"Did that thing really sink?"

[Metryq]

"Those who cannot remember history are destined to repeat it," right?

Thought the Titanic Disaster Was Just a Movie

That's right, and WAR OF THE WORLDS and GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK were real history, too.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Oh no! You mean Avatar was ... real?

 

[Bowler1]

Is anything real, is this the matrix?

Good link however.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

"There goes my last drop of hope for humanity, wasted forever, like the oxygen these people breathe."


This one sentence of his sums up my entire view on the human race in general.


How idiotic can someone get? Next they'll be asking if the United States Civil War was real or just an idea to have popped into someone's head for movies.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Careful, Karn. Don't write anything about the United States Civil War. It's not in the public domain yet.

 

[mosaix]

For a lot of people, life consists of 'being entertained'. Everything they see and hear is entertainment. Not for one second do they imagine that some of that entertainment is based on fact.

On the other side of the coin I used to work with two fairly 'intelligent' people in their mid-twenties who thought that Close Encounters was based on fact. So, I suppose, we just can't win.

I suppose it comes down to education in the end. I do remember that my history classes were very boring and poorly taught. I was saved by having a good set of encyclopaedias at home. Nowadays kids have the internet and the problem with that is that the truth and the rest of the rubbish carry the same weight.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

History was once written by the winners.

Now, it is written by Hollywood and the Internet.

 

[Ursa major]

A thought to cheer up the author of the article: when oxygen is breathed, it isn't destroyed, merely used in some chemical reactions to create more complex molecules; other biological processes can release molecular oxygen.

 

[RJM Corbet]

A thought to cheer up the author of the article: when oxygen is breathed, it isn't destroyed, merely used in some chemical reactions to create more complex molecules; other biological processes can release molecular oxygen.

So there's still enough to go round for bears too ...

 

[David Evil Overlord]

A thought to cheer up the author of the article: when oxygen is breathed, it isn't destroyed, merely used in some chemical reactions to create more complex molecules; other biological processes can release molecular oxygen.

Sometimes oxygen is breathed in, and it travels all the way to the brain cells. At this point, the brain wakes up and asks "Did that thing really sink?".

 

[The Judge]

I don't think it's a question of school education, mosaix, not for this particular example, since I wouldn't expect history lessons to deal with the Titanic itself. How many of us know about the Vasa, another ship which sank on its maiden voyage? Granted it didn't have the same loss of life, but it was another example of inadequate planning and poor decisions.

However, the difference between the two is publicity -- and that's what this shows about the ignoramuses in the article. Film after film after film has been made of the Titanic and its events; every year something is written about it in the papers and is shown on the news, about survivors, about diving to the ship, about memorabilia, about the films themselves -- and every single piece written will have referred to the real events of 1912.

These people have gone through life wholly oblivious, wholly uncurious, wrapped up in their own self-satisfied cocoon, not reading any articles anywhere, not thinking about anything except their next drink, next drug, next idiotic TV programme. That is where the ignorance arises, from their failure to read and think and wonder.

/rant over

 

[Kamosis]

Ok, let's do this in a civil way, I want these people tagged and shoot before they can contamine our gene pool aymore

 

[Metryq]

Ok, let's do this in a civil way, I want these people tagged and shoot before they can contamine our gene pool aymore

That idea, also, has made the rounds during the 20th century. I'm with The Judge on this one. Ignorance is curable, and it's not a shooting offense. Stupidity, on the other hand...

It's just amazing to find people oblivious to things like the Titanic disaster when it has become a common figure of speech (at least among English speakers). How about the 1938 WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast? Surely everyone knows about that, and had a good laugh at all the stupid Americans... or not, because that "same" radio play has panicked audiences several times since then. In Ecuador, the radio station was burned down by an angry mob (20 people died), yet many still do not know about it.

But the manipulators and power brokers noticed. They learned how many people have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction, and they learned how easy it is to sway people with a few hysterical words and some cheap photography. (UFOs? Loch Ness monster? BLAIR WITCH PROJECT? The nightly news...)

Heck, the US Navy received letters during the initial run of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND wondering if they were going to do anything to rescue those poor people.

 

[Mouse]

Blimey Charlie.

Mind, I had an American lady comment to me a couple of weeks ago that she didn't realise England had beaches.

 

[The Ace]

Nessie does exist, Metryq. She's a bit shy, though and has a nasty habit of eating witnesses when she can't get wild haggis.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Blimey Charlie.

Mind, I had an American lady comment to me a couple of weeks ago that she didn't realise England had beaches.

Did she know England* is an island?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the definition of an island "dirt and rock, and maybe sand, too, surrounded by water"?

And isn't the definition of beach "the bit where dirt and rock and maybe sand, too, meets the surrounding water"?

So, an island must have something that could be called a beach?**

Perhaps she's confused by all this European Union, England-is-a-part-of-Europe business.

*including the attached lands of Wales and Scotland for the purposes of the definition and in no way intended as an insult or to spark nationalistic debate by referring to those countries as "England".

**even if it's all steep cliffs, and the "beach" is effectively vertical.

 

[The Ace]

Did she know England* is an island?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the definition of an island "dirt and rock, and maybe sand, too, surrounded by water"?

And isn't the definition of beach "the bit where dirt and rock and maybe sand, too, meets the surrounding water"?

So, an island must have something that could be called a beach?**

Perhaps she's confused by all this European Union, England-is-a-part-of-Europe business.

*including the attached lands of Wales and Scotland for the purposes of the definition and in no way intended as an insult or to spark nationalistic debate by referring to those countries as "England".

**even if it's all steep cliffs, and the "beach" is effectively vertical.

England is a peninsula DEO, and I can forgive a New Zealander for not knowing that referring to the UK as, 'England,' IS an insult, whether intended or not. England, Scotland and Wales, as well as Northern Ireland all have beautiful beaches and surprisingly vibrant surfing communities, given the weather.

 

[Ursa major]

To follow on from what Ace has said: the island which forms the mainland of Scotland, the mainland of England and that of Wales is called Great Britain (in English).

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I tried to defuse the potentially explosive situation with a disclaimer. I called it "England" because Mouse noted her American lady called it that. I did note the island as a whole includes Wales and Scotland.

The "island" statement didn't really have the same impact if I say "England is an island, so it has beaches all around it, except where it has land borders with Scotland and Wales".

@Ace, I'm glad you can forgive a New Zealander. Warren Paul should drop by any minute. But I'm an Australian, not a New Zealander. Which I suspect you said to even the score over the whole England/Scotland/Wales thing.

 

[The Ace]

Exactly DEO, I insulted you the way you insulted me.

Sorry about that, but being called English really hurts.