If you could alter one historical event, what would it be?

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Lantern Jack

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I'd take the moment of my birth:tongue

This time round, Josh's Birth 2.0, it would take place on Mt. Vesuvius, with, like, satyrs and goblins and fauns prancing about, the midwife would be a weird sister with a shaggy chest, and someone with a flaming brand dribbling sparks all over my mother, and a bloody sun rising, and "Thus Spake Zarathustra" being sung by all the birds and beasties in unnatural bass. And all the angels and demons would be sedately clapping in tiers, like at the end of A Clockwork Orange. There would be much quaking of the Earth's foundations and screaming and renting of clothes and moony madness and raving and speaking in tongues and, finally, with a totally anti-climactic pop, I would emerge, with the memoirs of my experiences in my mother's womb for 7 and-9-quarter months, clutched against my gory chest:tongue
 

Jcomp

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I've heard tell that the destruction of the library in Alexandria Egypt set civilization back a few hundred years. So maybe undoing that, then returning to the present, would sort of be akin to traveling some centuries into the future.... sounds like good times...
 

Jaycinth

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I'd go back to Halloween of 1929 and tell my mom to buy stock in International Business Machines and hold onto it until at least 1974.
 
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Jcomp said:
I've heard tell that the destruction of the library in Alexandria Egypt set civilization back a few hundred years. So maybe undoing that

That would ruin the ending to "National Treasure."

Please don't. I love that movie.
 

Sarita

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Jcomp said:
I've heard tell that the destruction of the library in Alexandria Egypt set civilization back a few hundred years. So maybe undoing that
I was thinking either this, or undoing Hitler's regime. Aside from all the human destruction, which is just terrible, they destroyed and sold loads of archaeological and historical data in their travels.
 

Nangleator

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I'd hate to diddle with anything before or during the Cold War. I think we were this close to snuffing out during that time, and we can call the result a happy ending.

I'd have 9/11 averted in such a way that we all understood how freaking vulnerable we were to something like that. Or even much worse.

Box cutters. Crap. I lost a friend to that complacency.
 

WDS

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Saritams8 said:
I was thinking either this, or undoing Hitler's regime.

Playing the devil's advocate here a bit. But if the Nazis had been stopped the world could be a different place in bad ways. Please note that I think Hitler was a nutcase and it was atrocious what the Nazis did, but, America may have not recovered from the great depression, discrimination may have been allowed to go on more then it has, etc.
 

Maryn

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Hmm, how about someone with a more practical nature designing the paper ballots and voting machine set-up used in Florida?

It's one of those step-on-a-butterfly things.
 

Sarita

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WDS said:
But if the Nazis had been stopped the world could be a different place in bad ways. Please note that I think Hitler was a nutcase and it was atrocious what the Nazis did, but, America may have not recovered from the great depression, discrimination may have been allowed to go on more then it has, etc.
True, but what if one of the millions that he killed went on to cure cancer or AIDS, or something else equally wonderful for humanity?
 

Jcomp

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billythrilly7th said:
That would ruin the ending to "National Treasure."

Please don't. I love that movie.

Oh alright... if it'll save National Treasure...
 

eldragon

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At first I thought about 911, but reading everyone elses self-serving ideas, I also choose buying Microsoft stock.


Ha!
 

WDS

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Saritams8 said:
True, but what if one of the millions that he killed went on to cure cancer or AIDS, or something else equally wonderful for humanity?

This is true, but we will never know. It is quite possible that one of those that died would have gone on to be a Hitler like person themself and killed even more. Anything is possible.
 

Sarita

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WDS said:
This is true, but we will never know. It is quite possible that one of those that died would have gone on to be a Hitler like person themself and killed even more. Anything is possible.
Indeed. Which is why it's hard to decide which historical event you'd like to change and why this is all just hypothetical. But aside from the human element, I'd love to have all of the stuff back that they destroyed: "Undesirable" art (including the expressionist and cubist movements) that some put as high as 40,000 pieces, anything with a Pagan depiction, Caligula's boats, and many, many more...
 

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I would have made sure that all documents of historical importance had survived intact, putting an end to a lot of debate and speculation.
 

Lantern Jack

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I was joking in my initial post.

Honestly, if I were to change some catastrophe, it would be the war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes that bordered on genocidal madness. I used to hear stories about it from missionaries when I was a kid, but didn't really understand it until I saw "Hotel Rwanda".
 
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