The Interesting Facts thread -

[champthom]

On the old, old Forumer forum we had a great thread with interesting facts that people might not know about. We had a fella who was into history so he'd share a lot of stuff and it was an awesome thread and I figure I'd try to bring it back.

I'll get started -

In the 80s, Romania decided to show the TV show "Dallas" to show them the decadence and evils of American capitalism. Unfortunately, it didn't work - instead, it showed people that capitalism provided people with huge cars, bigger houses, and lavish lifestyles that could never be attained under communism. When Romanian dictator Ceausescu was overthrown and executed, one of the first things the newly freed Romanian TV station did was show the pilot episode to "Dallas" with a previously censored sex scene restored.

Likewise, Stalin had a showing of the 1940 film version of "The Grapes of Wrath" to show the Soviet people the depravity of capitalism and how the poor suffer in the US. It didn't work either - the Soviet people were amazed that even the poor in the United States had nicer clothing and even cars!

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

I heard the Nazis did something similar with jazz music. They made a propaganda film to show the decadence of jazz but it backfired. During the war there was a lot of black market activity in trading jazz and blues records.

 

[champthom]

I heard the Nazis did something similar with jazz music. They made a propaganda film to show the decadence of jazz but it backfired. During the war there was a lot of black market activity in trading jazz and blues records.

I do know that the Nazis had a "Subversive Art" exhibit to show artists by modernists and Jewish artists with snide commentary but it was popular that people would line up for blocks to see it. Meanwhile, virtually no one attended this exhibition they had of of "pure" German art.

 

[MY 405]

I heard the Nazis did something similar with jazz music. They made a propaganda film to show the decadence of jazz but it backfired. During the war there was a lot of black market activity in trading jazz and blues records.

There is a fantastic film about this called "Swing Kids"

Also, in the wake of WW I, Benito Mussolini imposed both a bachelor tax and a childless couples tax in an attempt to raise the birth rate in Italy and resupply the military with potential soldiers.

 

[MysticMisty]

In Heirapolis in western Turkey is the Plutonium, a cave opening that constantly releases a thick cloud of noxious fumes that kill anything that walks into the cloud and breathes it in. Greeks and later Romans built and maintained a shrine near the opening, where the public could pay a fee to throw a bird or a small animal into the cloud to witness it's lethalness. It was believed to be an opening to the underworld, hence the name.