Since we are playing silly (but fun) games...

[jonahmama.livejournal.com]

Announcement: We have developed an amazing 21st century technology for time-travel. We are able to reach back into the past and, using our sophisticated machine, bring one person at a time into the present - or the future for the traveler. Of course we have to be careful not to disturb the timeline and alter the past (or we might wipe out the present), so our technology simultaneously plucks a person from the past and replaces his/her body with a high-tech dummy filled with fake blood and organs. Hopefully if the person is about to be dead anyway and we yank them a second before they die, nobody will do a close examination, so nobody will really notice. They will just bury the dummy, and that will be that. The switch takes place in an instant, so it should be totally seamless. It helps to know the exact date and place of death to set the machine. Also, the person can't be so sick or injured that our modern medicine can't repair him/her easily. The trip is probably tough enough on the body. Small injuries are ok - we have some great doctors standing by - but we can't bring people back who would be dead on arrival. In looking for a test subject, we stumbled across the guillotine, and thought it's great. People about to be executed would make perfect subjects, provided they are not mass-murderers or rapists or something equally distasteful. The French Revolution seems just far enough back to demonstrate the power of this machine, but not so far back that we would be concerned that the person couldn't adjust to our time and live out the rest of his/her life in peace among us. In fact, one big criteria is that the person should be educated, well-adjusted, intelligent, etc. enough to learn our world and be able to adapt and live here. Obviously the project is top-secret, we don't want to tip off the media (you can imagine), so we'd like the person to just enjoy having a second chance at a life and maybe help us learn about the past. Please suggest candidates who qualify, who you believe might benefit from this experience, and who you feel for whatever reason might deserve the honor and be able to bear the burden of this mission. You might plead their case by telling us why you feel the person is especially qualified or deserving. You might also suggest some challenges we would encounter in teaching this person about our world, as well as how you might handle those challenges. We are not sticklers for French Revolutionaries, so qualified candidates from other times could work as well, we just thought the guillotine provides a good set-up that works.

Comments

[kurotoshi.livejournal.com]

I would easily say Camille Desmoulins! He's a smart young man and I feel that he would definitly appreciate the future and I'm garanteed that he would love to tell us all about the past (including Max's X3)

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

I would second her nomination of Camille. Perhaps bring Lucile, his wife, as well, to help him adjust better and so everyone isn't completely strange to him? :D

Also, I would suggest Maximilien Robespierre, because I believe his opinions on various things that affect us today would be of interest to many and worth listening to. And he would probably enjoy finding that many of the things he fought for (abolition of slavery, no death penalty, etc.) have finally come to be a reality in parts of the world. Really, with views so remarkably ahead for his time, I don't think he would find it at all difficult to adapt to that aspect of our world. Besides, it might be nice to remind politicians that once upon a time some in their profession had integrity. :P

(You know, it is totally bizarre that you posted this; I've had an ongoing daydream for weeks about this sort of thing. O.O; I sometimes do that - pretend that for x reason, persons a, b, and c from era z are in our time now [and often, I admit, chilling in my living room X3;]. But woah, you thought it out the same way I did this time around everything.)

[kurotoshi.livejournal.com]

Aww, absolutly! <3

Max would also be a really good choice! Well put! I absolutly agree!

[citoyenne.livejournal.com]

I agree in both Desmoulins and Robespierre, but personally I would like to show Madame Roland what life is like today. She was so intelligent and brave and equal to her spouse in both wits and talent. It would mean a great deal to me to show her the continuing battle for women and human rights.

I also think about George Sand. "The world will know and understand me someday, But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women." , she said. What a bliss it would be for her to see that she was right!

I might also suggest Alexis de Toucheville, a 19th century writer and "the kind critic of the democracy". I've just begun reading his book about the revolution and the ancient regime, and his love for the revolutionary ideas and his wits and knowledge has convinced me that he would really enjoy a trip into the future :P