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On Wednesday 21st October, the BBC 6pm TV news featured that it was the day Michael J Fox went back to the future in the film of the same name produced in 1989. It was also on the radio, Internet, newspapers...my wife made an interesting observation that it was also the 49 anniversary of the Aberfan disaster where 116 children and 28 adults lost their lives - not a mention.
Apologies for the sobering thought on a Friday.
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Goes to show what is important!
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Well said. It can be argued that this disaster precipitated Lord Robens' report that lead directly to the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Lord Robens was the head of the coal board at the time!
But it is a sad reflection that a film gets more coverage than this significant event.
Well done for reminding us, thank you
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I did see a post go round on LinkedIn- I must admit I had not heard of it so will be looking into this in a bit more detail- but as mentioned it's a bit sad what seems to be so easily forgotten.
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I'm fairly sure it was on the Welsh news. But your point is a good one. It seems odd sometimes how they decide what to report and the order the stories are in. I used to believe that they were in order of significance.
To be honest every day seems like back to the future day. I seem to have to tell the same people the same things over and over (the managers).
I consider the news to be at about the same level as newspapers. Newspapers are at comic book level and can't be trusted for the truth or an unbiased opinion.
Worst of all we don't seem to learn from these disasters, or we do but only for a short time, then go backwards.
Chris
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Chris42 wrote:...Worst of all we don't seem to learn from these disasters, or we do but only for a short time, then go backwards.
Chris
Isn't this just another manifestation of the "corporate memory" which we normally say is between 20 to 40 years long at the top end?
I am one of the generation of advisors that was not born when this happened, but I do know my history and how this fed into the creation of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act, which itself has recently been under attack.
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Invictus wrote:Goes to show what is important!
Lets be honest, unless you have a relative who died in that particular incident Back to the future will obviously be more important to most people. So what? disasters are sad yes, but they happen all the time. I wonder how many people have died over in Syria while I write this....no one really cares.
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Well stonecold, some people care or my employer wouldn't exist! But I do know what you're getting at.
I was six at the time of Aberfan, just old enough to understand. I remember thinking about my own school playground and trying to imagine what it would be like. I failed, but for me Aberfan was a formative and long-lasting memory.
John
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I think it's one of the responsibilities of the media to ensure this type of thing is not forgotten. I also think current news is an entirely different thing.
Nothing wrong with covering 'feel-good-moronic-trivia' but not at the expense of other important issues
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There are too many disasters in the world for them all to be remembered. Another one today over in France. Plus the constants wars etc.
I would defo rather see a funny movie on tv than be reminded of the bad stuff
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stonecold wrote:There are too many disasters in the world for them all to be remembered. Another one today over in France. Plus the constants wars etc.
To some degree, yes. However, Aberfan was a particularly notably awful event. It and Bhopal are the two events that most put chills down my spine.
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achrn wrote:
To some degree, yes. However, Aberfan was a particularly notably awful event. It and Bhopal are the two events that most put chills down my spine.
Yes, 144 deaths is reqlly quite exceptional. And like Bhopal it was the context; the fact that anybody ever thought it was OK to put a mountain of loose rubble next to a school playground.... (or a giant process plant right next to a crowded residential area)
John
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While the BBC couldn't be bothered social media did have it covered.
In particular Facebook had a picture of the mass grave, basically a trench with wooden coffins side by side and mourners looking in at them. Seemed to go on for ever.
Very sad.
When I joined Liverpool FB I got to know some of the firemen who volunteered to go down there and help with the "rescue" attempt.
Big brave men brought to tears as they recounted their tales.
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Everyday is the anniversary of something. For example on this day in 2009 Terrorist bombings in Baghdad kill over 150 and wound over 700.
There is nothing wrong with something in the news which makes people smile and remember something from their childhood. There is enough bad news in this world.
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I think there are very important differences between events like Aberfan, Herald of Free Enterprise, Bhopal etc and deliberate acts of violence such as are perpetrated in wars and terrorist activity. Certainly we manage the two things very differently where I work.
It's not likely that we'll put a stop to aggrieved young men(mostly) being led to commit slaughter by people who should know better. But we can stop building slag-heaps next to schools. In fact, we have done just that, and we can fit ferries with proper safety devices and so on. Aberfan could have been prevented relatively easily, the causes of something like 9/11 or the Iraq war seem to much harder to understand or mitigate,
John
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The point I was trying to make is that every day there is an aniversary of a disaster be it safety related, war, acts of god etc they cant report on them all.
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Mr Flibble, fair enough, and I guess I'm not saying that just because they're hard to prevent we should ignore the anniversaries of atrocities of war and terror.
However, something like Aberfan has three particular reasons to be remembered, in my view. 1) I hate to be parochial, but it happened here, 2) there are people still alive who were there, as survivors, relatives, or rescuers, and 3) we are doomed to repeat what we forget. So it should be remembered, certainly much more than a piece of light-weight Hollywood trivia,
John
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I cannot believe the amount of sad, no life people out there. Still going on about "Back to the future day" You really need to get a life and,
"May the 4th be with you all".
:)
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