Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre invented the daguerreotype process in France. The invention was announced to the public on August 19, 1839 at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. American photographers quickly capitalized on this new invention, which was capable of capturing a "truthful likeness." Daguerreotypists in major cities invited celebrities and political figures to their studios in the hopes of obtaining a likeness for display in their windows and reception areas. They encouraged the public to visit their galleries, which were like museums, in the hope that they would desire to be photographed as well. By 1850, there were over 70 daguerreotype studios in New York City alone.

Now for the process, which is the basis of my analogy (emphasis added):

The daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. The silver-plated copper plate had first to be cleaned and polished until the surface looked like a mirror. Next, the plate was sensitized in a closed box over iodine until it took on a yellow-rose appearance. The plate, held in a lightproof holder, was then transferred to the camera. After exposure to light, the plate was developed over hot mercury until an image appeared. To fix the image, the plate was immersed in a solution of sodium thiosulfate or salt and then toned with gold chloride.

Exposure times for the earliest daguerreotypes ranged from three to fifteen minutes, making the process nearly impractical for portraiture. Modifications to the sensitization process coupled with the improvement of photographic lenses soon reduced the exposure time to less than a minute.

My point -- as I have shown here, when it comes to didactics, ancient memory was not "flashbulb" in nature. Repetition, patterning, and the ancient emphasis on orality together made it possible to remember -- in great detail -- large blocks of teaching, to a high degree of accuracy. So far from being "flashbulb" memories, the teachings of Jesus overall would involve dagueurreotype memories -- memories imprinted by repeated exposure, over a long period of time. So much for that.

1And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

In all of this, what would be subject to "flashbulb" distortion of the sort Greenberg describes, in accordance with his examples? Well, consider the examples. W couldn't recall when and how he heard the news. But is he forgetting, or going to forget, what the news WAS? In other words, will "flashbulb memory" ever distort the plane crashing into the WTC, into a case of a helicopter plowing into the Empire State Building? Not likely! Nor will he forget that he was in Florida, or that he was President at the time, or that he saw the crash on TV at some point. So in the story in Mark above, what might we expect to be "flashbulbed"? Not that there WAS a demoniac, or that they met him just off a boat, or that Jesus healed him, or that the devils pleaded for exception, or that the swine went down the hatch. What may we expect to be possibly "flashbulbed"? The man's exact words. How long his hair was. What flavor gum Bartholomew was chewing. But we won't see the swine morphed into ducks, or the demoniac turned into a leper, or Gadara turned into downtown Capernaum. The details likely to be "flashbulbed" are the sort of things no one would care about in terms of what the story is trying to tell us. Thus Greenberg's points are of no relevance here either. (And never mind that as leader of the free world, W has a lot more on his mind than does a Galileean peasant who, beyond basic necessities, has little to do BUT focus on what's going on around him, and indeed, MUST drink in detail well in order to survive!)

In this regard, allow me to make some personal comparisons, associated with Greenberg's examples. I can tell you exactly where I was when the Challenger exploded -- at home, in a den room. I can tell you I heard the news from television. I can also tell you exactly where I was when the WTC was struck -- home, again (I was on a 12-9 shift). The news first came to me from a phone call from my wife. But can I tell you what I was wearing or doing each time? I wouldn't dare to try. Can I tell you the exact words used on the newscast, or in the phone call? Of course not. On the other hand, some 20 years ago I was required to memorize and recite the Greek alphabet for a middle school assignment. To this day I can still recall it perfectly -- in part because I like to try to recite it every now and then. And if we are to believe Dave Barry, to this day he can't get out of his head all sorts of commercial jingles from his childhood. (Having seen the one for Mr. Clean from his day, I can understand why!)

So what in conclusion? This: