I am not going to live in fear of nuclear war

[boston bean]

It is something I have zero control over. I truly do not fear it for myself. May I get vaporized quickly!

I understand some have a great fear. But I suggest no one let that fear rule their lives.

Covid scared me more. That was something I had a minimal amount of control of/over myself.

[Timewas]

1. Agreed

Went through all that in 50's and 60's ....No more

[boston bean]

2. The 70's and 80's were affected too. I was scared as a teenager.

We can’t control what some russian mad man may use as an excuse to push the button. It could be because he is constipated one day and his hemorrhoids were acting up for all we would know.

[Timewas]

15. Pretty much

It is out of our hands, we can do nothing to stop it if it happens...

[Kittycatkat]

3. ..."I don't feel safe in this world no more, I don't want to die in a nuclear war..."

https://m.

[musette_sf]

13. My first thought too

on reading the OP

[Bristlecone]

31. Probably 20+ years since I've heard that

Thx

[Kaleva]

4. I think a lot about that which I can influence or control

Not much about that which I cannot control.

[Gore1FL]

5. We spoke about nuclear war in elementary school.

I remember have class discussions about it, even.

To your point. There is no reason to live in fear.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. 1964 was a good year Lots of doomsday movies that year...

And then I got drafted. Definitely doomsday on the way.

[Lucid Dreamer]

20. TB, you and I are on the same timeline. [drafted in '65]

I observed death and survived close calls often [med-evac missions] and I sort of became a fatalist. That actually helped me focus on my job.

Now I'm in the mood that if doomsday is coming I'll be around to see it.
It may be uncomfortable. So it goes.

[TreasonousBastard]

28. Pretty close. I was actually drafted in '65, but spent my entire time...

trying every drug known to man in a signal unit in Germany. Our job was to hold off the Soviets for three days until an airborne division got over there to win ww3.

Saw a lot of guys levied to go to Nam and even more spending their last few months before discharge. Most of those going were terrified and a lot od those on their way back were basket cases.

[Lucid Dreamer]

33. Glad you won yours. We lost mine.

TB> Our job was to hold off the Soviets for three days until an airborne division got over there to win ww3.

Glad you won yours. We lost mine.

[prodigitalson]

7. I'm certainly not going to let little men frighten me with threats of it

People who make such threats are weak bullshitters given the
fact the countriess they are threatening can va0orize them too

[AllaN01Bear]

8. hear hear.

[yagotme]

9. If their missiles are anything like their truck tires...

they'll be lucky to leave their silos, much less cross the pole/ocean.

[HubertHeaver]

38. After I saw ours (fall, '68) I wondered how many would get out of the tube.

Second thought was "theirs aren't any better so, no worries".

[yagotme]

65. Supposedly, that's how the Russkies copied our Sparrow...

Enough of them made it back to base stuck in the tails of Mig fighters, failure to detonate.

[WarGamer]

10. Cooler heads in the White House have this under control.

There's a "deconfliction line" set up 24/7 between Moscow and DC.

For now... adults are in charge.

[monkeyman1]

25. thank you ! I hate defeatist attitudes ! no room for that - period !

[Kittycatkat]

63. Never heard that. Hope it is true. Thanks for the info.

[WarGamer]

64. Seems to be true

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2022/03/us-russia-agree-deconfliction-hotline-putins-attack-ukraine-escalates/362750/


“The United States retains a number of channels to discuss critical security issues with the Russians during a contingency or emergency. The Department of the Defense recently established a deconfliction line with the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 1 for the purposes of preventing miscalculation, military incidents, and escalation,” a senior defense official confirmed in a statement to Defense One.

News of the deconfliction line was first reported by NBC News.

[bahboo]

11. I'm living till I die....

fuck it...

[Journeyman]

18. "I'm going to live forever, or die in the attempt," Capt. Yossarian, Catch-22 . . .

[Mr.Bill]

12. I worried about it more when I was younger.

I'm 68 now and if I died in my sleep tonight I've had a great life and I am content. I'm in good health, but I know in my future years that may not be so.

[Texaswitchy]

14. Same age.

My Grandmother said the same thing during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Just go on living.

[Meowmee]

16. Most do fear it though on some level

More so now of course. It’s natural to fear something catastrophic like that. Most people will not be vaporized, they will die horrible deaths. Society will likely collapse.

It’s not a matter of letting it control your life, we have no control over whether it happens to us. Doing x will not protect you from it unless you have a well stocked bunker built somewhere with protection from the radiation for about 2 weeks.

[Journeyman]

17. I was at Minot in '73 when Nixon sent us to DEFCON 3. . .

I was in the Air Force in October, 1973, stationed in Minot, North Dakota, the morning the original White House Dick, Nixon, placed us on nuclear alert over actions by the Soviets in regards the October Mid-East War. I remember standing in my duty station, looking out a barred window, wondering when the missiles might fly (I'd already seen the bomber pilots take off, and at that time, NoDak was the third largest nuclear power in the world -- behind only the rest of the US and the Soviet Union).

As I stood there that morning, a thought occurred to me -- later confirmed, when I spoke to my family in California -- that the only difference between the home front and the front line is a matter of perception. I knew the alert was on, so I was on the front line, while my family in California was ignorant of even the idea they were part of a 'home front.'

It's all different today. We are all on the front line, as events in recent weeks have made all so abundantly clear. So keep your head down and your wits about you, for if you let your wits down your head may end up all around you.

Ultimately, all we have left is Viktor Frankl's Challenge:

"For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best. So let us be alert -- alert in a two-fold sense:

"Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake."

[struggle4progress]

19. The people in control on the organizational chart aren't always the ones in control

[liberal_mama]

21. I'm more fearful of Covid. The area in New York that I live in would be a direct hit.

I fear a long suffering death. A family member of mine suffered for 2 months before dying of Covid. In the hospital, on a ventilator.

When I was a young girl in the 70s, I was really terrified of nuclear war. My uncle was a science teacher and talked about it to me all the time. That terrifying movie, The Day After, in the 80s, didn't help either.

But now that I'm in my 50s, I realize that it wouldn't be the worst way to go. Maybe it would be one of the better and quicker ways to go. Assuming there was immediate vaporization and not radiation sickness.

[doc03]

22. This is nuclear blackmail, we have no control over it. If we get the warning I don't

think there is any use even running to the basement, life would not be worth living afterwards I am 74.

[herding cats]

23. Same. I have more than enough on my plate right now. Thank you.

I agree about Covid. I'm not even scared of Covid right now. I'm vaxxed to the max and caught mild omicron from my granddaughter. I'm still standing. I still mitigate, but I'm not scared anymore. I was one of the weakest dominos in our family construct and I was fine. Yay, me! I was lucky and here I am.

I'm more worried for my brother's recent Spinocerebellar Ataxia 2 diagnosis right now. Which I can do nothing about, either, but it's a sure thing and not a what if this... blah. It's genetic, so my family may have to deal with it down the road. There's a 50% chance they will. Way better odds than a nuclear winter.

I feel like I'm less of a knee jerk person now than I was before Covid, and other events in my life since then.

[calimary]

29. I'm sorry...

That little video of the attempted herding of cats (kittens in that case) at the bottom of your post was absolutely hilarious! Made me chuckle on a day when the news is leaving me near tears.

REALLY TRULY and SERIOUSLY appreciate it!

[herding cats]

32. Oh, you made my evening!

I put that up as a happy thing to make people smile! I'm so very glad it worked for you. That's what my end goal was.

Nothing to be sorry about... life happens, that was my point. Don't live in fear because our own reality is what we're all dealing with. Forge on and be strong, and don't let anyone make you afraid of a randomized possibility. ❤️

[ashredux]

24. When the BIG ONE comes...go outside and yell Take Me Jesus

Nothing else to do…blink of an eye

[monkeyman1]

27. just don't worry ! the retarded man of former--

administration is not in control & is locked up in his bunker ! the adult's are in charge !! the only thing he will do is just run his gum's !

[Calculating]

26. It's not the worst way to go

I'd rather die in a nuclear war than get old and die of cancer or slowly lose my mind. At least you'd get to see the actual end of the world 😂

[ramapo]

30. I grew up with air raid drills

Seemed so silly. We lived close enough to NYC that we could only hope to just be vaporized.

I thought we were long done with this nonsense. That was silly of me to think

[Hekate]

34. I gave it up after the sheer terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 14...

I realized there was zero I could do about it and such an event would probably kill me fairly quickly due to my location. As an adult, same thing.

As an adult I prep for more foreseeable disasters like fires and earthquakes and now pandemics, which are generally more survivable if you respond sensibly.

[TreasonousBastard]

35. I prefer not to speculate about the best way to die. Fast does seem...

to have some advantages, but there's a part of me sorta wants to see what the mess looks like.

It really doesn't make any difference, though. Most of us will be dead or dying, and the future is not ours to see, just like the billions who went before us.

Want to really keel over in despair? Watch "On the Beach" again.

[BigmanPigman]

36. If there is a bomb I hope I am right under it and don't suffer,

just disintegrate like in the film Failsafe.

[smirkymonkey]

37. I'd prefer if we do get nuked, it would be in the middle in the night and I would have no awareness

of it coming. Just curious. Do you die instantly and painlessly? I would prefer that much more to prolonged suffering.

[Meowmee]

40. Most will have prolonged and or terrible suffering

And will die of radiation poisoning/ sickness. It can take up to two years depending on the dose received. Which is determined by how close to the blast/ cloud you are, direction of wind and other factors. And whether you were able to protect yourself at all. You can read about all of this. In addition society will collapse if multiple attacks occur. There will be little or no medical treatment for those who are not super wealthy who may be able to survive.

[smirkymonkey]

41. Ok, that scares me. What if you are within like a 5 mile radius of a direct hit?

Are you vaporized immediately? Is there a good/preferred site at which to read about this?

[Meowmee]

47. It depends on the size of the bomb and whether the bomb is an air burst, the wind etc.

In Hiroshima, 90% within a kilometer were killed by the blast. Not a huge number were killed by a huge dose because they died from the blast. The radiation was released in an air burst and went into the atmosphere mostly. But others who survived the blast and didn’t die immediately, had radiation doses and they died from radiation sickness and cancers over a longer period.

Some things to do are to seek protection indoors or in a bunker for 2 weeks. Take a shower after the blast, clean surfaces, don’t open any windows etc.

Here is one site, there are lots of articles about it also. I don’t know if this isa preferred site.

https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion

[smirkymonkey]

52. Thanks for the link!

Very helpful! I still think I would preferred to get immediately vaporized on strike, especially as I was asleep, but that's just me.

Thanks for the info!

[Meowmee]

59. Yw 😀 Yes that would be preferable to

Dying from wounds due to the blast etc. and or radiation. Here is another link which has very detailed info about all of it and some first hand accounts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pics etc.

Before the atomic bombs were used there were also numerous fire bombs used which killed many more people. Most people died from the blast, burns and other injuries, many due to destruction of buildings and inadequate medical care for those who survived. Due to the air burst the radiation was lower and the radiation exposure happened in the first seconds of the blast, not after it is believed.

If you scroll through there is a description of what happened to people who survived the blast and who had radiation exposure. Pics show that the whole city around the hypocenter(in Hiroshima) was pretty much leveled instantly except for one or two concrete structures. Most of the buildings were wood. Many buildings progressively outside the hypocenter were also damaged and set on fire. A german priest described what he saw, and more from the whole day, when the burst happened, they were about 2 kilometers outside:

“Suddenly--the time is approximately 8:14--the whole valley is filled by a garish light which resembles the magnesium light used in photography, and I am conscious of a wave of heat. I jump to the window to find out the cause of this remarkable phenomenon, but I see nothing more than that brilliant yellow light. As I make for the door, it doesn't occur to me that the light might have something to do with enemy planes. On the way from the window, I hear a moderately loud explosion which seems to come from a distance and, at the same time, the windows are broken in with a loud crash. There has been an interval of perhaps ten seconds since the flash of light. I am sprayed by fragments of glass. The entire window frame has been forced into the room. I realize now that a bomb has burst and I am under the impression that it exploded directly over our house or in the immediate vicinity.”

https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/med/med_chp3.html

https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/bombing-survey/section_IIIc.html

https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/hiroshima-nagasaki/hiroshima-siemes.html

[smirkymonkey]

60. Oh god! What a nightmare!

I know I have spoken about it in a careless manner, but i would not wish that on anybody! Not even my worst enemy. it seems to be the ultimate nightmare for humanity.

Thank you for the information. I appreciate the research.

[Meowmee]

62. Yw, lets hope it never happens

It would be likely even worse now than what happened then if they use, larger bombs, multiple strikes with an at surface burst / at or just above ground level where the radiation fallout would be far greater. I think it’s a given society will collapse if multiple major cities are targeted.

[nancy1942]

44. You got that right!

[alphafemale]

39. I do not have the emotional energy to waste worrying about such a thing.

I will spend as much time stressing on it as I do the Yellowstone Super volcano.

It might happen.

Meh

I have no power or influence.

Meanwhile the cats are hungry and there bills needing paid.

[smirkymonkey]

42. Well, that's why I'm hedging my bets.

How soon do, if at all, do those bills need to be paid depending upon the likeliness of being a nuclear target?

Kidding, but kind of not at the same time.

[nancy1942]

46. Me too.

Had the same thought as I was going through bills today.

[smirkymonkey]

51. There is always an upside to nuclear annihilation!

[alphafemale]

48. I don't think I thought there would be nuclear annihilation this month

Is an acceptable excuse for not paying your bills.

[smirkymonkey]

50. Don't worry. I am on a on a regular payment plan.

My bills always get payed. It was kind of a joke, as I said.

[alphafemale]

55. My utilities are included with my rent.

Other than that most things are auto deducted.

Even the rent I hit a few computer buttons.

I haven't written an actual check in ages.

[canetoad]

43. I hear you BB

And agree to an extent but find the statement is a bit libertarian and close to the anti-maskers/vaxxers.

We should be scared. This is the world we have created; bought and paid for. Voted for - whether we like the result or not.

We encourage greed, possessiveness, resentment, retribution. We downplay and minimise kindness, gentleness and an appreciation of the planet and its people. Not you or I personally, but humans as a species.

When a single being on this planet is in possession of the means to annihilate millions of other beings, WE SHOULD BE SCARED.

[niyad]

45. During the height of the cold war, I lived very near one of the top three targets

in the country. After the third false alarm within weeks, and knowing that we were targeted for multiples, and after reading the last lines of "Triumph" ("Who won the war? "We did. .Not that it matters.&quot , I decided that living in fear was a waste of time and energy.

Years later, I heard Dr. Helen Caldicott speak about what the aftermath of a nuclear war would look like for the survivors. "The living will envy the dead."

[Silent3]

49. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? n/t

[Buckeyeblue]

53. After dealing with Trump and Covid nothing surprises me

I wouldn't be at all surprised if in a fit of desperation Putin attempted to or did launch a nuke or two.

Worst case scenarios have become the new normal.

But I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about it.

[Emile]

54. I fear for my grandchildren!

[MineralMan]

57. +1000

[MineralMan]

56. OK. That's you.

Others might feel differently. Others might know that not everyone gets instantly vaporized. Others might remember very well the descriptions of the likely aftermath of a global nuclear war.

What you think is also something over which I have zero control. Nor do I want to have any control over that.

But, I will say this: It's not all about you and your fear or lack of fear. Nope.

[ck4829]

58. Not endorsing or supporting nuclear war... but it would seem kind of silly

to have all the problems our economic system has... like pursuing massive medical debts over simple medical procedures or evicting people from substandard homes in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

"Hey, is Mr. Soandso here? We're here to collect on a debt when he visited the ER 3 years ago, before the Booms."
*Throws burnt dollar at debt collectors and racks shotgun*
"There you go"

[Torchlight]

61. I did the anxiety over nuclear war thing back in the early 80s.

Many nights, I used to go to bed as as a young teen fretting every airplane flying over was The Bomb (and before anyone wants to impress themselves by telling me-- yes, I know I'd be dead before I even knew it was happening, but I was a young kid and rational thinking wasn't in my tool box yet).

I think we're to an closer to a nuclear exchange in the present than we have been for 20 or 30 years, but I just can't get worked up about it. If I get vaporized by a blast one day, it happens. If not, well... I'm going to the office tomorrow and printing 5000 new cover sheets for the TPS reports.