I Exceptionally, Unanimously, Irrevocably, Definitely, Truly, Madly, Deeply, Crazily, Absolutely Hate Thomas Edison!

This coming October 4, there will be a new Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) in town, and his name is Kamen Rider Ghost.

Kamen Rider Ghost is an obviously ghost-themed rider who uses eye-themed thing-a-ma-bobs called Eyecons to transform and summon spirits from various historical figures, such as Miyamoto Musashi, Thomas Edison, and Isaac Newton to grant him new powers.

The Greatest Douchebag In Science

Wait... Thomas Edison? The greatest douchebag in science?

Growing up we all learned about Thomas Edison and how great he was. Then when I got older I discovered Nikola Tesla. For those people who are unaware of him, Nikola Tesla was the one who dealt with alternating current (AC) which we all use today, while Edison dealt with direct current (DC) which he thought was superior (it obviously wasn't).

So, in order prove to investors the "danger" of AC, Edison set up stunts like electrocuting animals in public (more on that later). Edison even screwed over Tesla at one point. According from Wikipedia:

In 1885, Tesla claimed that he could redesign Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. According to Tesla, Edison remarked, "There's fifty thousand dollars in it for you—if you can do it"—this has been noted as an odd statement from an Edison whose company was stingy with pay and who did not have that sort of cash on hand. After months of work, Tesla fulfilled the task and inquired about payment. Edison, claiming that he was only joking, replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." Instead, Edison offered a US$10 a week raise over Tesla's US$18 per week salary; Tesla refused the offer and immediately resigned.

Now, here's more of Edison being a freaking douchebag.

When the limitations of DC were discussed by the public, Edison launched a propaganda campaign to convince people that AC was far too dangerous to use. The problem with DC was that the power plants could economically deliver DC electricity only to customers within about one and a half miles (about 2.4 km) from the generating station, so that it was suitable only for central business districts. When George Westinghouse suggested using high-voltage AC instead, as it could carry electricity hundreds of miles with marginal loss of power, Edison waged a "War of Currents" to prevent AC from being adopted.

The war against AC led him to become involved in the development and promotion of the electric chair (using AC) as an attempt to portray AC to have greater lethal potential than DC. Edison went on to carry out a brief but intense campaign to ban the use of AC or to limit the allowable voltage for safety purposes. As part of this campaign, Edison's employees publicly electrocuted stray or unwanted animals to demonstrate the dangers of AC; alternating electric currents are slightly more dangerous in that frequencies near 60 Hz have a markedly greater potential for inducing fatal "cardiac fibrillation" than do direct currents. On one of the more notable occasions, in 1903, Edison's workers electrocuted Topsy the elephant at Luna Park, near Coney Island, after she had killed several men and her owners wanted her put to death. His company filmed the electrocution.

The article doesn't state the one of the workers tried to put a cigarette in the elephant's mouth which provoked such attacks.

How does Edison get all this recognition when he was a such a freaking bastard yet nobody has ever even heard of Nikola Tesla?

Let The Oatmeal explain.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response