The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I was only looking as far as the 20th century
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Same still applies 1900 was a long time ago [the Wright brothers hadn't got off the ground yet]. Even 2nd world war - terrible - but the world advanced 50 years in 5. Flight, medicine, electronics - many died - many are alive because of it - how do we draw a conclusion. The Titanic - terrible but it changed safety regulations forever, the list goes on. History never changes - only our understanding and acceptance of it
 
sidevalve said:
Same still applies 1900 was a long time ago [the Wright brothers hadn't got off the ground yet]. Even 2nd world war - terrible - but the world advanced 50 years in 5. Flight, medicine, electronics - many died - many are alive because of it - how do we draw a conclusion. The Titanic - terrible but it changed safety regulations forever, the list goes on. History never changes - only our understanding and acceptance of it
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The word 'history' is in some ways, as it sounds. Its a 'story'. Stories can be told in different ways and from different perspectives so that the idea of 'truth' becomes problematic. Of course, there are certain events which are facts. The sinking of the Titanic is a good example. It happened. Its an historical fact.

However, much of what is described or taught as history around the world isn't necessarily fact. Its a political perspective, or a male perspective, or a Western world perspective or a right wing or left wing perspective...and so on.
 
morning glory said:
The word 'history' is in some ways, as it sounds. Its a 'story'. Stories can be told in different ways and from different perspectives so that the idea of 'truth' becomes problematic. Of course, there are certain events which are facts. The sinking of the Titanic is a good example. It happened. Its an historical fact.

However, much of what is described or taught as history around the world isn't necessarily fact. Its a political perspective, or a male perspective, or a Western world perspective or a right wing or left wing perspective...and so on.
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In some cases if a government could have been inadvertently responsible for a disaster, the government tends to try to hide it. A good example would be the explosion that I mentioned in another thread. If the government (Texas in this case) had acted on a bill they had been ignoring sooner, then the school would have known they had a leak and it could have been fixed. Natural gas has no odor.
That explosion is still not mentioned in any Texas history textbooks.
*The bill requiring an odorant to be put into natural gas was approved in a special session of the legislature on May 13, 1937. The explosion was March 18, 1937.
 
I found it very interesting travelling and talking to people about events I knew of.
One such one way the NATO intervention in Serbia many years ago now. I was working for the armed forces as a civvie at the time. some years ago I had chance to talk to a Serbian who survived the NATO bombing of a railway bridge close to his home (where we stayed the night).
He was also responsible for preventing is from cycling into what was rapidly becoming a 'war' at the Serbian/Kosovo border. we had planned to cycle through Kosovo and are on a road where the only option was back or into Kosovo. we were due to cycle across that border the next day. we had been taking our news from UK and Western news sites and there was nothing in the news online or elsewhere about what was happening. there will is nothing. it didn't happen if you read Western news. he however had Serbian news and l showed us the Russian news sites as well. what we found out (I have basic Russian and a lot of the sites are easily translated, plus videos do not need translation, actions speak louder than words) was that NATO troops had been given permission to switch from water canons to disperse the rioters and crowds at the border crossing to using live ammunition. We were cycling into what NATO consisted to be an escalating matter and there were deaths that next day and the following week at that border crossing. however you won't find anything in Western news agencies about it. there was a complete news blackout regarding the matter.

I learnt to be even more sceptical of what we were told after that. I don't just use 1 or 2 Western news agencies for my news stories anymore. you don't get anything like a 50% picture let alone the complete story. one sided, filtered, edited and made to order, yes, but actually the truth? no.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I found it very interesting travelling and talking to people about events I knew of.
One such one way the NATO intervention in Serbia many years ago now. I was working for the armed forces as a civvie at the time. some years ago I had chance to talk to a Serbian who survived the NATO bombing of a railway bridge close to his home (where we stayed the night).
He was also responsible for preventing is from cycling into what was rapidly becoming a 'war' at the Serbian/Kosovo border. we had planned to cycle through Kosovo and are on a road where the only option was back or into Kosovo. we were due to cycle across that border the next day. we had been taking our news from UK and Western news sites and there was nothing in the news online or elsewhere about what was happening. there will is nothing. it didn't happen if you read Western news. he however had Serbian news and l showed us the Russian news sites as well. what we found out (I have basic Russian and a lot of the sites are easily translated, plus videos do not need translation, actions speak louder than words) was that NATO troops had been given permission to switch from water canons to disperse the rioters and crowds at the border crossing to using live ammunition. We were cycling into what NATO consisted to be an escalating matter and there were deaths that next day and the following week at that border crossing. however you won't find anything in Western news agencies about it. there was a complete news blackout regarding the matter.

I learnt to be even more sceptical of what we were told after that. I don't just use 1 or 2 Western news agencies for my news stories anymore. you don't get anything like a 50% picture let alone the complete story. one sided, filtered, edited and made to order, yes, but actually the truth? no.
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I'd three relatives then. Two under UN colours, I phoned one as the vehicle they were travelling in came under attack, from all sides. Talk about news from the front line!
 
classic33 said:
I'd three relatives then. Two under UN colours, I phoned one as the vehicle they were travelling in came under attack, from all sides. Talk about news from the front line!
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Yep, one of my best it hempen calls was a squaddie who rang me up for help to see what could be done for the laptop that had been shot (Sarajevo). all I could think of was and ask him was where it was when it got shot. it was on his lap... it got shot in a downward angle through the screen and into the base hitting the hard drive... continuing that trajectory produced many amusing jibes from his friends... he was 'naturally' more concerned about the laptop!
 
There are three things the human brain cannot resist noticing:
Attractive people, danger and FOOD.
 
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