A question to ponder...

[hootinholler]

The time machine thread got me wondering, so here's a question I think could be illuminating.

If it was in your power to remove one person from history, who would it be and why?

I'll be back with my choice, I haven't decided yet :rofl:

-Hoot

[Aleric]

1. Augustine or Calvan. I haven't decided which one did more damage.

[LiberalLoner]

7. I'm with you on that one. Hate Calvinism. n/t

[Ohio Joe]

2. Jesus

For world peace.

[abelenkpe]

3. Reagan

C'mon, admit it, he really wasn't a very good actor. :)

[notadmblnd]

4. george bush I

IMO he's the most nefarious person of the 20th century.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. Hmmm......

I don't know what her name was but she is referred to now as "Mitochondrial Eve".


Why? Because it would change everything we ever were and ever did. I think it would give our entire species a second chance.

[lpbk2713]

6. RayGun.

I would have been happy if he had just kept on making 'B' grade movies with that chimp (not the chimp that stole the election).

[Little Star]

8. Reagan

[hootinholler]

9. kick n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

10. no fair, you said you would be back with your choice

I am curious

[hootinholler]

12. I will be back with my choice.

There's no right answer though. I too am curious about other people's choices and I didn't want the thread to become about my choice.

A hint, it ain't Ray Charles ;)

-Hoot

[hootinholler]

47. Ok, MJ. See below. n/t

[Earth_First]

11. Robert Oppenhiemer...

However I believe that the development of the technology would have been developed anyhow...

[Motown_Johnny]

13. Oppenheimer was an administrator

Leo Szilard and Edward Teller were the brains behind the bomb, although it seems Heisenberg could have done it too if he had not lied to Hitler about the amount of material needed to reach critical mass.


Losing Oppenheimer would not have changed anything

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Ronald Reagan or Dick Cheney

Can't decide which.

[DavidDvorkin]

15. Saul of Tarsus.

[Motown_Johnny]

17. you are supposed to explain why

is it because of his actions before his transformation or after? Or because he changed?





In any case, an interesting choice.

[DavidDvorkin]

20. Because without him

Christianity would (probably) have remained a minor Jewish sect and then died away.

Which is not to say that some other religion, probably monotheist, wouldn't have caused the same damage to civilization. There's no way to know, of course. My hunch is that history would have been improved.

[Aleric]

43. I'm not sure that's the right strategy

Since most of Saul's work was overwritten by second century authors. I suspect that eliminating Augustine or Constantine would be more effective in preventing Christianity from taking on its oppressive power mongering.

[DavidDvorkin]

52. Constantine was my second choice.

[badtoworse]

16. Muhammad

IMO, Islamic fundamentalism is today's biggest threat to world peace

[Motown_Johnny]

18. you would remove the largest religion in the world because you are afraid?

curious

[badtoworse]

34. My choice is based on who's doing what in the world today

Fear has nothing to do with it.

[Motown_Johnny]

35. and what wars are Muslims engaged in today

other than with us? If you have no answer then clearly eliminating us would be more sensible since there are far more of them.

[badtoworse]

39. Islamic fundamentalists have committed terrorist attacks all over the planet

I might add that in many Muslim countries, the justice system, which is based on religious law, is barbaric. In these same countries, the abuse of women is appalling. Are you OK with women being flogged for wearing slacks?

The OP asked about eliminating a single individual from history, not eliminating billions of Muslims from the world today.

[OregonBlue]

19. Adolph Hitler.

[bemildred]

21. Once you start, when do you quit? nt

[elehhhhna]

23. HOTDAMN!! Best question, ever. +1,000,000

[Motown_Johnny]

33. .

try my Hmmm.... post, #5

[elehhhhna]

22. whoever was responsible for themost deaths...

which could be Charlemagne (most royalty is decended from him, and they started a LOT of wars). So that makes the mind go to Jesus. Mohammed. All the religious figures whose names were used in vain to justify killing the innocents. It's an interesting question. I have no answer. Not yet, anyway...

[bemildred]

26. Genghis Khan, Tamurlane, I mean that is what most of political history IS!

Although it is true that the 20th century applied new methods in a most efficient way to the "problem". For sheer numbers, you have to go with Stalin and Mao, but it's not because they were really different.

[elehhhhna]

40. pol pot was also a piece of work

hate radio -- see Rwanda & Glen Beck


slavers



Leopold of Belgium



so many jerks...

[bemildred]

41. Classic utopian mass murderer.

Gotta have a "clean slate" so the new world order can be bootstrapped into existence. It's always the "clean slate".

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

48. without Genghis Khan the great plague may not have ever made it to Europe ?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Whoever invented Bubble Wrap and Disco.

[Donnachaidh]

25. prescott bush, before he had kids

That would have solved many, many problems this country is facing now.

[LadyHawkAZ]

28. You beat me to it. Ditto.

but since you already removed him, I'll remove Rove. Anyone got Cheney?

[COLGATE4]

27. Hitler. Think of the countless millions and millions of lives that

would have been saved.

[Synicus Maximus]

30. Mao or Stalin Think of the countless millions and millions of lives that would have been saved.

[timtom]

29. Gaetan Dugas

Because he refused to cooperate for the good of the community...

http://www.faceofaids.org/show/video/55

[WestSeattle2]

37. .

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

31. Abe Lincoln

Sorry, but I think we would be better off as two countries.

[Donnachaidh]

36. so you'd leave slaves in the predicament that caused the war?

Wow -- some real progressive idea there. :sarcasm:

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

44. Are you implying that the good people of the Confederacy would not resolve that on their own

I can't imagine that even without the war, that slavery could have continued into the 1900's.
Yes, it is selfish, and perhaps a little delusional, to think of the progressive utopia I envision would then have manifested in the union. But Canada has had health care for decades, so maybe not.

[emilyg]

32. No hesitation - Hitler

[WestSeattle2]

38. Chief Wasilla

[Recursion]

42. Wallpaper bubbles

Maybe one of the guys Hitler killed early on in the Nazi power struggles would have ended up being even worse. Historical contingency is weird that way.

That said, Diocletian.

[hootinholler]

45. I couldn't do it....

My first thought was Prescott Bush, but I figure someone else could have filled the power void, I think he would have been the most likely to have the effect I desire.

Then there's Alan Dulles. I wonder if the CIA would have been quite so nasty if he hadn't collected all those nazi spies after WWII.

I also considered James Monroe, but I think his doctrine was a populist view at the time and it would have made little difference.

I thought about Carnegie or J.P. Morgan. Maybe the guy who got the idea of a stock market, or Lloyd who openend that coffee shop, but the insurance company would probably be known as Basil's instead.

So I have to go with old Prescott.

-Hoot

[Blue-Jay]

46. Pat Boone.

[hootinholler]

49. I would have gone more for his sweater designer ;) n/t

[rachael7]

50. Milton Mother-Effin Friedman...

'free market' my ass.

[Blue-Jay]

51. Ayn Rand

She gave birth to a legion of selfish fuckwits.

[defendandprotect]

53. Prescott Bush .. Allen Dulles ... Foster Dulles ... J. P. Morgan.... Bill Gates.....

Poppy Bush ... W. Bush ... Jeb Bush ...

Richard Nixon ... Arlen Specter ... Gerry Ford ...

Ronald Reagan ... Dick Cheney ... Carl Rove ... Atwater ...

How do we think of Clinton and Obama at this point who have

helped put trade agreements in place to suck jobs out of America --

and have so undermined safety nets?

Can we absolve them?