If you could experience one historical event firsthand, which would it be and why?
For me it is the "fall of the Berlin wall" and the celebrations after the border openings.
I guess I might say King John signing the Magna Carta at Runnymede, because it was the foundation for the rule of law in the West. But it was just a bunch of smelly dudes in a marsh. A lot of historical events are important, but not that spectacular to see.
So if I'm honest, it'd be Queen at Live Aid.
Queen at Live Aid.
That's a great call.
aaaaayyyyyyyy ooohhhhhhhhhhh!
For sure, some events would not be as spectacular to watch. They're still fascinating to think about though.
Standing at Runnymede imagining how it might have happened, and then considering the legacy and impact it had in bringing me back to the spot hundreds of years later.
Hard to say for sure but some things might actually be more fun just to ponder over.
Seeing the first person to spell subtle with a b
"Hey, Willum, come over here and look at this misspelling of 'Suttel'. It's just better isn't it?"
English got fucked... hard... because so many of the spellings came from people that had weird goals.
Consider phial. Why do we spell it that way? Because some jackass decided that english needed to be more latiny and ph is more latiny than v. (or maybe it was greek? I don't remember the exact etymology)
Anglish is an attempt to reverse that, and remove Latin, Greek, and French words from English.
If I can experience it without dying, I’d say the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs.
I also vote for the asteroid but with zero caveats.
Username checks out
Lol. You at least want to survive long enough to see the explosion.
Would you rather be on the astroid as it comes to Earth or would you rather hang around the impact zone and wait for it to hit?
Jesus throwing the conmen out of the church.
I don't care for the religion, but if this actually happened, it would be so satisfying to see. So-called "christians" act more like the ones he kicked out than their supposed "lord" himself.
Matthew 23 is Jesus absolutely bitching out the religious leaders "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger."
As you say, the so-called 'Christians' really act like the Pharisees in the Bible that is called out against. If the bible they claim to believe in is true, then a loooooooooooooooooot are probably going to be in for a rude awakening because they were warned in the same book, Chapter 7 verse 23 when the person they claim to follow says "I never knew you."
There's a quote attributed to Ghandi but it's not verified to actually be by him. But is a very appropriate one in my day to day "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
I don't think it's fair to just say "Christians", it's really the US-based evangelical prosperity gospel preachers. They really are the modern version of the money lenders in the temple.
They're basically "pay for pray" m/billionaires using religion to exploit the poor and hopeless while travelling in their private jets.
They pay no tax and live in luxury while claiming that their success is proof of God's love.
If that's how things worked, then Mother Theresa would have been rich. Ghandi would have owned a Bentley. But of course, that's not how God or love works at all, and it makes me really angry.
I've often thought about becoming a Christian version of Mr Beast; raising tons of money and giving away every single penny. Telling people that prayer is free and God loves them no matter what. Paying off people's mortgages and bills if they are suffering, regardless of their religion.
And then turning around to those prosperity gospel preachers and challenging them to do reverse tithing, 90% of their income goes to charity, not 10%. No living in mansions paid for by their church. Not taking any appearance fees or book royalties. Exposing them as the grifters they are.
I haven't done that already because I would want to do an actual Bible studies degree first, otherwise I'd feel like just as much of a fraud.
This. Most Christians despise prosperity preachers. A lot of churches even refuse to sing songs from "churches" which promote it who also make music en masse for money (I'm looking at you, Hillsong, Bethel and Elevation)
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven.
~Jesus Christ
i wanna visit that one Christmas in world war one where they all got over their shit for a day and had snowball fights and stuff. play in the snow with some of the most damaged and traumatized people in history.
I thought they played football.
shit IDK, either way. that's where i want to go.
If you wanna get depressed, look up what happened to these soldiers afterwards
Jan 6, so i can blast benny hill music.
My great grandfather was aboard the USS Missouri when the Japanese came aboard to surrender. He always said that it was one of the biggest moments of his life, and he always regretted that he didn't have a camera during that visit. I think that I would like to go back in time to that event, and bring a camera with me.
i already have experienced a few in my lifetime. i can't say that they were generally positive experiences.
I've always wished I could have taken part in the Menlo Park Homebrew Computer Club from 75 to 86.
The first meeting of the club was held on March 5, 1975, in French's garage in Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, on the occasion of the arrival in the area of the first Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer, a unit sent for review by People's Computer Company. Steve Wozniak credits that first meeting as the inspiration to design the Apple I.
So I guess I would use the incredible advancement of time travel to go back a few years before I was born to hang out in some dude's garage.
This is a great answer. Wozniak's autobiography is a good read.
Apollo moon landing
The surrender at Appomattox, so I could tell the Union generals to keep burning until every plantation and its owners were ash
Jesus dude, you should go join the IDF, you'd fit right in.
race: plantation owner
lmfao
The problem with most major historical events is that they're not fun. I would choose Field of the Cloth of Gold because it was just a big festival for weeks.
When hitler killed himself in the bunker. I would have been fascinated to witness how a guy responsible for millions of deaths somehow considered himself the victim and was forced to commit suicide. He was an evil bastard and a coward unwilling to face the consequences of his actions.
Take his bullets and poison away. Let the Russians deal with him.
I'd actually prefer to witness a fair trial. Just because I'd actually like to know how he'd try to defend and explain what he did. It might have given us the chance to study him and what led to him becoming that way.
I'm pro studying people like psychopaths and sociopaths to better understand what it takes to be or become one to prevent horrible outcomes.
We should spend way more time on studying and understanding murderers and the source of their actions.
(Putting aside if the Bible's stories are real or not for a moment...)
Moses talking to God (aka 'The Burning Bush').
I'm not religious, but I'd love to witness God actually speaking to somebody.
Julius Caesar declaring himself an emperor, the celebration and seeing the man that essentially turned rome from a powerful republic to the most powerful empire with a military that dominated majority of europe.
The Battle of Agincourt. It would be interesting to confirm how effective the English longbows really were compared to the theory that the mud was really the deciding factor against the French.
Also the battle of Hastings. To see how a shield wall worked.
The extinction of the dinosaurs. Or the big bang.
Either of those sound like a blast.
Mine would be witnessing the first nuclear explosion at the trinity test site.
Like…up close??
As close as possible
I'd love to be in the room when George Lucas first screens Star Wars to Spielberg and pals. The version before Marcia Lucas saved it with her editing prowess.
I'd cross the Alps with Hannibal. I can't imagine, living right now right where he went straight through, what it looked like at he time.
Just try to write to Botswana's prime minister that you take the elephants he offered Germany. Then you can do it today.
Before or after he eats you?
the KT impact
Crucifixion of Jesus. Also the resurrection if staying there for a few days is allowed.
Gettysburg Address
The big bang, to see how it all started.
Spoiler: It was banging.
1893's World's Columbian Exposition.
The moment that life on earth began.
Hope you bring your microscope
Hmm. I want to say something mysterious, like what happened to some sailing ship that disappeared, or something like that to know what happened.
Or there's some guy that buried a treasure in Missouri and left the location in a cryptogram that hasn't been solved to this day.
But I think it would be most fun to witness Apollo 11's first space walk. Niel be talking about "one small step for man" and I just walk up applauding. And then ask for a lift home.
"Sorry Neil, there's only room for him. Stand by and we're sending you home on the next one"
Ksp players: yeah sure
Franz Ferdinand.
I honestly can’t think of any historically significant event that doesn’t involve or depend upon major suffering of some sort -even the happy moments are only happy because of an end of horrible things- so I’ll just pass entirely. History sucks because humans suck.
But If we assume that time can flow in both ways, I’ll choose to go somewhere in the future-past. Maybe the day we put boots on ground in another solar system, or put an end to scarcity, if either of those ever even happen..
Yes, the Berlin wall for me too.
And when the white government in South Africa resigned, and Mandela became the boss.
Charles I getting a little off the top.
Human extinction. Be it a massive, catastrophic event or a whimper of a thing, it would be fun to witness the end of our run through time.
You are in real time. Imagine some eerie music
Rod Serling approaches
Assuming I have to be a passive observer, the moment when humans learned to create fire.
Not a major event, but there's a number of football ⚽ matches I wish I could have been at, not least the 1961 and 1968 Scottish Cup finals.
1968 European Cup Final for me.
Assuming I was in some kind of protective bubble, the big bang, to see how it actually looked like.
It'd have to be the construction of The Sphinx or the Giza pyramids for me.
I'd be kind of interested to see the gathering where the Dutch killed and ate their prime minister.
Me too, I used to live there.
My favourite one is yet to come. Come on Putin die already.
Drpends. If i was allowed to live past it, the extinction of the dinosaurs
Last time this was asked, someone said the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and I don't think they meant for the historical insights...
Hard question. Something that had to be amazing was Times Square on V-J day. Had to been a hell of a party and a feeling knowing that mess was over.
Probably the christians arriving in Jerusalem and killing everyone.
Which time?
Pretty grim choice.
Bring back the USSR
I don't know how much of an"historical event" it is now, but if I showed up to Steven Hawking's "Time Traveller party" I imagine it would become one.
Plot twist: show up one day after