How do they get it so wrong?

I am going to urge you to read this article  and view the video (it's fairly short) on the BBC website. Why, you ask? Well, because the video that goes with it is full of errors.

In the video, the narrator ignores history, miscasts events and timelines, and fabricates events.

Why does he do that? Probably because he didn't write the script and doesn't know much about the subject.

Let me provide an example:

The Volkswagen Beetle. Affectionately called "the Bug" by Americans (at least) in the 50's when it first appeared was not a symbol of the counter-culture. That role was played by the Volkswagen bus. It was also not, as the narrator states, a reaction to the finned Detroit beasts of the late 50's since it arrived before, not after, their (the fin's) appearance.

He then goes on to misstate and skew the the Japanese invasion of the auto market. The Japanese compacts triggered the American auto industry's attempt to build compact cars in the early 60's. They wouldn't have done that had they not been successful in the American auto marketplace and scared Detroit into making poor copies.

If the narrator is relating what the script writer gleaned from the book being touted then the book's author either got it wrong or the script writer clearly misunderstood the book. 


Ok, the source of this book review is the BBC and the British often do get American culture wrong (case in point the events of the late 1700's) but the narrator clearly isn't British... couldn't he have straightened them out?