Historical revision filter

January 23, 2008 3:35 AM

After watching BBC Horizon last night (a copy of the Prof. Hebb sensory depreivation experiments of the 60’s) a past thought came back to me. I am fascinated by double (and in the case of Agent Zigzag triple) agents – Philby, Burgess, Ames, Gordievsky…the list goes on and on. I recall reading George Blakes book ‘no other choice’ and remember being profoundly struck by the both psychological and physical torture he received for a period of three years during his captivity in Korea

I recall reading George Blakes book ‘No Other Choice’ and remember being profoundly struck by the both psychological and physical torture he received for a period of three years during his captivity in Korea. Blake argued his road to Damascus moment came whilst watching American forces bombing ‘completely defenceless Korean villages’ but after watching this documentary about the effects of sensory deprivation (significant after just 48 hours let alone years), I can’t get this idea out of my mind that George Blake’s so called betrayal was in fact an inevitable consequence of his time in Korea. I have not seen this hypothesis written anywhere else and have felt it since reading the book many years ago. The documentary last night re-ignited my thoughts on this. Reading of the risks and heroism Blake took in the early part of his life I cannot help but feel an injustice has occurred. Has an injustice been done here or am I being oversimplistic in my cause and effect argument?

posted by numberstation to human relations (1 comment total)

This all sounds quite interesting numberstation but I am not quite sure what your question is. Are you looking for a formal, written hypothesis? Or looking for someone to agree with you?

Maybe you want to consider re-framing the question?

Also, it might be worthwhile contacting an admin to reformat your question as on the front page it is very difficult to tell what this is all about.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:43 AM on January 23