Australian writer: Nuclear war no longer scares people the way it used to
Australian writer Jeff Sparrow argues in The Guardian that in the modern world, people have begun to relate differently to threats on a planetary scale, including the possibility of nuclear war. The new generation that grew up after the end of the Cold War no longer sees the nuclear weapons threats. For most of us, nuclear weapons are perceived only as an effective tool in the hands of the leaders of countries.
Written at the height of the Cold War in 1982, When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs is an acclaimed satirical comic strip that features elderly British couple Jim and Hilda Bloggs surviving a nuclear apocalypse in their own way. Orthodox Jim, accustomed to living by the rules, after the start of the disaster, is guided in everything by instructions from a government booklet. At the same time, the spouses constantly recall the previous World War II, which they experienced as children, and are absolutely sure that the new confrontation will end in peace. In the end, the couple, the only survivors in the area, die of radiation sickness, never understanding what really happened.
In the mid-80s, the comic book was made into a film of the same name, which gained great fame. At that time, Sparrow recalls, the theme of the nuclear threat dominated world culture and most people took it seriously.
What happened to that fear, the bone-chilling horror of nuclear war?
Sparrow asks modern people.
According to the writer, the reason lies in the end of the Cold War, which in the West was perceived as the victory of one superpower over another and the end of many years of confrontation, including the threat of a nuclear war. However, in reality, the world has become even more fragile, countries everywhere are improving and increasing their military potentials, confrontation is growing everywhere.
In Europe, nuclear-armed Russians are already fighting in Ukraine. In the Asia-Pacific region, tensions between the United States, equipped with approximately 5500 nuclear warheads, and China (more than 350 warheads) are rising almost daily
Reminds me of Sparrow.
The symbolic hands of the so-called doomsday clock in 2020 were moved forward by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by 20 seconds, now they show 100 seconds before “nuclear midnight”, remaining in this position today. This is as close to an expected nuclear disaster as ever. Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that "today humanity is separated only by one misunderstanding, one miscalculation from nuclear annihilation."
However, in the modern world, people do not react to this threat in the same way as they did in the 70s and 80s of the last century. The generation that first read When the Wind Blows had experienced a post-war economic boom and could therefore understand the threat of nuclear annihilation as a disgusting aberration that threatened the more or less sustainable course of human progress. Then the mass anti-war movement around the world literally forced the leaders of the largest countries to conclude disarmament agreements.
Today no one thinks so
Sparrow states.
The modern generation has ceased to perceive real threats on a planetary scale, they have become something ordinary and familiar to us. For example, a few days ago, scientists from Stockholm University reported that rainwater all over the planet had become so toxic that it was dangerous to drink it. This news caused no public outcry. The thing is that she was lost in the general background of many other deeply disturbing stories: global warming, droughts, world hunger, the growth of epidemiological diseases. Scientists explain this phenomenon by the fact that the threats have become "too numerous for comprehensive social adaptation."
If nuclear war no longer gives us nightmares, perhaps it's because we're getting used to the unthinkable. We do not attribute the catastrophe solely to the pressing of the atomic button. Instead, we see her slowly creeping up wherever we look.
explains the Australian writer.
In such a situation of general apathy towards global threats, politicians like Nancy Pelosi can quite easily provoke one of the nuclear powers without fear of public protests.
This is a good time to reread When the Wind Blows - not to scare yourself, but to inspire you to fight.
Sparrow calls.
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