Blitz Street

[naomi24]

I watched the Tony Robinson programme tonight about the Blitz, and wondered how the people of today would cope. That generation got on with it. They helped each other, and the more they took, the stronger and more determined to withstand the onslaught they seemed to become. So how do you think today's society would fare in those circumstances?

[Mr Veritas]

Indeed birdie,
If a "false history" is repeated enough it becomes an "urban myth",and if you try to disprove or criticise such you can be rounded on for being unpatriotic or just not knowing the facts (even if like myself you were actually there).
I suppose(given the state of the media in the 21stC) and the way that people believe the press and Tv(without investigating facts for themselves) we should expect such lack of knowledge,and such willingness to be spoon fed with the "non facts".
It seems that after even a short time such conflicts and events (such as WW2,The Holocaust & even The Falklands develop their own mythologies,which you poke holes in at your peril.People who weren't even there seem to take on the role of "high priest" of susch and such,and even those who lived through are dismissed as unknowledgable!
What saddens me about this is,it disrespects those who died,it direspects those (like myself) who survived,and it saddens me that when I am gone this mythology will only continue and flourish,because there will be nobody to gainsay it.
We must remember that if we do not learn from the past we are condemned to repeat it in the future!
Well, Human Beings are stupid,so we probably will repeat it in the future.
I am glad that I shall not be here to see it,or it's feeble excuses for existence.

[Mr Veritas]

naomi,
I have no wish to pick your answer to pieces,but I must just address one of your lines:~
" When I asked the question, I wasn't thinking about people helping each other on a personal basis, but rather of the community spirit that existed within those who helped wherever they could, for example in extinguishing fires, and rescuing people, or digging out bodies, buried in rubble."
When a house was bombed,or people were possibly trapped,or the house was on fire etc;ALL civilians (related to the trapped etc or not) were kept well away from the scene.Ordinary persons were not allowed anywhere to a collapsed building etc.This was left to the wartime Ambulance and Fire Brigade,and they were VERY strict about this.I arrived (in uniform) on the secen of my Mother's house just after it was bombed,and even though I was in uniform I was not allowed within one street of the site.
This came from early on in the war when civilians were assiting the emergency services at the site of a bombing.What they could not know was tha there was another unexploded(large) bomb under the house.It went off killing about 60 people,few of whom (then) were emergency services.After that,the above came into force,and while quite a few emergency service workers were killed,no civilians die this way after the change.
Sorry to pick you up on this,it's not meant to be pedantic,I just get sad when what I know is getting lost.

[naomi24]

Well, I heard different stories from my own parents, but in your experience it appears community spirit didn't exist at all, except perhaps between immediate neighbours. Thanks for your answers Mr V.

[naomi24]

I'm enjoying it too, Graham.

And incidentally, it appears Mr V is not 80+ years old, and is not who he claims to be, so I suggest we take his input with a large pinch of salt.

[Buenchico]

Hi Birdie:

The Ed has barred further discussion of some of the issues but I see nothing wrong in providing a link to the relevant thread:
http://www.theanswerb...k/Question892897.html
(See Shaneystar2's post).

[piggynose]

me thinks naomi24 is scared of the truth, thats why shes discredited mr veritas

[cazzz1975]

since mr v was found out as a liar, I have no confidence in any of his posts.

[naomi24]

piggynose, what a ridiculous thing to say. The truth is we can't accept Mr V's accounts as authentic because, contrary to his claims, he wasn't there.