On 16/06/2013 12:22, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote:> However, am I being unfair in thinking these showbiz > luvvies can turn on the tears and emotion to demand? Clearly, none of them can > be family historians since people such as ourselves would take it all in our > stride! Wouldn't we??? > 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. It's one thing to discover something sad when you've just had a good nights sleep. Quite another to interrupt a busy work schedule to make a long train/plane journey and have it sprung on you when you are very tired. As for getting angry, I'm afraid I can't see that unless those responsible are still alive.
> > 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