Nuclear War - have we lost that fear?
by Squonq | 05/09/2007 02:51:38 This post got me thinking: Best apocalyptic films  Asking what our favourite apocalyptic film is. It seems as if the enthusiasm for stufflike Mad Max and Terminator if indicative of how much we've taken the threat of nuclear war for granted. I'm not talking from a disarmament perspective, just from being reminded through that post of what it was like to live through that terrifying period of the Cold War. A lot of people on these forums will have no idea what the cold war meant, because they didn't live through it. While I only lived through its latter days, they were probably the most terrifying. I can't remember when the Government posted those warning leaflets (in Britain), about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack (pointless really, but well considered in When The Wind Blows), but I remember films like Threads, The Day After. I remember books and comics full of illustrations, not only of awesome mushroom clouds, but of the effects that radiation may have on the human body. I remember when bands sang songs about nuclear war - Nuclear Assault, Iron Maiden, even Kate Bush. Worst of all, I remember the horrible climate of the Cold War, when the threat was so real that we may be bombed at any second, that one day my parents had an emergency family meeting to discuss what we should do if 'they drop the bomb'. The most chilling news report I remember seeing was in 1987, and the screenshot in the corner was of a Sovier flag with nuclear missiles and the strapline was "Very Dangerous". It seemed imminent, the nuclear war between East and West. Even Gorbachev, the saviour to so many of us said "the nuclear holocaust is inevitable". Nowadays, I think we are either too young to know, or too comfortable to remember. I know I forgot all about it. |
by Tharfor | 05/09/2007 16:46:47 It wasn't the most obvious direction for the thread to go, but you took it there anyway. |
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