Did Doc Brown Break the Clocktower?

I noticed something the other day rewatching Back to the Future.The Hill Valley Courthouse has a lightning rod, which theoretically means it never should have been damaged by the lightning strike that shut down the clocktower.However, remember how Doc had to loop part of the cable over the clock hands to make an improvised zipline at the climax? Since the cable was attached to the lightning rod, and electricity follows the path of least resistance, Doc inadvertently broke the clock by exposing it directly to the lightning's electrical current with his zipline idea. Given how the clock was also damaged in Marty's original timeline, and forgoing another explanation, this might be the first instance of a genuine predestination paradox in a movie series that generally runs on being able to directly and permanently change the past. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/2xi80qJ