General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: BBC documentary
Posted by:
Ken Dunn
()
Date: October 30, 2007 01:01AM
Hi Peter,
I think what you are seeing here is negativity caused by the way you approached your “researchâ€.
The questions you asked have been asked & answered over and over again here and as Barry points out, answering the same questions over and over becomes tiresome in time and in this case the questions are insulting to some.
Had you done any homework at all you would have already known the answers to your questions. The thing most folks that ask those questions all have in common is that they didn’t use the search engine here on the forum before asking their questions, they didn’t read the Myths section of the forum first and they didn’t even look to see if there were books (like Showell’s book) about what actually happened.
The fact that the answers are available through the search engine (as well as information about the Myths section of the site and Showell’e book etc.) accounts for some of the negativity you encountered.
Add to that the way the media frequently does this kind of “research†(just taking what they want from the interviews they conduct and sometimes taking it out of context without even letting the people being interviewed know they have been duped until the “interview†is published, then introducing a bit of “literary license†to make whatever point they are trying to make and you can see why people seriously interested in the topic don’t trust the media’s motives. Even when their heart is in the right place “literary license†frequently comes into play as does editing the interviews to accommodate the whims of someone in the process that doesn’t know anything at all about the subject matter and doesn’t mind misrepresenting the facts if doing so accomplishes their objectives. They also frequently do a lousy job of putting the stories together with archival footage. For example it isn’t unusual at all to find a special talking about a specific U-boat and illustrating their point with actual U-boat footage that turns out to not only not be the U-boat in question but not even the right type of U-boat and sometimes not even a German submarine at all. I don’t direct this against the BBC as I am an American & have very little experience with the BBC but it is VERY common in your industry. It seems to be a slash and burn approach and the facts be dammed as the general public is too stupid to know the difference and that just doesn't sit well with some of us.
At any rate perhaps the next time you do “research†on this site you will take the time to first at least search the forums to see if you are asking yet another question that has no basis in fact and has been asked and answered to death.
Actually this site encourages folks to cooperate with those writing books and doing TV specials or movies just so they will have accurate information to work with but when the party asking the questions hasn’t done any of their homework or any real research like digging through the archives and conducting interviews to determine if the subject is even valid etc. as Cleo pointed out, they should expect a somewhat negative response – especially when asking about complete myths.
That said, if you have an interest in Operation Deadlight I expect you might get some actual help here if you do a forum search on Operation Deadlight. It also has been discussed here before and there is a new book on the subject just available or just becoming available. There are also scuba divers that have film footage etc.
One thing you are right about though is that asking about the authenticity of myths here isn’t a good idea and it has a direct bearing on your credibility. As others have pointed out here it would make much more sense to deal with the impact and origin of the myths (which of them were just people seeing what they wanted to see, which were just tall stories and which were intentional propaganda etc.) Perhaps a comprehensive documentary on that subject would keep at least some folks from asking about those myths here.
Rest assured that the same questions you asked will be asked here over and over again in the future too. Like I mentioned, those that ask them don’t bother to do a forum search first.
If we are very very lucky perhaps one of those considering asking those questions will use the search engine, find your thread and and change their mind about asking them though.
Regards,
Ken Dunn
I think what you are seeing here is negativity caused by the way you approached your “researchâ€.
The questions you asked have been asked & answered over and over again here and as Barry points out, answering the same questions over and over becomes tiresome in time and in this case the questions are insulting to some.
Had you done any homework at all you would have already known the answers to your questions. The thing most folks that ask those questions all have in common is that they didn’t use the search engine here on the forum before asking their questions, they didn’t read the Myths section of the forum first and they didn’t even look to see if there were books (like Showell’s book) about what actually happened.
The fact that the answers are available through the search engine (as well as information about the Myths section of the site and Showell’e book etc.) accounts for some of the negativity you encountered.
Add to that the way the media frequently does this kind of “research†(just taking what they want from the interviews they conduct and sometimes taking it out of context without even letting the people being interviewed know they have been duped until the “interview†is published, then introducing a bit of “literary license†to make whatever point they are trying to make and you can see why people seriously interested in the topic don’t trust the media’s motives. Even when their heart is in the right place “literary license†frequently comes into play as does editing the interviews to accommodate the whims of someone in the process that doesn’t know anything at all about the subject matter and doesn’t mind misrepresenting the facts if doing so accomplishes their objectives. They also frequently do a lousy job of putting the stories together with archival footage. For example it isn’t unusual at all to find a special talking about a specific U-boat and illustrating their point with actual U-boat footage that turns out to not only not be the U-boat in question but not even the right type of U-boat and sometimes not even a German submarine at all. I don’t direct this against the BBC as I am an American & have very little experience with the BBC but it is VERY common in your industry. It seems to be a slash and burn approach and the facts be dammed as the general public is too stupid to know the difference and that just doesn't sit well with some of us.
At any rate perhaps the next time you do “research†on this site you will take the time to first at least search the forums to see if you are asking yet another question that has no basis in fact and has been asked and answered to death.
Actually this site encourages folks to cooperate with those writing books and doing TV specials or movies just so they will have accurate information to work with but when the party asking the questions hasn’t done any of their homework or any real research like digging through the archives and conducting interviews to determine if the subject is even valid etc. as Cleo pointed out, they should expect a somewhat negative response – especially when asking about complete myths.
That said, if you have an interest in Operation Deadlight I expect you might get some actual help here if you do a forum search on Operation Deadlight. It also has been discussed here before and there is a new book on the subject just available or just becoming available. There are also scuba divers that have film footage etc.
One thing you are right about though is that asking about the authenticity of myths here isn’t a good idea and it has a direct bearing on your credibility. As others have pointed out here it would make much more sense to deal with the impact and origin of the myths (which of them were just people seeing what they wanted to see, which were just tall stories and which were intentional propaganda etc.) Perhaps a comprehensive documentary on that subject would keep at least some folks from asking about those myths here.
Rest assured that the same questions you asked will be asked here over and over again in the future too. Like I mentioned, those that ask them don’t bother to do a forum search first.
If we are very very lucky perhaps one of those considering asking those questions will use the search engine, find your thread and and change their mind about asking them though.
Regards,
Ken Dunn
