Talk:Trail of interventions

Starting the page

This highly experimental page is devoted to tracing the primary set(s) of interventions experienced in various geographic and/or geopolitical settings with the United States as a starting point. The page title is a nod of acknowledgment to the 1831 Trail of Tears, a sad chapter in the United States.

The initial intent is to list primary or seminal interventions that have occurred in history. While any complete list of interventions would be extremely and even impossibly long, it is the most significant interventions that are presently intended to be included here. (Similarly, large-scale reversals of intervention could be included.)

The events listed are woefully incomplete and are believed to be accurate but editing is, of course, welcome.

The idea for the initial list grew out of consideration of the interventions setting the stage for the so-called net neutrality rules in the United States in late 2010. I decided the list couldn't wait, despite its incompleteness, after watching the 5-part documentary We Shall Remain. The pattern remains the same, as Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof: "A piece of paper and get thee out." – RayBirks 05:15, 10 April 2011 (MSD)

I'm really not sure how to go about this one. I mean, I'm totally for a list of this kind, but the name strikes me as odd from an encyclopedic point of view. A 'List of Interventions' or a 'List of Interventions in the US' would just do it; alternatively put a 'MisesWiki:' prefix to show its alternative character. With a 'Trail', I'd expect to see which interventions grew out of which ones, causality chains and the like, how groups of interventions branched out and combined, that sort of a thing. (No to say that it won't be there, just don't see it at the moment.)

Please continue with it, though, this looks important. Maybe somebody else can figure out how to wrap this; or it will show what it is as it ripens. Great idea! Can't quite get my head around it, but I like it. Pestergaines 14:16, 10 April 2011 (MSD)

The more poetic "trail" caught my interest, since the Trail of Tears was recently on my mind and it at least gives a slight hint of the misery that accompanies interventions, especially in their accumulation. It would be nice if there were an easy trail or timeline of one event unquestionably leading to the next. I suppose there is series of smaller trails that could more clearly indicate that one event set up the next, etc., and I am sure those (the major items perhaps a subset of this eventual list) could be delineated somewhere, sometime, in an article on a specific topic. Maybe a list like this one makes it easier for others writing articles to point to the essential items directly germane to their topic at hand.

I was first interested in the idea of, which antecedent interventions got us to net neutrality, but invasions of other sorts kept "getting in the way" as I thought about it. So, I thought I'd start a larger list of the main events. Since its scope was enlarged and may yet further be if it starts to ripen, perhaps this is closer to a "history" of interventions. The key to me is seeing them in a short, compact, fairly digestible fashion. One gets a better sense of just how fast weeds can grow.

I do admit that I am feeling less tied down to shoehorning things into an encyclopedic format, since more and more things on the Mises wiki are being included and/or sought. But maybe that's just me being away too long. :) Don't know when or how I will continue this, given my other offline projects. Remembering your comments and seeing afresh the vast array of interventions that precede our era, I just wanted to get something out there, even if unfinished.

I have heard it said that knowing the full list of American Presidents gives one a framework for remembering and understanding American history. Perhaps the list, trail, timeline, or history of interventions could be a more useful framework for classical liberals. -- RayBirks 19:08, 10 April 2011 (MSD)