Red pill or White pill...

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Given that, I would knock off Justice Clarence Thomas during the Clinton administration.

which is precisely why the choices were limited to those already deceased.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by Beestie

which is precisely why the choices were limited to those already deceased.

Oh, sorry for being a dumb blonde about it. That sure makes it harder.

In some ways those attrocities of Hitler and Stalin may have taught the world some lessons that we could only learn the hard way.

In keeping with the rules, I would hit Lyndon Johnson before the JFK assasination LBJ fucked things up in a big Texas-sized way. Escaladed the Vietnam war big time, and implemented social programs big in the Great Society before figuring out what worked; kinda like WebVan going nationwide while still hemmoraging money. I would choose to forget the incident and previous history.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Tonchi

snip~If somebody could start a thread where we would list all the BENEFICIAL murders which occurred throughout history, I think it would soon become apparent that they are few and far between.~snip

That's unanswerable because every murder leaves a path untaken. Every person murdered has the potential to great harm. Far fewer have the potential to do great good but we'll never know what any of them "might" have done.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Beestie

I offer you the Red pill or the White pill.

Why would anyone want to fix the past? Humanity lived those bad experiences once. If the past is fixed, then nothing has been learned; mankind will only relive those experiences again.

As bad as the past may have been, facts remain. We are suppose to live for the future; learn from our mistakes - even if it is a spouse:
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small,
One pill makes you richer and one pill cures them all
....
But what the doormouse said: "Feed your head! Feed your head!"

Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition. We even put essential military functions in the National Guard so we would never relive Vietnam. How many were so high on drugs (or a Christian agenda) as to let that lesson get repeated?

Ah hell. Where'd I put the bong? My drugs are color blind and therefore politcally correct. Another lesson lost in the haze of pills?

Stepping out of the game for a moment, I wouldn't advocate murder as a solution either, although Beestie has a point about serial killers. If one could somehow know in advance what they were going to do, I think ridding the planet of them woud be quite justified. In fact, I think the key words here are KNOWING IN ADVANCE. In real life, we will never know what someone is going to do down the road. Whacko's assasinate public figures because they somehow believe that they have some gift of prophecy, telling them that this is the right thing to do. Obviously, its not.

However, if one could step into that hypothetical time machine, that's a different story.

PS tw thinks we learn from history! LOL! Nobody even reads history, much less learns from it!

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by tw

Why would anyone want to fix the past? Humanity lived those bad experiences once. If the past is fixed, then nothing has been learned; mankind will only relive those experiences again.

So if you were granted the power to prevent the Vietnam war to preserve the lesson that would prevent us from invading Iraq you would turn it down? Uhhh, well let me put it another way.

The justification you cite for not "fixing" the past seems eerily similar to the reasoning used to justify such wars in the first place: a life lost in the past is worth two lives saved in the present/ a life lost in the present is worth two lives saved in the future.

Put yet another way, "fixing" the past is no riskier than "fixing" the future which we do every day with the choices we make. But, in either case, inaction is itself action so not taking the Red pill does not absolve one of anything - its as much of a choice as taking it. Once you are offered the pill, the consequences of taking it or not taking it are the same.

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by Beestie

I can't think of too many serial killers, serial rapists or child predators whose premature death would not have benefited society.

Sometimes, the right thing to do is just the right thing to do.

Ah, but you talking about premeditated removal before the fact of a criminal-in-waiting as opposed to society's retribution after the fact? Nobody would argue that it were better some people had never been born, but that is not the issue posed by the little pills. The premise was take them out, Charles Bronson style, and I replied that it might sound good and feel good but I doubted that social engineering by murder of specific key people would be anything more than a temporary solution, and that history would prove it. I don't believe that, except in movies, when the hero blasts the bad guy leader, the entire structure behind him collapses and slinks away.

I guess the most perfect example of what I am saying is right this minute in Iraq. Take out Saddam, evil dictator, mass murderer and all-around bad guy, and Mission Accomplished! :p

[russotto]

Just give me Warren Buffett for 20 minutes or so. A few wire transfers from his petty cash into my account, and I'll be set. Someone else can kill Hitler and Stalin.

OTOH, if I were to take the red pill, I think I'd take out Jesus (assuming he existed, but that's another thread) before he had a following. And I'd remember. Why take out a few apples when you can upset the entire applecart?

OK, already! I'll take the white pill then and be my Momster for a week. I'll have her rescind the insane power of attorney she gave her evil EX husband, demand to see her only daughter, tell the authorities that the evil ex has been holding her a psychological hostage all this time; write her twin sister in Switzerland that she hasn't spoken to in 15 years and tell her that all is forgiven and beg her forgiveness in return.

This should impact the lives of altogether about 10 people in a positive way and one who richly deserves it in a negative way, have no impact what-so-ever on the course of history, and involve the death of no one.

Its also a rather selfish use of my magical powers, but what the hey?

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Its also a rather selfish use of my magical powers, but what the hey?

That's OK, we Harry Potter fans would understand perfectly