Discovery of relativity. If I had the brains for those things, I’d rather master thermodynamics and theoretical mechanics.
My 9th grade world history book (this was in 97, no idea how old the book was) had an entire chapter on the Titanic. The Lusitania barely got mentioned.
As for overrated events in history, I would have to go with the first thanksgiving in the US. Way over-hyped in the US.
Meh. I’ve seen bigger.
There are all those events of the Old West (along with their heroes and villains): Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, the Shootout at the OK Corral.
I like this thread!
I like the pattern I’m seeing of someone mentioning something and then others responding with “That may be how you perceived it, but here’s the significant issue(s) to those who study the matter(s)” like Vesuvius and the A-bombs and so on.
I’ll respond and throw in another event later.
–G!
There’s absolutely no evidence that anyone built anything there prior to the first dig around 1840. There is no physical evidence of any of the supposed discoveries. There is not one irrefutable fact to support it being anything other than a misunderstanding and/or a hoax.
Yeah, at this point you’re just finding what the last guy left behind. Which is interesting in its own right, but it’snot like we’re running out of interesting 19th century sites to dig up.
This thread is merely proof that if you say something in a sneering manner…anything you say will appear irrelevant.
Bubonic Plague. People got sick. People died. It happens every day. Get over it.
I’m a reasonably patriotic American, but I’ve long thought that the Boston Massacre was overblown in the history books. It was a pretty minor incident, the “victims” had mostly been harassing British soldiers, a handful of people died, the soldiers were tried, full stop. But propaganda isn’t a modern invention. And, of course, you’re free to disagree with me, and point out how wrong I am.
Right?
Nuclear bomb. Destruction of our entire planet. Ho hum.
On a serious note, I might throw in Jesus’s resurrection.
A self-proclaimed Son of God gets crucified and resurrects to be seen only by his fanatical followers?
And people still actually believe that 2,000 years later LOL.
Same here. My dad was on an aircraft carrier heading for Japan at the time.
Weather predictions by a groundhog are based on him coming out of his den, not being pulled out of a box by two guys in a top hat.
Some of these nominations are events taken out of the context of the times. MLK was the face of the civil rights movement that was far too long in the making. Kennedy was a generational change in the power of the country. His assassination had a huge cultural impact. The moon missions were the advent of the huge technological advances that led to computerization and the age of electronics. Woodstock was an epic event in the summer of 1969 which was one of the craziest times that the country has goon through. These were not isolated events. The context of them was enormous.
My nomination is the Lindbergh transatlantic crossing. If you read about it the nation went nuts over it. Yet, it was something that was on the verge of happening by any number of people. It was not particularly heroic or a demonstration of some great technological advance. Yet, he was treated like a god.
I’m glad nobody in Europe felt that way after Columbus’s first voyage.
The Lindbergh crossing is a good candidate.
The Boston Massacre is another one of those events, like the Alamo, that was a minor event but used to whip up a frenzy that led to big events. The BM was one of the more important of many events that pushed the colonies to revolution.
I can’t remember who it was but there was a science fiction writer a couple of years back who said something like, “We thought we were the Columbuses of the Moon. But it turns out we were the Leif Ericsons.”
The American Revolution was a huge historical series of events, but some of those events have been blown way out of proportion. The Boston Tea Party? A bunch of dudes dressed like Native Americans, dumping tea into the harbor? And Paul Revere’s ride? Ooh, one light or two, how monumental. And then there’s Betsy Ross. Why do kids hundreds of years later still have to learn about these things, rather than things that are really important?
And about the Titanic: The previous several decades were times of great optimism and progress in many arts and sciences. There was a feeling that we could succeed at anything we put our minds to, that we could make things bigger and better than every before, without limit. All of the arts, including music, were blossoming as never before. And then the Titanic sank, and overnight people realized that achievement was not limitless, that unbridled optimism was not realistic, that your dreams didn’t always pan out in reality. Of course it was followed by World War 1, hammering the nails into the coffin.
Oh, and anything related to sports is overrated.
The 28 Congresses of the Communist Party (1898-1990).
Booooooooring.
Well, I think it’s interesting because of Crispus Attucks and that the soldiers were represented by John Adams and mostly acquitted.