Destory History Response

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. He who controls the past controls the future. And, now that your gormless assistant has demonstrated that the history-rewinder works safely, it’s time for you, Dr Malevolus, to put your dastardly plan into full effect. Rewriting the past so that you’re the most important person who ever existed? Nonsense; that’s the sort of crazy, over the top idea that only a deluded megalomaniac would devise, and only a simpleton would believe. No, the real aim is to rewrite history just enough so that your dictatorial rule in the present feels inevitable and right. [[Let’s rewrite some history. Mwahahahahaha!!!! -> Charlemagne's Coronation]]

You active the history rewinder, the room around you dissolves into a haze of information bytes, and you step through into a simulation of the past. The physical environment is clearly rendered (this building may be over a thousand years old, but the stages of its construction are recorded in detail and easy to reconstruct): a big stone building with lots of columns and arched ceilings. Looks like a church. Good. Most of the people filling the space in front of you are hazy at best; we know they must have existed, rather than knowing (or caring) anything much about them individually. The two figures at the centre of the room, however, are clear and vibrant in their detail. A tall man in medieval robes and neat beard, kneeling on a silk cushion; another man, in rich clerical dress, holding a crown above the first man’s head. Christmas Day, 800 CE; the Pope crowns Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as Holy Roman Emperor. Or at least that’s how things used to be. You raise the Zero-degree Anomalous Potentiality Purger… [[ZAPP Charlemagne -> Vanishing Charlemagne]] [[ZAPP the Pope -> Vanishing Pope]] [[ZAPP the crown -> Vanishing Crown]]

Charlemagne vanishes. The crowd becomes increasingly agitated, and acolytes start to rush about in all directions, as the Pope stares at the crown in his hands in bemusement. Gradually, things calm down; the Pope shakes his head and leaves, the crowd departs, and after barely ten minutes the church is deserted. [[That worked! Back to reality to see what effect it's had! Heh heh heh... -> Back in the Lab 1]]

A shock runs through the assembled crowd as the Pope vanishes. In a moment, however, things return to normal, as the space is filled with another figure in clerical robes. You can see that his features are less distinct, but everyone accepts his authority without question, and the ceremony continues. Of course; unless something truly catastrophic happened, there would always be a Pope, even if 1200 years later we might not know anything much about him. You could ZAPP Popes all day, and it wouldn’t make any difference. Curses! [[ZAPP Charlemagne! -> Vanishing Charlemagne]] [[ZAPP the new Pope anyway! -> Vanishing Pope 2]] [[ZAPP the crown -> Vanishing Crown]] [[Go back to reality -> Back in the Lab 2]]

The Pope’s mouth drops open as the crown suddenly vanishes from his hands. However, this lasts only a moment, before he gestures fiercely to the acolytes, and one of them brings forward an alternative bit of headgear; nowhere near as impressive as the original crown, but it’s the symbolism that counts. That didn’t seem to work. History knows that Charlemagne was crowned, so logically he must have been crowned with something, even if there's no detail in the records. Damn you, logic. What now? [[ZAPP Charlemagne -> Vanishing Charlemagne]] [[ZAPP the Pope -> Vanishing Pope]] [[Go back to reality -> Back in the Lab 2]]

The familiar space of the laboratory reinstates itself around you. Eagerly you run into the next room, the research library, to check on the consequences of your meddling. The results are surprisingly meagre. There’s no mention of Charlemagne in any of the books any more, nor on the internet – but there’s general agreement that the development of the Holy Roman Empire in the ninth and tenth centuries is best explained by an alliance between the Papacy and an unknown Frankish king. The consensus is that he was most likely called Charles, given the popularity of this name among his successors. Dammit! Of course you haven’t erased Charlemagne from the past, only from the historical record; we may not remember him any more, but the consequences of his deeds persist nevertheless. You’re no closer to supreme dictatorship. Time for a new strategy. [[Let’s try meddling with some more recent history -> Charlottesville]] [[Let’s try modifying the equipment -> Equipment]]

Again a brief shock runs through the assembled crowd as the Pope vanishes again – only to be replaced almost immediately with another figure in clerical robes. You can see that his features are even less distinct than before, but that makes no difference to anyone else. This clearly isn't going to work. [[ZAPP Charlemagne! -> Vanishing Charlemagne]] [[ZAPP the Crown -> Vanishing Crown]] [[Go back to the present -> Back in the Lab 2]]

Once again you step out of reality into the realm of history. You appear in the middle of a typical American town – but with some very un-American things going on. Angry crowds are waving placards and flags and flaming torches, and hurling abuse at one another. On one side there are many Stars and Stripes, but also a surprising number of confederate flags, and a lot with different symbols including swastikas; on the other, posters protesting against Nazis, and anarchist symbols, with police in the middle. Suddenly a car drives straight into the crowd of anti-fascist protesters, scattering people to either side. Un-American? Perhaps the United States needs to become more un-American to accept your elevation as supreme leader. Mwahaha! [[ZAPP the Nazi flags! -> Failure]] [[ZAPP the protesters! -> Failure]] [[ZAPP the car crash! -> Failure]]

It's clear that simply erasing things isn’t working; the ZAPPer is either ineffectual or too crude, and the 'elasticity' of history seems to wipe out most of its effects. You keep having to remind yourself that you're not changing the past but only what's remembered of it - and wiping out just one bit, even an apparently important bit, makes little or no difference to subsequent memory if knowledge of later events is enough to help historians reconstruct (or just make up) the bit you've erased. This isn't about asserting the dominance of structure and longer-term processes over the role of the individual 'Great Man' (though there's probably an issue there as well). History is full of gaps anyway; adding one or two more doesn't have the impact you were hoping for. You turn instead to the prototype of a different instrument: the Perspective Orientation Weapon. [[Let’s try it out… ->Rally]]

You return to the laboratory. It’s scarcely worth checking to see if anything has changed in present-day conceptions of the past; your attempts at selective erasure are an obvious failure, and you’re no closer to supreme dictatorship. Time for a new strategy. [[Let’s try meddling with some more recent history -> Charlottesville]] [[Let’s try modifying the equipment -> Equipment]]

There’s a slight flicker, and your target becomes hazy for a moment, but then the whole scene reappears exactly the same as before. Does this stupid ZAPPer not work at all? [[ZAPP the Nazi flags! -> Failure]] [[ZAPP the protesters! -> Failure]] [[ZAPP the car crash! -> Failure]] [[Give up and return to reality -> Back in the Lab 3]]

That was a complete waste of time. It's clear that recent events are just too well documented and too fresh in everyone’s memories for you to have any hope of erasing significant bits of them. Maybe a few people will believe that there were no Nazi flags or deliberate attack with a car, because they want to believe it, but nowhere near enough people to make a difference to your standing. Yet. Give it time… Meanwhile, how to take forward your nefarious plan? [[Let’s try modifying the equipment -> Equipment]] [[Let’s try going a bit further back -> Gettysburg]]

Having adjusted the history rewinder to keep things modern but not so recent, you step out into a cemetery, full of people in slightly old-fashioned costume, looking towards a stage on which a tall man with a beard is preparing to address the crowd. He looks familiar; yes, Abraham Lincoln. [[ZAPP Lincoln! -> Vanishing Lincoln]] [[No, you really should sort out your equipment first. -> Equipment]]

Lincoln vanishes. There is a brief kerfuffle on stage, then a white-haired man steps forward to deliver his speech – which is considerably longer than you remember the Gettysburg address being, and mentions Thucydides a lot. Most of the crowd shuffles off long before the end, yawning. Back to reality, back to the research. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has indeed vanished from the records; most books now don’t mention the occasion at all, but a few discuss the importance of classical reception in Edward Everett’s speech, especially its engagement with Pericles' Funeral Oration, and its subtle impact on American political rhetoric ever since – long, complex statements with multiple clauses instead of pithy, memorable sentences. That isn’t going to suit your style of government at all… Otherwise, Lincoln’s disappearance from history has made far less difference than you expected. There’s more of a focus on the structures and institutions of government, and on the whole range of political actors, rather than everything being focused on the heroic narrative of a single individual. Plenty of historians would be quite happy with this shift in perspective, getting away from crude l’histoire événementielle – but that isn’t the point of the exercise from your perspective. Simply erasing things isn’t working; the ZAPPer is either ineffectual or too crude. You turn instead to the prototype of a different instrument: the Perspective Orientation Weapon. [[Let’s try it out… ->Rally]]

You find yourself in a giant hall - maybe a sports arena - with a large crowd at one end, mostly dressed in a motley of red, white and blue, cheering excitedly and waving placards towards the raised stage. A man in a suit is speaking into a microphone and waving back at the crowd; behind him is an assortment of other men in suits, and one or two women. Looking more closely at the crowd, you can see that most of them look like pretty ordinary American citizens - though pretty well everyone here is white - but there are small groups of more aggressive-looking characters, with home-made placards ("Lock her up!" "Send Them All Back!" "White People Wake Up!") rather than the mass-produced official ones. There's also a very small band of protesters, with signs like "Love Trumps Hate", being jeered and jostled by some of the crowd. [[POW! the far-right supporters -> Supporters]] [[POW! the anti-Trump protesters -> Protesters]] [[POW! the people on the stage -> Cronies]] [[POW! the empty parts of the arena -> Spaces]]

A broad green ray emerges from the POW! machine, and bathes the scene in front of you almost like a filter. The far-right individuals fade into the background, overshadowed by the honest American values of all the decent people who just want someone to stand up for them against the multinationals and bankers and criminals. They're ready to support someone who listens and understands their concerns, someone who talks their language - and focusing on a few boys who got carried away is a typical Mainstream Media trick. This is looking promising for your plans... [[POW! the anti-Trump protesters -> Protesters]] [[POW! the people on the stage -> Cronies]] [[POW! the empty parts of the arena -> Spaces]] [[Back to reality -> Conclusion]]

A red ray emerges from the POW! machine, and highlights the violence of the tiny group of anti-fascist protesters, trying to disrupt a perfectly legal rally because they hate America and disrespect traditional values. These are the sorts of people who want a lying Goldmann Sachs stooge as President, and they'll stop at nothing to attack decent law-abiding citizens, trample on their rights and police what they can say. This is why we need a strong man to take charge and bring fractured society back together again! And you can be that strong man... [[POW! the far-right supporters -> Supporters]] [[POW! the people on the stage -> Cronies]] [[POW! the empty parts of the arena -> Spaces]] [[Back to reality -> Conclusion]]

A purple ray illuminates the stage for a moment, then the people behind the speaker seem to shrink; they're still there, if you look for them, with all their dodgy financial deals and dubious Russian connections and nepotistic business practices and connections to far-right websites, but suddenly it seems much less important. Every administration will have a few bad apples, and that's no reflection on the man at the top. The other side are so much worse - her emails! - and it's time to drain the swamp and Make America Great Again! Excellent. You can take up that offer of support from SMERSH, the Illuminati and the Russians without any worries about being caught out. [[POW! the far-right supporters -> Supporters]] [[POW! the anti-Trump protesters -> Protesters]] [[POW! the empty parts of the arena -> Spaces]] [[Back to reality... -> Conclusion]]

A yellow ray lights up the large areas of space beyond the crowd - and suddenly it's full of people, packed to the rafters, the biggest crowd any political rally has ever seen, full of the best people and this is a real popular movement of national renewal, even if the crooked media tries to tell you something different. You're simply the greatest, the leader America has been waiting for. [[POW! the far-right supporters -> Supporters]] [[POW! the anti-Trump protesters -> Protesters]] [[POW! the people on the stage -> Cronies]] [[Time to return to reality -> Conclusion]]

History is not what happened, it’s what people think happened, and what they think that means. Here’s the thing: you can have all the facts, and still turn history to your advantage. As Lucas Coyne recognises in his contextualisation of the Destory History game, it’s all about which facts are emphasised, and how they’re interpreted; not ‘what the past was like’, but ‘what stories do we tell about the past, and what do they mean to us?’ You don’t need to erase slavery from the history of the Civil War, let alone try to erase Lincoln, you just need to shift emphasis towards states’ rights and other constitutional issues – and put up a lot of statues to honour those who fought for them. You can't report everything - but what you do decide to report, and how you present it, changes people's understanding. I tell it how it is. You've been misled by the distorted reporting of the mainstream media. He's twisting facts to suit his political agenda. That’s what’s alarming: Dr Malevolus doesn’t have to erase the past at all, or rewrite history, just shift the debate a little way in the right direction. Because, while no one actually has a history rewinder or a ZAPP gun, we *all* have a POW! - even professional historians, though we impose much stricter rules on ourselves when it comes to using it. We're also more skilled than the average citizen in recognising when someone else may have used a POW! to manipulate history for their own ends. As Lucas shows, that doesn't necessarily help; we can deal with obvious anachronisms, like a MAGA hat at Charlemagne's coronation, but our attempts at tackling more complex distortions - including cases, like Washington and the cherry tree, where the issue is not the historicity of the event but the way it works as a foundational myth of American identity - are more problematic and generally less successful. To take a recent, largely UK-based controversy: is it historically acceptable to show a 'black' Roman officer as the head of an implicitly 'typical' family in Roman Britain in a BBC video? The current historical consensus is that there is clear evidence for there being a multitude of ethnicities present, and it's easy to see how previous generations have (mostly unconsciously) ignored or downplayed this evidence in favour of an image of natives and Romans alike as 'just like us' - to say nothing of the now deliberate use of ZAPP and POW! by alt-right figures to construct Romans as 'our' pure white ancestors. But the claim from those figures is that it's the historians, and the BBC, who've used their POW! to magnify the presence of a few Romans of different ethnic backgrounds so that they're presented as 'typical' or 'representative', in the service of relentless political correctness. Our problem, compared with Lucas' game, is that we lack any objective index of 'historical instability' against which to calibrate the effects of either their distortions or our own. Out here in the real world, there are far more choices, and far fewer ruled...