15 Rule-Breakers that Make Perfect Role-Models for Today’s Men

By Manolith Team on February 24th, 2010

• Tweet
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 26 Comments


There have been many great men over the centuries, and though most of them weren’t exactly known for authority-bucking attitude, there were exceptions. Some of them have been nothing short of absolute outlaws; wanted and hunted by a ruling party somewhere, while praised and hidden by others. Some of these men were public figures, some liked their privacy, and some found themselves forced into the limelight for their beliefs. They come from all walks of life the world over, but they are recognized just the same — these are 15 rule-breakers that make for perfect role-models for today’s men.


Galileo Galilei

Image Source


In a time when it was deemed heresy to disagree with the Church’s views, and there was no discernible difference between Church and State when it came to laws and punishments, Galileo was a rebel. The man was a brilliant philosopher, physicist, astronomer and mathematician; he’s called the “father” of several sciences and he’s revered as one of the most important scientists of all time. In his time, the word of the Church was that the entire universe centered around Earth, and to speak otherwise was liable to get a visit from the Inquisition. That’s exactly what happened to Galileo when he stood apart and said that Earth, and other planetary bodies, revolve around the Sun. He bid his time by lying to them when they pressured him the first time, but came back with a vengeance and stuck to his convictions by releasing a book on the subject. He spent the remainder of his life under house arrest as a suspected heretic — but every one of us knows his name.


Benjamin Franklin

Image Source


We all know Ben Franklin because his exploits were hammered into our skulls through years of primary schooling, but sometimes we forget just how awesome the guy really was. The scholarly and the diplomatic are always the two faces we see most in history blurbs when old Ben comes up, but it’s not largely mentioned just how big a badass he was for his time. First off, he was instrumental in the revolution of the colonies, and had the balls to do it publicly with his name up front and center. We tend to forget that guys like him were instantly targets of the Crown and labelled traitors and criminals. He travelled to Europe in the thick of it all to represent his compatriots to the French, and won our very first wartime allies. He may not have been known for his skill in physical battle, but when it came down to it, the man was powerful with his words. He’s worthy of all our respect.


Frederick Douglass

Image Source


Frederick Douglass was born into slavery during the early 1800s, and he learned that there was a possible escape at an early age. He got his first taste of what was to come from the wife of a man whose home he was staying in as a child — she taught him how to read. That alone was forbidden, but he never stopped or let up on his quest for knowledge. He read everything he could get his hands on, and over time he started hatching plans. He made two unsuccessful attempts to escape his bonds before he finally nailed it; both of which could have gotten him killed. When he finally managed to get free, he made his way to New York City. After that point, though he was technically an outlaw, he made a life for himself and took a stand against slavery right out in the open, becoming one of the best-known abolitionists of the era. The man had guts to match his brains, and he was lucky enough to see his dream come true.


Robert Oppenheimer

Image Source


Robert Oppenheimer had both the luxury and misfortune of being a part of the now fabled Manhattan Project from its very beginnings. He ran the whole thing, having the full trust of the government despite having spent a good deal of time in Germany just prior to all out war between both countries. He was a brilliant physicist who also had the uncanny ability to manage people — something scientists of his caliber aren’t usually known for — and he played an integral role in every stage of development in the project. After two full-sized bombs were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he and many of his men had difficulty coping with what they had created. Oppenheimer never strayed in his loyalties, but he had the moral courage to stand apart and say what he felt about the new technology and its uses. He got ostracized for it, lost his clearance, and was put under a microscope for over a decade. He never waivered, and he paid a heavy social price for his convictions.


Nelson Mandela

Image Source


Nelson Mandela started off life as an educated young man living a fairly decent life. He, unlike many others of his time, was not blind to what was going on around him, and tried to make a difference. In the beginning, he tried to do so through nonviolent methods — taking cues from Gandhi — but that was failing against Apartheid. After years on the losing side of a one-sided battle against the government, Mandela took a step in the opposite direction and became a guerilla. He spearheaded sabotage campaigns as head of a paramilitary group seeking to end Apartheid, and he worked to get the group international funding to continue its work. His involvement cost him 27 years of his life, which he spent in various South African prisons. He never gave up his quest while imprisoned, and after his release, he helped to finally end Apartheid once and for all.


Edward R. Murrow

Image Source


Edward R. Murrow is rightfully called one of the greatest broadcast journalists of our time. He worked for CBS during the events leading up to, during, and after World War II; reporting from both the front lines and elsewhere. He reported live during the Blitz from London, and recorded broadcasts while riding in Allied bombers over occupied Europe as well. He spoke frankly to the public, and above all, truthfully. In the 1950s, when the country was getting ready to tear itself into pieces over McCarthy and his Red Scare campaign, Murrow was a lone voice, commanding millions of listeners, who spoke out against him and the tightening grip of the government because of him. He wasn’t making any friends in high places, but he was leading the people toward the demise of Mr. McCarthy. His career was damaged beyond repair for a long time, and he died early due to poor health — but today he’s remembered and revered by all.


Martin Luther King Jr.

Image Source


Anybody who doesn’t know the story of Dr. King, or how he died, and what he fought for, needs to go back to school. Needless to say, King was a brilliant orator and leader — but he was also a man who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He was arrested, threatened, terrorized, vilified; his home was even bombed at one point. By the time he was assassinated, King had become the figurehead of more than just a chapter of an organization, or any single movement. Despite his run-ins with the government, he was later posthumously awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, not to mention the fact that all our calendars now include a Martin Luther King Day.


Thomas Paine

Image Source


Thomas Paine was hugely instrumental in both the American and French revolutions. He’s responsible for the now eponymous Common Sense, one of the most quoted writings to come from the Colonies during the revolutionary years, as well as The Age of Reason, which made him a healthy amount of enemies in the various Christian circles (which, at the time, was nearly everyone). He is revered as one of America’s revolutionary heroes, and was a brilliant propagandist and subversive — but he wasn’t even from the Colonies. He was British. If the Americans were traitors and criminals in their pursuit of self-rule and disconnection from the Crown, then Paine was an outright treasonous bastard in the eyes of the King. He made his choice and stood by his convictions, and he saw it through to the end and after.


Oskar Schindler

Image Source


Oskar Schindler was a young German businessman who was just in his thirties when he lucked across a Polish factory that was going through bankruptcy after the invasion. He purchased the place, and secured about 1,000 workers from the Nazi-run Jewish forced labor pools. It’s no secret that Schindler was motivated by money in the beginning — forced labor for a percentage paid to the Reich was much better business-wise than hiring resident Poles to do the work on wages. Over time, Schindler witnessed the treatment of the Jews in the ghettos at the hands of the Nazi guards. He had his fingers everywhere as a savvy businessman and black marketeer, and he knew what was going on across the country. He began shielding his workers from abuse and any sort of mistreatment. He made sure they were well taken care of, and even moved to secure another 1,000 from the ghettos to live in an adjacent factory as an auxiliary workforce. He bribed the SS with his own wealth to keep them safe until the liberation. His story is the motivation for Schindler’s List.


Mohandas Gandhi

Image Source


Like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi — now most often called Mahatma Gandhi, out of respect — is a name that is synonymous with peaceful rebellion. He was the man to start it. He spent a number of years in jail on two separate continents for his civil disobedience and teachings, and he was instrumental in the British relinquishing control over India. He wasn’t perfect, but he was brave and willing to give his life in the pursuit of his goals, and those were always for the betterment of his people. Instead of harming others, or even harming equipment, his methods were to harm himself instead — by refusing to eat. Most of us have trouble going a day without food, and he did it to prove a point.


Muhammad Ali

Image Source


We all know Ali, and most of us know that he started out life as Cassius Clay. What many somehow don’t seem to remember is that although Ali is now remembered positively, as a champion, that during the Vietnam War he was drafted and refused to go. Out of the minority that do remember this, even less remember that instead of simply dodging the draft, or signing up for special treatment as a boxing champion to work with the USO, he paid a hefty fine for refusal, was blacklisted socially, and lost his boxing license. He was stripped of his title and ostracized. It wasn’t until a few years had past, and enough Americans were unhappy with the War, that Ali was suddenly back in the good graces of the populace and allowed to compete again. The rest is history, but one thing’s for certain here; Ali didn’t run, and he didn’t concede when under pressure. He stood his ground and paid for it.


Robin Hood

Image Source


The vast majority of historians and scholars agree; Robin Hood, whatever his real name may have been, was unlikely to have simply been myth. Earliest stories tell the story of a common man who took to the forest with a band of men to become altruistic bandits, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor and dispossessed. He was said to be untrusting of the clergy and government of the time as they had been hoarding money and power while the common public was nothing short of destitute, and to be extremely gracious and respectable toward women. We’re not about to say that men should go around stealing to turn around and give wealth to the poor, but there’s definitely a good deal of hoarding going on these days. Next time a homeless guy asks to bum a cigarette off you, just ask yourself if the 40 cents is too much to spare.


Johannes Kepler

Image Source


Kepler got his start as an assistant to mentor and teacher, Tycho Brahe — a man not only famous for his astronomical discoveries, but for keeping a clairvoyant house dwarf and a tamed moose. After Brahe’s death, Kepler took control of all his research and materials, which he had kept closely guarded until his death. Kepler proceeded to continue the research and after some time was able to complete his Laws of Planetary Motion — becoming a basis for later astronomy and physics. He was a contemporary of Galileo, meaning that every discovery he made was one step closer to being found out for heresy. The he took a more moderate approach to handling the Church publicly, he helped Galileo and others as part of a greater, largely underground movement to bring science out of the dark ages once and for all.


Doc Holliday

Image Source


Long time friend and confidant of Wyatt Earp and his brothers, John “Doc” Holliday was a well-known fixture in the South West of the late 1800s. He was a dentist by training, a professional gambler by necessity, and a gunfighter by fate. He was widely reputed to be deadly with a pistol, one of the fastest in the west — even if his accuracy was less than perfect. He spent the tail end of his life in a constant state of illness, which led to an equally constant state of intoxication and related debauchery. He may have been a vagabond, but he was loyal, and he had a deeply entrenched sense of justice along with a hatred of douchebags. When the Earps went to war with the Clantons, it was Holliday they called to back them up. 


The Dalai Lama

Image Source


Now living in exile since 1959, the Dalai Lama has pushed for nothing but peace and reconciliation with the Chinese government since his departure. Under circumstances that have caused many pacifists to become enraged, China remains in control of Tibet to this day and the Dalai Lama has continued to be a conciliatory voice in a sea of yelling. He travels the world, technically very homeless, living on the good will of host governments and organizations sympathetic to his cause — the freedom of the Tibetan people and the safe return of not just himself, but the many people who fled along with him half a century ago. He is always in good spirits, always kind, and always ready to crack a joke about any situation. He’s the kind of person we should all strive to be just a little bit more like when we’re faced with the daily problems of our lives — like traffic, in-laws, and bad TV.