# What single event do you wish you could erase from history? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946 "2000-06-28T22:56:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jamshid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@jamshid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamshid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/1 "2000-06-28T22:56:18Z")
Self explanatory. If you could alter history, what single event would you wish to erase, without thought of its inevitable consequences? ---
**Author:** ![Hanofer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Hanofer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanofer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/2 "2000-06-28T23:00:50Z")
The Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![jamshid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@jamshid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamshid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/3 "2000-06-28T23:31:08Z")
The Holocaust is a series of events. While I agree that it would be better to see it gone in its entirety, I am looking more for specific occurences than general ones. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/4 "2000-06-28T23:42:21Z")
Any event can be seen as a series of events. Nothing ever just happened in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![jamshid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@jamshid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamshid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/5 "2000-06-28T23:59:33Z")
I disagree. Consider the assassination of JFK. I agree that “the reign of the Pharoahs” is pretty hard to classify, but even that can be broken down. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/6 "2000-06-29T00:42:18Z")
The emergence of AIDS into the human population. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/7 "2000-06-29T01:14:35Z")
My two failed semesters at UT Austin. Cumulative GPA: .24 Man is it embarrassing to apply to college 13 years later and be asked to produce that transcript. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/8 "2000-06-29T01:20:38Z")
**The institutionalisation of religions, and hence the creation of religious books such as the Bible** Don’t flame me straightaway, think about it. Reliance on religion has brought good in many people’s lifes. Unfortunately, it has also been used as an excuse to kill or supress millions of people. The human race would be better off (i.e. more peaceful, but not necessarily more advanced) if our brain wasn’t wired to ask these damn questions all the time. And demanding answers, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/9 "2000-06-29T01:22:10Z")
\The burning of the Great Library of Alexandria.\ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/10 "2000-06-29T01:23:51Z")
The creation of the film Independence Day ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/11 "2000-06-29T01:25:26Z")
Well, since I am trying to get the most change for my buck, I will say: The Big Bang. That way we wouldn’t have had to invent telecommunications as we would all live within a point-like singularity. ---
**Author:** ![Micro\_Furry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Micro\_Furry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Micro_Furry)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/12 "2000-06-29T03:39:55Z")
Being born. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/13 "2000-06-29T03:52:46Z")
It’s true that the Holocaust is many events in many countries involving many different groups of people. So the event I nominate is the one that set it all in motion: Adolf Hitler being put in charge of the German government in 1933, despite having won less than 40% of votes at the most recent election (the Nazi party were the biggest party, but still did not have over 50%). Considering that his views were hardly a secret, that he’d tried to illegally take over the government a decade earlier at gunpoint, and that his gang had been literally murdering any opponents who spoke out against them in the months leading up to this event, it would have to be seen as a tragic event that was equally tragically stupid on the part of those behind it. Iguana. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/14 "2000-06-29T03:56:38Z")
The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Bluesman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Bluesman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluesman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/15 "2000-06-29T05:07:36Z")
Pickett’s Charge. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/16 "2000-06-29T05:21:38Z")
Nothing. I know it is cliche’d, but we really are where we are because of what went on before. How much of our psyche is shaped by the events of our lives? ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/17 "2000-06-29T05:41:47Z")
The beating death of one of my best friends, 10 days after he graduated from high school. RIP, Hambone… ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/18 "2000-06-29T06:00:13Z")
John Lennon’s assasination. I know it doesn’t seem important, but dammit, that was a life that didn’t need to be cut short! ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/19 "2000-06-29T06:15:36Z")
The birth of Adolf Schicklegruber. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946/20 "2000-06-29T06:25:10Z")
I’m with narile on this one – nothing. The human race is what it is today because of the events in our past. If the Holocaust never happened, would the majority of the world population know it is a bad think to attempt to exterminate a group of people? If I had to choose one thing – the invention of rap music – bunch of no talent hacks… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-single-event-do-you-wish-you-could-erase-from-history/23946.md?page=2)