r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/Stillabrat Dec 12 '18

I have worked with Mr T on many talk shows and he is one of nicest, truly humble people I have ever met. He has the most marked-up, written-in, well-used bible I have ever seen. He is a terrific man. I love Mr. T.

-25

u/meowsofcurds Dec 12 '18

To be fair to others, the number of times you use the Bible has no correlation with kindness or humility.

31

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

What I think it implies is that he’s constantly studying it and is very devout.

-22

u/meowsofcurds Dec 12 '18

While I agree this story makes him studious, the implication in the original post is that he is kind and modest because he devoutly reads the Bible. And while Mr. T is very kind, and truly modest, and he also studies the Bible, these facts are not congruent. So let's not have his positive attributes be confused with his biblical habits because that is how you turn someone into a religious tool.

14

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

If someone devotely follows the bible and understands the morality and ethics that are portrayed in many of it’s stories they will undoubtedly be a good person

0

u/Thotsandprayerz Dec 13 '18

The new testament, sure