahamut
+5
Level 82
Jun 27, 2014
He was young, handsome, idealistic, and made into a martyr before he really had a good chance to disappoint anybody. That's my take.
FinlandForever19
+2
Level 80
Dec 19, 2017
Many in his Admin wanted Kennedy to press the button. We're actually extremely lucky he handled it the way he did.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Dec 19, 2017
We are lucky (if you value being alive... but that's a different discussion). But whether you want to count Kennedy as a savior or as one of the hotheads who very nearly (but luckily didn't) get us all killed, I think that whatever the case it can't be argued that American leadership at the time wasn't acting recklessly.
divantilya
+1
Level 37
Oct 16, 2018
^ Or rather that his brother, Bobby handled it the way he did.

Bobby was the power- behind- the -throne.

Yankee
+2
Level 51
Jul 28, 2014
Kalbahamut, kalbahamut, kalbahamut... Jackson signed the IRA because he wanted to help the Indians. It was misguided, but it was in good intentions. Jackson had an adopted Cherokee son. Not something an Indian-hater would do, is it? Obama called himself a Muslim to George Stephenopoulos...that's kind of different from being accused. Mormonism is not embarrassing, it's a religion. The polygamy isn't good, but isn't widespread at all, unlike in other Islamic countries. Rodney King led the police on a chase and had PCP in his body. He also refused to comply with police demands after he stopped, like "stand still." There were other black people (who, if the ideology of racist policemen is followed, should have been beaten as well) in the car with King who were NOT beaten at all. Helicopters cannot be Special Forces, but they can carry Special Forces soldiers. Lastly, Zimmerman did not "stalk and kill" Trayvon. Trayvon beat him up, and Zimmerman shot him in self-defense.
kalbahamut
+6
Level 82
Sep 7, 2014
The Indian Removal Act is still an embarrassing chapter in US History. They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I didn't say he hated Indians (though adopted son aside it would be hard to make a case that he was exactly a champion of equality), I just said he signed the act. Obama misspoke and immediately corrected himself; fools, cynics, bigots and liars spread it around anyway. Something being a religion does not save it from being embarrassing. I actually don't have a problem with polygamy, though the way it is practiced by some Mormon sects (and by all Mormons originally, and by many in Muslim countries) is for sure embarrassing. It's sad that it continues to this day in the USA even if it is a minority who perpetuate it. Concerning King, you don't think it was tragic or shameful that 53 people were killed in the aftermath of the verdict reading? And did you really just imply that in order for a policeman to be racist he is required to beat ALL black people?
kalbahamut
+7
Level 82
Sep 7, 2014
Zimmerman did stalk and kill Trayvon. He had no business following him and did so against the advice of the 911 dispatcher. He was a racist armed thug. If anyone was acting in self-defense it was the unarmed teenager who was being chased through his own neighborhood, and whether or not he jumped or punched Zimmerman is somewhat immaterial. He didn't kill him. and he didn't start it. yet his murderer got off scott free. About the helicopters.. you're just nitpicking.
SpencerGT
+1
Level 67
Oct 11, 2021
We don't really know who started the physical confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin.

I think that's kind of the point, that because we don't know the details, and because of the way the law is written, Zimmerman had to be acquitted, which is a shame to some/many.

kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
To my mind it's irrelevant. Zimmerman, a racist armed thug, stalked an unarmed teenager through his own neighborhood against the advice of 911 dispatchers, and as a result that teenager ended up dead. If Martin jumped the guy who was stalking him through the neighborhood... that seems way more justified than the stalking in the first place. If it's okay to shoot and kill someone when you feel threatened (which is the law in Florida) then how is it not okay to push someone to the ground when they are stalking you through your neighborhood with a firearm? Zimmerman had no business doing that. He put himself in a situation where use of the gun would become a possibility. His unjustified actions led directly to someone's death by his own hand and he's got no valid excuse.

Yes, according to the law, Zimmerman did not murder anyone. But... the language of the law may be the most embarrassing part of the whole story.

SpencerGT
+1
Level 67
Oct 11, 2021
Yeah, I agree.
EvanAviator
+3
Level 59
Oct 11, 2021
bro is defending andrew jackson
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
Plenty of reasonable defenses for Andrew Jackson can be made. But he's trying to defend the Indian Removal Act which goes above and beyond...
willmowill
+2
Level 80
Oct 12, 2021
Also Jackson ignored a SCOTUS ruling and removed Native Americans anyway; argubly setting up how the federal government would interact with Native tribes for decades to come. This act is not defensible.
beetboy12
+2
Level 37
Aug 5, 2014
I don't think there's anything wrong with polygamy if it's among consenting adults. Pretend it's a business venture and the parties in question are investors.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Aug 6, 2014
To be honest I don't either, but the way that it is practiced in some Mormon sects and pretty much in every society and culture around the world where it is allowed it is between one adult male and several females who are often non-consenting and underage. This is the main reason the practice is illegal in the USA.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jan 5, 2015
I made a part 4. Take it.
smaryll
+4
Level 53
Apr 29, 2017
How about DDMMYY:- when the young, ridiculously named KALBAHAMUT comes online armed with a load of "facts", mined from wikipedia, and becomes the most opinionated person on the internet?

Wait. That date belongs in "Embarrassing chapters in HUMAN history". Sorry.

kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Apr 30, 2017
Do you think it's fair people like you get to compete in the Special Olympics or do you think registration should be limited to people with physical disabilities only?
smaryll
+3
Level 53
May 1, 2017
Ha ha ha. Add "is only capable of pitiful childish comebacks" to your lengthy list of crimes. You're lucky we'll never meet in person pal or you'd soon learn that my physical abilities far outstrip yours. You must spend all of your time answering criticisms of your absolutely pathetic quizzes on here. What a petty person. And an utterly abject existence. Oh btw, the minimum requirement for a quiz should be that it is based on facts, not on your juvenile opinions. Moron. I bet this isn't published as you won't want to see another embarrassing defeat broadcast to the handful of people who come here to view this pointless quiz.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 1, 2017
pitiful childish comebacks don't include "why doncha cash me outside?"
smaryll
+2
Level 53
May 1, 2017
I'm not sure what this pathetic phrase means, but if you're suggesting I offered to take you outside to continue this pleasant conversation I don't really see how that is possible as it is taking place ONLINE. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that meeting in person is feasible. I was merely stating that my physical abilities likely outstrip yours, as do my intellectual qualities (not also stated, but obvious from the ease with which I besting you here). You really need to learn when to give up.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 1, 2017
This is perhaps the most wonderfully histrionic, unhinged unprovoked breakdown I've seen on this site in something like 6 years. Thanks for that. After today I could use the cheering up.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 1, 2017
please continue. Are you sure you're smarter than me? Seem pretty stupid from where I'm sitting. Maybe give us a logical proof. And what's the circumference of your biceps?

and.... go!

smaryll
+2
Level 53
May 1, 2017
Lol, is that all you've got? You could have lifted these responses from a list of "ultimate teenage comebacks" as they bear absolutely no relation to this conversation. And, my accurate assassinations of your miserable character are neither unhinged not unprovoked. As many others have seen (and stated) you are the most pompous, self absorbed know it all in the history of the Internet (never mind just six years of this site). Most tragically of all, your "opinions" may as well have been cut and pasted from Wikipedia for all the insight they offer. Give up man, you can't win. It's getting embarrassing for you now.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 2, 2017
::wipes tears from eyes::

::catches breath from bouts of hysterical laughter::

yes, you have so totally and thoroughly defeated me, you amazing specimen of a man. You are so brilliant and so powerful and of course we know this because you told everyone. How could I ever hope to compete? You've left me broken, humbled, and humiliated.. so invested was I in this exchange with a complete and total stranger who has never addressed me before, and so allegedly superior you are to me in intellect and machismo... how could it have possibly ended any other way? You win the Internet. Your congratulatory cookie is in the mail.

smaryll
+2
Level 53
May 2, 2017
Ha ha ha, you just couldn't help yourself. Back for more punishment baby? You absolute masochist.

Unbelievably, you've actually managed to take a step down from pathetic, baseless juvenile insults to paper thin sarcasm. I never believed even you could be this useless.

And it's not possible to "win the Internet" retard, but it's easy to bury the most asinine person on it. As I have easily proved here. Anyway, this is beneath me. Pray you don't encounter me again as you are completely out of your depth. As Wikipedia can't help you now :D. Go back to making your pathetic quizzes for nine year olds.

Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
May 2, 2017
I assume that you enjoying responding to these comments @kal. If not, let me know, and I will delete the thread.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 3, 2017
I am finding it pretty hilarious. Don't know this guy from Adam. I was thinking when I came here just now I was going to comment "alright, this is boring me, but you go right on ahead"... but then he made me laugh again.
jmellor13
+3
Level 67
Apr 15, 2021
Gotta be honest, I laughed pretty good at the Special Olympics joke.
smaryll
+4
Level 53
May 2, 2017
Quizmaster - you should delete this thread due to the reprehensible use of a Special Olympics reference as an insult. Or are you just protecting your own like a good Nazi?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
May 3, 2017
You're right, I looked for Wikipedia pages on winning random meaningless unprovoked Internet pissing contests and couldn't find anything. My god... why hast thou forsaken me?
lmiller
+1
Level 30
May 5, 2018
Okay already we're back to the NAZI! comments.... nice work @smarryl.... calling someone a nazi/hitler is the very basest of insults.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
Also thanks for calling me young.
FinlandForever19
+4
Level 80
Jun 19, 2017
I thought the first two were bad, but the bias and one sidedness in this one takes the cake.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Jun 19, 2017
Andrew Jackson was a Democrat. Eisenhower (approved the change to the pledge and motto) was a Republican. Armstrong is an athlete. Kennedy was a Democrat. Manning and Snowden were liberal darlings, Manning still is, Snowden might yet become a conservative hero with the GOP is now seemingly allied with the KGB, so who knows. Jim Jones was a-political. The Dixiecrats were former Democrats who eventually became Republicans. The Southern Strategy was adopted by Republicans. Black Hawk Down was on Clinton's (Democrat) watch. Hubbard was apolitical. Racist thug Zimmerman became a conservative darling and liberal pariah. Iran hostage crisis was under Carter (Democrat). Robertson is not a politician, though he supports Republican candidates.

So... which way exactly is this politically biased? Are you in favor of Jim Crow? Are you pro child marriage? Are you anti-science? Or are you just an idiot?

minivan2905
+1
Level 48
Jun 8, 2020
Wow, imagine including Mormonism among some of the worst moments in American history :/
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
Jun 9, 2020
a known conman and fraudster inventing his own *very* dumb religion, inspiring large numbers of people to follow him out in to the wilderness where he convinced them to let him sleep with their wives and underage daughters, starting traditions of child sexual exploitation, polygamy and racism that would continue for generations. You're right. Nothing wrong with that. Because now it's considered a legitimate religion and so above criticism in the minds of most people. Not that most other religions started out any better...
JohnnyYeet
+1
Level 57
Jun 10, 2020
I mean...when you put it that way, sure. But things were different back then. I mean, you look at Christianity in general. Some random guy named Jesus with long hair getting a huge following for no reason except that he could possibly be a Messiah, which probably wasn't even a thing so much as it was a rumor, and then the Romans say that no, join our religion or die, which, by the way, is exactly what several Islamic countries do today, so he says no, and then they kill him, so people love him so much that they try to believe that he's back and ta-da, it works! Saying it from your own standpoint can either make it seem very glorious or very stupid, @kal. When you put it that way, it does sound stupid. But not everybody, especially Mormons, see it the same way.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jun 11, 2020
So? I'm sure the members of the Heaven's Gate cult who practiced self castration and committed group suicide so that they could join Jesus on his spaceship behind the comet Hale Bopp thought that what they were doing seemed reasonable, too. It wasn't.
jmellor13
+1
Level 67
Apr 15, 2021
But the launch of Christianity wasn't an embarrassing moment in American history because it didn't happen here. Many Americans who consider themselves Christian still do plenty worthy of embarrassment, but the machinations of certain members of a religion spread across the country is harder to pin down than the actual inception of a religion. I don't know a whole lot about Mormonism beyond what I've learned from Trey Parker, so I offer no commentary on whether it's actually an embarrassment, but it started in the US, as did Scientology (which is definitely an embarrassment). So they suit the quiz better than Christianity does.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jun 8, 2021
yeah I really should have put something about Scientology on one of these.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
Did someone nominate this to get spotlighted? Thanks, I guess, if so. Or is it just automatically or randomly selected?
Josiah
+2
Level 57
Oct 11, 2021
The User Spotlight Feature
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
That clears it up. I've been awarded spotlight options before but I didn't realize that I could use this to spotlight someone else's quiz so I've always used them on my own. I guess someone else picked this one.
cranbeckh
+2
Level 68
Oct 11, 2021
Well, these comments were very amusing. Keep them coming.
gabeythejedi
+1
Level 67
Oct 11, 2021
This quiz is neither fun nor educational.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
Apologies for failing to educate or entertain you. We tried our best.
Potatoe1187
+2
Level 65
Oct 11, 2021
Whats even more sad is I read in the book "the symphony for the city of the dead" is that hitler actually looked fondly on the way Americans removed natives from their lands forceably and used the same tactics on the Ukrainians, belarusians, and other soviet republics...
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
do you mean Stalin?
Potatoe1187
+1
Level 65
Oct 12, 2021
one of the two, i just returned my book to the library so I cant really check.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 12, 2021
well I don't see how Hitler would have had much input into what was done to people in Soviet republics. I've read that he greatly admired the Ottoman genocide of Armenians within their borders, though.
EvanAviator
+1
Level 59
Oct 11, 2021
Why is the word "child" accepted for polygyny?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 11, 2021
As in "child marriage".. which is something else that both Smith and the church he founded practiced for a long time.
Lemondance
+1
Level 67
Oct 18, 2021
The clue for Pat Robertson needs to be updated
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Oct 19, 2021
The 91 year old is handing over hosting duties of the 700 Club to his son and intends to continue making appearances on that show and others - so... still reads as accurate to me. It's not like the network banned him from appearing.
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