Tag: BBC

Threads

I caught a film that met my need for disaster and chilling feelings: Threads.

Threads was aired as a television play on the BBC in 1984, at the height of the cold war. It’s one of the only long-format films to display in depth the effects of a nuclear winter on society. Some of the images are pretty disturbing and I was pretty surprised that they showed it on TV, but then again in Britain censorship isn’t like it is here. I was sufficiently chilled and was pretty afraid I’d have nightmares. The quality of the transfer is poor but the point definitely gets across. I recommend it.

Same as the Old Boss

At YOU CAN! in Poland, during Polish Night I sat across from a girl from the mainland of China. The conversation turned to censorship and its acceptance in China, and she told me that she thought that it was good that the Internet and publications were censored. She said that the government knew what was good for them, and so she trusted their decision.

This concerned me quite a bit, and was an unusual thing to hear especially from an AIESECer. I have just read this article on the BBC about life in modern Russia, and it has the same kind of concepts from the mouths of ordinary Russian citizens. Why do people willfully submit themselves to an unchecked authority like this?