Methods Of Interrogation, Forty Years On
Life being what it is, I have not, save for the purposes of a paying review or other research, read a book all the way through in, Jesus, the longest period of my life since I achieved literacy. That said, I am currently devouring Andy Beckett's When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, the title of which should give you a fairly good estimation of whether or not you'd be interested in it. (If you are even slightly so inclined, please consider this a ringing endorsement.) In any event, I read this passage, dealing with interrogation tactics—referred to as the "Five Techniques"—by British troops during the early seventies revival of the IRA, and it seemed rather interesting.
There was nothing about them in any British army directive or training manual. Their origins were highly problematic: they were derived from the methods of questioning used by North Korea against British prisoners during the Korean War. Yet the Five Techniques had been employed, refined and passed on by word of mouth in the British army for decades, as it fought its small, semi-clandestine post-colonial wars. The techniques included depriving prisoners of food; depriving them of sleep; putting hoods over their heads; forcing them to listen to continuous high-pitched noise; and making them stand spread-eagled against walls. These methods were applied with such brutality in Ulster in the late summer and autumn of 1971 that five years later the European Commission of Human Rights found Britain guilty 'not only of inhuman and degrading treatment but also of torture.'
Animals. Thank God civilization has moved past that sort of thing.
I was a young lad in Britain in the Seventies, and it was indeed quite horrible. I'm still living with the scars.
Please continue to recommend these titles as such. I used to devour histories of the Boer War, Orange Free State and the golden age British Imperialism. But I've been very distracted the last 11 years.
Agreed! I would not have come across this otherwise, I don't think. This ringing endorsement+ Beckett (!) excerpt and index= sold!
FWIW, I'll be interested to read what he says about the IRA as well. No angels, that lot.
As in other fields of human endeavor, the morality of any institutionalized behavior often ends up being measured, and determined, by results.
So.
Something else for my list of passive aggressive presents for the mean British in-laws! (Seriously, they moved to the States in the early 60s and have entirely reimagined the UK as the magical happy kingdom where there neither is nor has been racism or poverty or government misbehavior [none!] since the 50s.)
You could also throw in a copy of "Arthur" by The Kinks then too.
Interesting, considering that Koreans are often referred to as the Irish of the Orient.
???
http://londonkoreanlinks.net/2007/03/17/are-koreans-really-the-irish-of-the-orient/
Ah, left off the crucial "by people who call it the Orient" part
Well, "fraught with peril" indeed: "Well regarded for their sense of humor and playing of pranks while have little use for the person who cannot laugh at him or herself" and "Frequently extended families gather regardless of members’ ages to share being together, often taking turns entertaining each other by singing songs."
Yeah, that seems like a totally reasonable comparison… of stereotypes gleaned by "a long-time Seoul executive from Ireland." I can understand where this came from but it is at best a kind of lighthearted joke by a foreigner with only the simplest understanding of the culture.
@gregorg: I'm sure it was an Occident.
Back down a little bit, Abe. I lived in Korea for many years and thought that there were many parallels in the Irish and Korean souls. Dominated by the English/Japanese, poetic, musical, heart-on-their-sleeve. It's facile but kind of obvious if you hang out there for a couple years.
Similarly, there are many similarities between Japan and England (imperial, monarchistic democracy, sexually repressed, formal and proper, obsessed with avoiding shame, wacky sense of humor, island nation). There are as many differences as there are similarities, but still.
but still, indeed.
Discriminated against by fellow Asians?
Yes. I have a Japanese friend who won't eat Korean sushi because he feels they don't make it very well.
It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it: I happened to add this to my Amazon UK wish list just last night. I were also a young lad in England in the 1970s (turned 18 in 1980) and I know it was 'horrible' – like an Eastern Bloc country – but I had a great time. Ask any kid my age and we loved the power cuts!
"Crisis? What Crisis?" by Alwyn Turner is also very good.
30% unemployment, nuclear fallout, mouldy old houses, mouldy old cars, glue-sniffing bovva boys, Margaret Thatcher, Bobby Sands, Morecombe & Wise, football riots, Brixton & Toxteth burning up(in my mind the 70s continued until 1982, when I was 10 and we moved to the modern world)……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnJ8q4zrxU8
About half those things you listed took place in the 1980s. Unemployment didn't hit its 3 million high until 1984.
I blame Monty Python.
That and frog a la peche. (or peche a la frog)
Ok, specifically then, 2 of them did. I meant when Thatcher was elected. I was living in a hippie/Quaker commune in the wilds of Wales and I remember walking into the village with everybody who was going to vote. Morecombe & Wise, I'm not actually sure. I was grasping for an example of what crap passed for entertainment. Was going to say the Two Ronnies, but then realised I actually quite liked them. The Goodies I liked very much. Well it's goodnight from me.
Balk, when you start reading a book just for the hell of it, and then you post about it, you're no longer reading it just for the hell of it.
Well, fuck it then, I'm not gonna finish it.
What if Charmin paid you $10,000 to post about it from a toilet?
He does that for free!!
Ouch. It's true.