Counterfactual Thinking
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Topic 2 – Counterfactual Thinking
Jack Dann finds this topic in the novel “The Rebel”. The novel looks at a situation where one of the film actors survives a fatal crash he is involved in. This is just a wish since the said actor did not survive the crash. It suggests that if the actor had survived the crash, he would have inspired one of his fans to leave rock and roll and become a serious actor. The novel goes further to suggest that the actor would have become the democratic governor of California hence trouncing Reagan. It also suggests that he would have become the running mate of Robert Kennedy and would have saved him from the assassin’s bullet.
This fictional narrative combines fiction with real life events. It explains what would have happened if the deadly crash of the film actor had not happened, or rather, if the film actor had survived the crash. This thinking of past events and wishing they could have turned otherwise is what is referred as counterfactual thinking. If these events had not happened the way they did then there would have been a different outcome according to counterfactual thinking.
In this case, the said fan did not leave rock and roll and since the film actor did not become a governor or the running mate of Kennedy. The fan did not achieve his ambition of acting. The illustrations, from the novel “The Rebel”, show a clear picture of how counterfactual thinking works.