Thomas Edison was opposite of animal friendly

[9nines]

First, in no way is this a criticism on JW; your signature line just reminded me about some horrible facts on Thomas Edison.

 

I noticed your signature quote: "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~Thomas A. Edison"

 

 

 

Thomas Edison was not a very good person and his actions show that he did not believe what he said in that quote.

 

First He stole some of his inventions. In one of the more famous thefts (the commercial application of alternating current, for which he is most noted) he violently killed many animals, all across the nation.

 

On electricity, Tesla had pioneered alternating current, AC; Edison had pioneered direct current, DC. Tesla and Westinghouse held the AC patents. AC, being frequency manipulated, was far easier to transport long distances. Physically it would win, over DC, in power grids, delivery to homes and buildings etc.

 

Edison, knowing DC would never make mass electricity possible, orchestrated a campaign to ruin Westinghouse and Telsa, so he could get the patents. He did this in steps.

 

One of the first steps, was to convince the public that AC was unsafe, therefore delaying Westinghouse mass implementation.

 

 

 

What Edison did in step one:

 

His propaganda 'fear against AC' campaign took many angles (he wrote editorials, gave talks, etc.) Many centered on the danger of electrocution from AC. To bring drama to this threat, he toured cities. He built steel mess wire grates that he laid on stage floors. He hooked those wires to a large AC generator. He invited all newspapers and as many people as could fit (many times he did this on town squares so thousands could watch), to the shows to witness the horror of AC, where they would witness live electrocutions.

 

What was electrocuted? Before the show, he paid local boys to round of dogs and cats. He then turned on his generator and had assistants fling the animals onto the mesh. As the animals were violently killed by the electricity, he would point and say, "see how dangerous AC is. That will happen to you if they put AC across our lands."

 

 

 

It has been a while since I read these accounts, so no source to post right now. You can search for "tesla" "Edison" "AC" "DC" "dogs and cats" and find much on this. I will try to check for sources and post later, as this is not the happy "print the legend not the fact" history on Edison that is taught in elementary school.

Edited June 29, 2006 by 9nines

[9nines]

I did a quick search (there is more on the internet than I thought.)

 

Wow, I also found he did not stop with dogs and cats but went on to larger animals and even a man (took 30 minuts because Edison used to little power, as he thought what killed dogs and cats would kill a man), in the first electric chair:

 

A search of "edison" "Telsa" "ac" "dc" "dogs and cats" finds pages of search results, so I will post just two of the first ones - these two seem pretty descriptive of what Edison did.

 

http://www.techniguy.com/zone/pages/elchair.html

 

 

http://qzed.livejournal.com/68430.html

 

Edit: I found this one interesting:

 

http://www.knowallabout.com/t/to/topsy_the_elephant.html

 

Topsy the Elephant ( c. 1875 - January 4, 1903) was a member of a domesticated herd at Coney Island's Luna Park. She had been a part of the Forepaugh Circus previously. Topsy was deemed an ill-tempered and dangerous animal in that she killed three men in as many years, the last being an abusive trainer who tried to feed her a lit cigarette. For this reason, her owners decided to put her to death. Cyanide poisoning failed, and a proposal of hanging was abandoned after ASPCA protests. Thomas Edison suggested electrocution, using the Westinghouse alternating current system of electricity transmission, which Edison, a backer of direct current argued was more dangerous. The ASPCA found this suggestion acceptable, viewing electrocution as a more humane form of killing. Electrocution killed Topsy quickly. Edison recorded the execution with a motion picture camera, and showed his film to audiences around the country, as part of his unsuccessful attempt to discredit AC.

[sinisterkungfu]

Edison was a dick.

Tesla was the greatest inventor of modern times.