It means going back in time, imaginatively, and removing an element in a scenario and then calculating the alternate outcome and assessing the differences between the actual and the alternative.
I use it in therapy, too. After hearing a patient recount an unhappy story, I often ask, If you had it to do over again, is there anything you would do differently? Sometimes that can help a man see how he contributes to his own troubles.
So here's an application of NR to American history. Not the first time I have indulged in this procedure. A question:
If you could change one action, one element, one choice, one moment of American history, which one would it be? And why?
I am not foolish enough to believe that the tragedy inherent in the human condition can be avoided. But even if you hold to the tragic or the constrained view of life --as conservatives should do-- not all tragedies are created equal. Some are worse than others.
It will not surprise readers of Ex Cathedra that I choose the day in 1619 when the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia.
My choice, I think, needs little explanation.
What, I wonder, would be yours?
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2 comments:
My dismay over Texas was alleviated when I discovered that the sodomy and homosexuality positions were removed last year. Sigh of relief.
As far as things I would change, I am not sure. The Civil War was pretty bad, not only as far as cultural consequences, but it also dealt a heavy blow to states rights. I would change it to the Southern states keeping their heads, working with the Republicans to end slavery peacefully, and sending the blacks west of the Mississippi to form their own country like Jefferson intended all along. Although, your change nips mine in the bud.
Maybe the Constitutional Convention. The Bill of Rights massively expanded to very clearly spell out what was and was not in violation of each of them. A little clarity on the 1st and 2nd would be much appreciated right now.
-Sean
As much as I find the re-criminalization of sodomy deeply unpalatable, I have to admit that I understand the impulse.
Since the LGBTs have decided to remake society to suit them, no matter what it costs, the emotionally logical course is, as you say, to nip it in the bud.
The uberlefty LGBTs would be shocked to see themselves as the heirs of Barry Goldwater's line, that that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vicemoderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
They are likewise described by him here: "Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies."
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