4 ms·

I think you need to revisit the period more fully before judging your teachers quite so harshly. There was a massive campaign to terrify the public by the UK g

by Affric 3y ago

I think you need to revisit the period more fully before judging your teachers quite so harshly. There was a massive campaign to terrify the public by the UK government be it in relation to Protect and Survive or the IRA.

arethuza 3y ago
I don't think the UK government has ever wanted to terrify the population about the real effects of a nuclear war - quite the opposite. Protect and Survive was supposed to be a practical guide - the fact that it was actually quite terrifying was unintended.
- darrenf 3y ago
  AIUI the Protect and Survive films were only ever meant to be broadcast if a nuclear attack was imminent. They were classified but leaked to the BBC. It's not like anyone was showing them alongside the Green Cross Code man, "old fridges can kill", or Charly telling you to keep away from strangers and chip pan fires (separately...). (I'm reasonably sure the pamphlet didn't get published for the general public either, but again its existence was reported by the media) EDITED TO ADD: aha, Wikipedia says that the pamphlet did get published, basically because of the reportage generating so much public interest.
  - andyjohnson0 3y ago
    The pamphlet was published in 1980. I remember my parents had a copy, but not where they got it from. I was in my very early teens then, and I remember it being a frightening time.
  - Gordonjcp 3y ago
    The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service got slated for having a series of ads run in the early 2000s telling people to just get a takeaway on their way home from the pub instead of trying to cook when they got in. The big complaint was that it was encouraging people to eat unhealthily, when presumably a drunk person getting in would be whipping up a nice wee quinoa, avocado and pak choi salad or something. It cut fire deaths from chip pan fires to basically fuck all, within a month.
- philwelch 3y ago
  The UK government routinely terrified the population about a number of different dangers via their public safety films, many of which were made by aspiring horror filmmakers: https://youtu.be/lUgTH9Lnvv0 https://youtu.be/lUgTH9Lnvv0
  - helsinkiandrew 3y ago
    I have vivid memories of watching Apache and The Finishing Line when I was in primary school (under 12 years old) over 40 years ago. I'm still terrified of farm machinery and railway lines. After the end of the The Finishing Line, where the bodies of dead children are carried out of a railway tunnel I remember the railway safety officer who had presented the film telling us that the ending wasn't realistic - usually bodies hit by trains are carried out in pieces in bags because the damage is too bad.
- darkclouds 3y ago
  > the fact that it was actually quite terrifying was unintended. LOL Do you understand psychology, in particular reverse psychology? I spent some time in Germany as a kid when the IRA were bombing things and leaving car bombs for people to find, so you had to look under your car before getting into it whatever the weather and you had to have british number plates on your car to match the steering wheel on the right hand side. One Xmas New Year period we got cleared out of the accommodation block which was just a block of flats in a town or city in Germany, and this bomb disposal squad got called with a mini tank with an arm on its top to investigate this plastic bag. Thing is the plastic bag was tied to a street light beyond the reach of the mini tank contraption arm so someone had to go and untie it and place it on the ground for the tank to inspect. The person untying it wasnt allowed to look in the plastic bag in case it was booby trapped! Turned out it was just a bag of rubbish, a take away box in a plastic bag because someone couldnt find a bin! What a frigging waste of time that was! And I dont think the German police were called either, it was entirely handled by the british army, which made me wonder if it was an exercise! Course the IRA bombing also meant many bins were removed from the streets in the UK as these were handy place to hide a bomb in plain site apparently, much like many ponds and lakes were filled in during WW2 because the Luftwaffe could navigate at night using the moon reflecting off these bodies of water, and many of them haven't been reinstated either to this day. Still I learnt about OMO washing powder on display in a window, Old Man Out, and got to watch the stag patrols, slipping into the apartments for 10-20mins and saw how married women dressed, in order to entice the stag patrols into their humble abodes. I think that was more shocking for me, seeing what such good liars women are. If you want to become a swinger join the military!

by Affric 3y ago

arethuza 3y ago

I don't think the UK government has ever wanted to terrify the population about the real effects of a nuclear war - quite the opposite. Protect and Survive was supposed to be a practical guide - the fact that it was actually quite terrifying was unintended.

darrenf 3y ago
AIUI the Protect and Survive films were only ever meant to be broadcast if a nuclear attack was imminent. They were classified but leaked to the BBC. It's not like anyone was showing them alongside the Green Cross Code man, "old fridges can kill", or Charly telling you to keep away from strangers and chip pan fires (separately...). (I'm reasonably sure the pamphlet didn't get published for the general public either, but again its existence was reported by the media) EDITED TO ADD: aha, Wikipedia says that the pamphlet did get published, basically because of the reportage generating so much public interest.
- andyjohnson0 3y ago
  The pamphlet was published in 1980. I remember my parents had a copy, but not where they got it from. I was in my very early teens then, and I remember it being a frightening time.
- Gordonjcp 3y ago
  The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service got slated for having a series of ads run in the early 2000s telling people to just get a takeaway on their way home from the pub instead of trying to cook when they got in. The big complaint was that it was encouraging people to eat unhealthily, when presumably a drunk person getting in would be whipping up a nice wee quinoa, avocado and pak choi salad or something. It cut fire deaths from chip pan fires to basically fuck all, within a month.
philwelch 3y ago
The UK government routinely terrified the population about a number of different dangers via their public safety films, many of which were made by aspiring horror filmmakers: https://youtu.be/lUgTH9Lnvv0 https://youtu.be/lUgTH9Lnvv0
- helsinkiandrew 3y ago
  I have vivid memories of watching Apache and The Finishing Line when I was in primary school (under 12 years old) over 40 years ago. I'm still terrified of farm machinery and railway lines. After the end of the The Finishing Line, where the bodies of dead children are carried out of a railway tunnel I remember the railway safety officer who had presented the film telling us that the ending wasn't realistic - usually bodies hit by trains are carried out in pieces in bags because the damage is too bad.
darkclouds 3y ago
> the fact that it was actually quite terrifying was unintended. LOL Do you understand psychology, in particular reverse psychology? I spent some time in Germany as a kid when the IRA were bombing things and leaving car bombs for people to find, so you had to look under your car before getting into it whatever the weather and you had to have british number plates on your car to match the steering wheel on the right hand side. One Xmas New Year period we got cleared out of the accommodation block which was just a block of flats in a town or city in Germany, and this bomb disposal squad got called with a mini tank with an arm on its top to investigate this plastic bag. Thing is the plastic bag was tied to a street light beyond the reach of the mini tank contraption arm so someone had to go and untie it and place it on the ground for the tank to inspect. The person untying it wasnt allowed to look in the plastic bag in case it was booby trapped! Turned out it was just a bag of rubbish, a take away box in a plastic bag because someone couldnt find a bin! What a frigging waste of time that was! And I dont think the German police were called either, it was entirely handled by the british army, which made me wonder if it was an exercise! Course the IRA bombing also meant many bins were removed from the streets in the UK as these were handy place to hide a bomb in plain site apparently, much like many ponds and lakes were filled in during WW2 because the Luftwaffe could navigate at night using the moon reflecting off these bodies of water, and many of them haven't been reinstated either to this day. Still I learnt about OMO washing powder on display in a window, Old Man Out, and got to watch the stag patrols, slipping into the apartments for 10-20mins and saw how married women dressed, in order to entice the stag patrols into their humble abodes. I think that was more shocking for me, seeing what such good liars women are. If you want to become a swinger join the military!