Ask Lemmy

I would have tipped off MLK, Malcolm X, and Fred Hampton that the FBI was planning on killing them.

John Smith. He was a well-liked and articulate left-leaning ex-lawyer who was leader of the Labour Party in the UK when he died of a heart attack in 1994. He was on the cusp of power and I honestly believe he would have changed things for the better.

I'd liked to have saved him and possibly Kurt Cobain, just because I was a huge fan.

RBG, at least long enough she can be replaced by a Dem scotus, to prevent ACB from illegitimately taking the SCOTUS. but now you have to deal with timeline changes, you might change the future in ways you cant imagine, it can actually be worst than what it was.

He didn't die particularly young, but I think this world desperately needs Mr Rogers

I'll save mine for David Attenborough.

Daniel Naroditsky

The guy who almost killed Hitler.

"Aaron Schwarz get the fuck out of that IT cabinet. We need to go to Cincinatti zoo and put a bulletproof vest on a gorilla."

And open the door to thousands different atrocities committed by thousands of different people

I feel you're very optimistic if you think that single key people made all the difference in the world and that without them, no other key people would have stepped up

If we're just talking famous people and not family/people I knew, Douglas Adams. I don't like living in a world where Douglas Adams dies at 49 and Henry Kissenger lives to be 100.

John Brown

My son. It would likely only delay his death, as he was determined to end his life. Even off it was only for one day, it would give me another chance to let him know i loved him, to let his younger siblings see him one last time.

Lincoln's.

I've no idea whether Reconstruction would've been successful with him at the helm, but it almost certainly would've gone better.

My little brother

my uncle. because he would have beat my fathers ass for the disrespect he showed my mother.

I would never have been born, and thus never would be alive in this timeline.

bonus, I get to personally test my theories about paradoxes.

Ignoring the post's restrictions, my grandfather. I think he would have beat my father's ass for how poorly I was treated.

Harambe.

My friend, Chris, who ended his life. It's been years, but I'd give just about anything to have him back.

In terms of US History, Abraham Lincoln, by far. What a completely different country this would be today. Or at least would have had a good chance to be.

Mine

Probably Elliott Smith, though I don't think he'd want it.

Aaron Swartz.

Fred Hampton. I don't mean to pass over other civil rights martyrs, but the Black Panthers were something special. Real revolutionary politics, organised, and taking direct action; the high-water mark of leftest politics in modern America.

...i think if yitzhak rabin hadn't been assassinated, the trajectory of twenty-first-century globalism would have been very different, potentially sustaining the progressive momentum mustered in the early nineties...

(not that he was personally responsible for that trajectory, but then butterfly-effect tendrils of his assassination run deep and wide)

My wife's father. He committed suicide back in 2019 after a few years of him getting more and more distant and depressed. Of course it is a gamble since we do believe it was his brain deteriorating kind of similar to what Robin Williams had, but at the same time i also believe he was kind of miserable having to deal with his family's problems which consisted of his 3 daughters and his wifes issues. A week after he passed his wife was then diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she also passed within 3 months as well. It was a crazy year to say the least. I just wonder so much what he would have done if he was alive to see his wifes passing if that would have changed his decision because i really feel like if he knew he no longer had to take care of her he wouldnt have had to worry so much about living out his life in fear of running out of money anymore and that he may have finally been able to do what he wanted to do which i think he felt trapped.

Sun Yat Sen (孫中山)

I wonder if my birth country would've been in a better place, be making more friends in the world instead of antagonizing everyone like PRC and CCP is doing, destroying the reputation of my people abroad, and causing widespread Sinophobia.

My late father. He passed away July 21, 2014.

Back in January that year, I came home from work, and he told me that he made some eggs and grits. But when he ate it, it was too hot, but his reflexes made him swallow it anyways. Which basically boiled his insides.. ☹️

He refused to let me call emergency services, hell he even told me that if I did so without his permission, he would shoot them, and yes he slept on a couch loaded with multiple guns under the couch cushions. He even threatened to kill me if I called emergency services without his permission.

5 months in, I realized that daddy wasn't gonna recover, as he was seeking cell phone signal the morning before I was about to head out to work. Daddy like never called anybody, so when I saw him seeking a good cell signal, I asked him if he wanted me to step out and call 911 myself.

He said, and I quote, "Hold the fuck on, I'm getting ready"

Needless to say, I missed work that day. I got him to the hospital, where he lived for another month or so, but passed away because he didn't tend to his health back in January when the situation happened.

I'd write out more about this, but it's too sad for me to think more on.

Damnit daddy, I coulda saved you, if you weren't so stubborn!

☹️😭💀

RBG. I wound have forced her to resign.

Kevin Conroy. Some other actors can do Batman's voice fairly good but no one tops Kevin.

Martin Luther King maybe?

Kelvin Kiptum. He was one of the greatest prospects in really advancing marathon world records. It might take another few generations until someone with the same kind of potential enters the scene.

My dad. Fuck cancer.

Mine and my family's. I don't know how to cope with and accept the finality of life. Hope ghosts are allowed here.