On 7/8/2013 8:18 AM, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: > From: eve@varneys.org.uk > >>> I've watched quite a few of the WDYTYA programs and I've been suspicious >>> of a few. For the most part I've felt they were genuine. Many have said >>> they found the experience more moving than they expected and I can >>> believe that. >>> >>> I > >>> As for getting angry, I'm afraid I can't see that unless those >>> responsible are still alive. >> >> >> It just concerns me that so few actors and show biz people seem ever to >> have learnt any history. >> Common sense would show that people generally didn't go into the >> workhouse unless their home conditions were really desperate, and >> generaqlly they were better fed, better housed, better cared for medically, >> and probably less exposed to physical and moral dangers than they would >> have been, or actually had been, outside. True, they lacked television, mod >> cons, designer clothes, and the liberty to misbehave, start a boy band and >> (save the mark) be a Selebritty - but most would have lacked these >> opportunites outside the workhouse too. >> No one NOW would want to be sent to the workhouse, but thibnga were >> different then - and adults at least had to apply for admission when they had >> exhausted all other possibilities. For these luvvies to emote all over the >> screen as if their own ancestors had been singled out for harsh treatment, >> rather than being rescued from worse lives, is not really acceptable. >> EVE >> >> >> Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians >> Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society> > > Sound and sensible comments, Eve, with which I entirely agree. Unfortunately, > these luvvies do not seem to understand that we can only ever analyse > historical events and facts within a context of the social mores and attitudes > of the times in which they occurred. > > It is utterly pointless getting angry over something that happened over 100 > years ago when the world was so totally different. Applying a mindset of 21st > century values to history is just so much nonsense. > > Having myself been involved in TV documentaries, I know that producers want to > evoke a response from the subjects. However, wouldn't it be nice if they also > presented an opinion from someone such as your good self, expressing the points > that are made here by those of us who actually know what we are talking about? > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > Fully agree +++++++++++