You could help them extend their long count calendar and put an end to all the needless conspiracy theories.
If you got sent back in time...
- Thread starter RoJoHen
- Start date
You could help them extend their long count calendar and put an end to all the needless conspiracy theories.
My distrust and dislike of humanity stems from my rather intensive study of WWII. No way would I ever want to live in Europe during that time.
The choices weren't great. Most countries gobbled up by Germany and put under their boot.
Neighbors turning on neighbors and one didn't have to be Jewish to fall afoul of someone with an agenda. You had to hope to hell that you went unnoticed by both Germans and traitorous countrymen alike.
And being a Jew? Hiding and praying to God that no one turned you in, out of malice or for financial reasons. Going to a concentration camp where the very worst in humanity would be seen, most times from those in charge of the camps, other times from other inmates including those in positions of authority even though prisoners (Blockovas, for example.) Or over by Russia (Lithuania, Ukraine, etc.) whose virulent anti-semitism made Germany's seem like mild dislike. Having your small town round up you and your family, making you strip in the woods, the occasional rape of a pretty woman before she is shot and shoved into the pit, and the villagers squabbling over the possessions.
I've seen interviews (1970s) with survivors of said village (non-Jewish) who fully rationalized their odious behavior. They could not see that murdering innocent people, from old men down to infants, was anything other than OK.
I knew survivors of concentration camps. They were the lucky ones. They were young (most survivors went in as teens or young adults) when their nightmare happen. In the 1970s, when I lived near them, the woman would scream at night when she heard a train. You can imagine why. I knew this couple personally. Contrast that with my friend's Russian grandmother, over for a visit, who was a young woman in Russia during WWII and whose virulent anti-semitism was chilling to this Christian.
Or you could be anyone living in a town and subject to battle. Yeah, that would be fun. Check out Dresden, where people cooked alive in a firestorm. Or London, which had to endure more than a month straight of daily Blitz. Yeah, sitting in a shelter praying to God a bomb didn't fall right on your head or if it did, that you wouldn't be buried alive in your shelter.
The Siege of Leningrad. Watching your children die of hunger and being helpless to change that.
Or check out Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Ka-BOOM.
China wasn't a nice place to be for a non-Japanese in WWII. Or the Philippines, or various other Pacific island nations.
No, I wouldn't want to be in Europe (or Asia) during WWII. I'm content to have my curiosity satisfied by reading or seeing history. I can't fathom the terror that people had to face, sometimes on a daily basis. Bombing, fight in your town/city, treacherous people, fear that a loved one in the service would die, being shipped off to a camp (plenty of non-Jews, including Germans ended up in the various concentration camps) and wondering, who, if anyone, you could trust.
I'm of German descent and I'm ashamed of what the land of my ancestors did. They weren't alone, there were plenty of collaborators and willing people to do the nasty things. And I don't sneer back of the people of that time. They were human. I have zero doubt that people in our time and beyond are capable of such atrocities, one can only hope that they are checked from doing so.
The choices weren't great. Most countries gobbled up by Germany and put under their boot.
Neighbors turning on neighbors and one didn't have to be Jewish to fall afoul of someone with an agenda. You had to hope to hell that you went unnoticed by both Germans and traitorous countrymen alike.
And being a Jew? Hiding and praying to God that no one turned you in, out of malice or for financial reasons. Going to a concentration camp where the very worst in humanity would be seen, most times from those in charge of the camps, other times from other inmates including those in positions of authority even though prisoners (Blockovas, for example.) Or over by Russia (Lithuania, Ukraine, etc.) whose virulent anti-semitism made Germany's seem like mild dislike. Having your small town round up you and your family, making you strip in the woods, the occasional rape of a pretty woman before she is shot and shoved into the pit, and the villagers squabbling over the possessions.
I've seen interviews (1970s) with survivors of said village (non-Jewish) who fully rationalized their odious behavior. They could not see that murdering innocent people, from old men down to infants, was anything other than OK.
I knew survivors of concentration camps. They were the lucky ones. They were young (most survivors went in as teens or young adults) when their nightmare happen. In the 1970s, when I lived near them, the woman would scream at night when she heard a train. You can imagine why. I knew this couple personally. Contrast that with my friend's Russian grandmother, over for a visit, who was a young woman in Russia during WWII and whose virulent anti-semitism was chilling to this Christian.
Or you could be anyone living in a town and subject to battle. Yeah, that would be fun. Check out Dresden, where people cooked alive in a firestorm. Or London, which had to endure more than a month straight of daily Blitz. Yeah, sitting in a shelter praying to God a bomb didn't fall right on your head or if it did, that you wouldn't be buried alive in your shelter.
The Siege of Leningrad. Watching your children die of hunger and being helpless to change that.
Or check out Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Ka-BOOM.
China wasn't a nice place to be for a non-Japanese in WWII. Or the Philippines, or various other Pacific island nations.
No, I wouldn't want to be in Europe (or Asia) during WWII. I'm content to have my curiosity satisfied by reading or seeing history. I can't fathom the terror that people had to face, sometimes on a daily basis. Bombing, fight in your town/city, treacherous people, fear that a loved one in the service would die, being shipped off to a camp (plenty of non-Jews, including Germans ended up in the various concentration camps) and wondering, who, if anyone, you could trust.
I'm of German descent and I'm ashamed of what the land of my ancestors did. They weren't alone, there were plenty of collaborators and willing people to do the nasty things. And I don't sneer back of the people of that time. They were human. I have zero doubt that people in our time and beyond are capable of such atrocities, one can only hope that they are checked from doing so.
I would not go back to *any* time, unless I could be invisible and safe - in other words, a viewer only (like a holodeck or something.)
History fascinates me, but I see the bad as well as the good. I'd like to see what really happened during say WWII or the American Civil War, or time of Henry VIII, but never, not for one second, would I want to be obliged to live in that era or be subject to its dangers.
History fascinates me, but I see the bad as well as the good. I'd like to see what really happened during say WWII or the American Civil War, or time of Henry VIII, but never, not for one second, would I want to be obliged to live in that era or be subject to its dangers.
Mid 1800's Maui, Hawaii. The native Hawaiian babes lovin' up on the super smart white man with his crazy inventions and elaborate stories of ships in space and visiting other planets. Good god, I could even invent the Muppets.
Sure there were lepers, but they were all shipped off to another island.
Sure there were lepers, but they were all shipped off to another island.
Well, now you're just breaking the rules.
Time has grabbed you and dropped you somewhere, and it doesn't care that you don't like it!
Time travel is sooo overrated. However, if I found myself displaced out of time and having those aforementioned conditions, I would definitely choose ancient Rome, especially back in the gladiator days. No, I wouldn't want to be a slave; perhaps I could be a centurion or a statesman engaging in endless orgies. 
However, if I found myself displaced out of time and having those aforementioned conditions, I would definitely choose ancient Rome, especially back in the gladiator days. No, I wouldn't want to be a slave; perhaps I could be a centurion or a statesman engaging in endless orgies.
J
Jetfire
Guest
The earliest I could go back is 1928...I would want to meet someone I admire alot...but would have to wait til 1936 or so before introducing myself to them...when they turn 18 ofcourse.
Other than that...I am too spoiled to just be dropped of somewhere in the past.
Other than that...I am too spoiled to just be dropped of somewhere in the past.
1845, Sutter's Mill, Coloma California. That gives me time (a couple of years anyway) to discover gold in the American River and set off the California Gold Rush. From there it's a quick jump over the border into Nevada to "discover" the Comstock Lode. Keep enough of the money to live comfortably and then invest the rest in buying up future oil fields. Ah, life is good.
This...and she can't pick those time periods....
Well, now you're just breaking the rules.
Time has grabbed you and dropped you somewhere, and it doesn't care that you don't like it!
That's just funny to me because the only association I have with Coloma was visiting it a few years back when my girlfriend and I had this huge fight and broke up. Of course that was about the fifth and last time we broke up and we made up the very next day, but it is still kind of a bad association to me.
Oh god, do I have to stay in America? I can't imagine it would be the most pleasant place for me. At any rate, I'd want to be in a time and place where people bathed as regularly as possible. Yeah, I think my basic requirement is that people don't smell and the bathrooms are as usable as possible.
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