I hope Putin doesn’t unleash his nuclear arsenal, but I can’t see him taking the sane, high road here. He doesn’t care about his constituents – at all – and he has a fully stocked bunker, so what’s the problem, right? I don’t see him nuking the US yet, but I could see him losing the battle for Ukraine, retreating, and nuking Kyiv in retribution.
Mad Max is about the best an apocalypse can get. More than likely, if you survive the initial blasts, you’re still on borrowed time. No food. No medication. No way to fix injuries. No transportation. No law and order. And hey, if that’s not bad enough, no sunlight to grow crops! No crops, no animals. No crops, no food, no animals. And that’s if just a SINGLE nuke goes off in a populated city. Imagine Putin nukes NY. Who is going to put that fire out? That shit’s gonna burn forever, and the environment will decay within a matter of days.
The Day After scared the shit out of me. I saw it as a kid and again on Youtube a few years ago. Carl Sagan was interviewed after the film aired and he said what was just shown was a “rosy” approximation of life after a nuclear war. Random trivia: No commercials were aired during the movie, as no advertisers wanted to be associated with the end of the world. Also, the film was directed by Nicholas Meyers, who helmed Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan – hands down the closest to glory that franchise has ever gotten.
I heard that one is fucking brutal. Full disclosure, I’ve not even seen “The Day After”. I was 10 at the time and my folks didn’t let me see it. I can’t remember if my sis and I were sent to our grandparents’ or what, but I think my folks watched it (along with most of the nation) because I remember there was some very sober discussion about it at least on surface/concept level. I remember hearing a lot of my classmates talking about it at school as well.
It’s one of those movies that I’d meant to get around to picking up (the cover/promo poster is permanently burned into my brain) but just never have. I was looking for the DVD online and kinda chickened out, hahaha. It’s bad enough to torture myself with this shit, but I know my wife will ask me too many questions if she sees it arrive and I really prefer to keep a strong poker face in these times and not pull her into such darkness.
If and when we ever move past all this shit and get back to a place of happy complacency again, I’m sure I’ll watch all of these films.
I’m still kinda recovering from seeing “Grave of the Fireflies” 20 years back, and that was a goddamned cartoon, hahhahaha. Grave of the Fireflies - Wikipedia
“Wrath of Khan” was fucking awesome!
I didn’t know that about the lack of sponsors. Would have been weird to have such traditional commercial breaks to transition from everyone melting alive to . . . “Chuck E. Cheese’s, where a kid can be a kid!!!”
For a while, there was a story circulating that Ronald Reagan telegraphed Nicholas Meyer after a major arms compromise (I forget the name – mighta been SALT) had been made, and said that “The Day After” did a lot to bring both sides to the table. It’s not true.
Not only were there a lack of sponsors, they ran a telephone hotline number after the movie to calm down people who had watched it. Something like 65% of all TVs that were on when that movie aired were watching it, a record for a non-sports broadcast.
I would not buy the DVD. The movie should be watched, but if you buy that disc, it’s going to be like having a slice of concentrated evil (“Mom! Dad Don’t touch it! It’s concentrated evil!” - $0 if you can guess where that’s from) that slowly poisons your psyche. Watch it on Youtube, where I believe it can be found in its entirety.
For people still not thoroughly terrorized, there’s two “good” nuclear war novels out there. One of them is “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy, and the other is (the gigantic) “Swan Song” epic by Robert McCammon. The first should be read by everyone; the second is good for fans of “The Stand.”
I suspect some of the usual jackasses will join this thread eventually and try to stink it up, and I suggest everyone ignore them the same as I will, but know that I really appreciate y’all for allowing a real and honest conversation about this stuff.
I feel inspired and humbled observing the strength, unity, and courage of the Ukrainian people. I know I’m grasping whenever I’m assessing this stuff, but I really do hope that our country can use this time of grave uncertainty to first off be grateful for what we have and then also set aside the completely banal and worthless differences that have ripped us apart in recent years. Fighting bitterly amongst ourselves about radio shows, Dr. Seuss books, masks and vaccines . . . it feels so shameful and privileged to have the luxury to even give a shit about any of this in light of what others are currently faced with . . . and what could be on our own porch if things don’t go well.
Oh man Grave of the Fireflies is a rough one also…Threads is just non stop despair but it is a very powerful film…not one I’m looking forward to ever seeing again though…it’s just relentlessly brutal…
Thanks. I’ll definitely put “Threads” on my list for a later time.
I just read a quick blurb that noted it too was a made-for-TV movie, albeit obviously for the UK instead of USA. Pretty interesting. I know I’d heard reference to it probably about 20 years back but hadn’t thought about it until today when I started digging into some of this stuff.
Yeah the it’s BBC produced film…yeah if you are having any anxiety about the current climate I would definitely suggest watching it at a later date heh…
I’m keeping watch on this with a nervous eye.
I’m not crazy frightened, but I am concerned. As far as putin pushing the button. I sincerely doubt that. Only because spies are real things/people. I would think if he had any inkling of that notion our spies would be on that shit and there would be/is some plan in action to take care of that problem. Kinda like when Obama was not batting an eye with Iran getting a nuke. His administration had already had spies put a bug in their system so they would never get the recipe right. ( Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran - The New York Times )
So, If putin is planning some shit like that I’m sure the people that need to know about it do and will/can do something about it. (Now, if trump were still prez, I would for damn sure be terrified, cause that fucker is just like putin in that he thinks he can destroy everything if he doesn’t get his way, and he’d be enabling that fucker.)
On that note, though. I am scratching my head as to why we just haven’t seal team 6ed his ass yet… What’s the wait? Also, how come we weren’t dropping bombs on their army as they camped up on the outskirts of Ukraine and they started to mobilize in… I think I’ve heard some shit about NATO rules or some shit but I’m not entirely sure/clear.
Yeah, I need to get up to speed on whatever protocol may or may not be binding us, but it seems that the rules that we’re holding ourselves to, either by choice or NATO mandate is that we are only to have direct military action if defending a NATO country. So if Russia fucks with any other the surrounding NATO countries, THEN it’s kind of anything goes and we can go B2 and blow the living shit out of anything moving. But it seems like we should be able to just do whatever the fuck we want in this case. Ukraine is begging for us to come in, and Russia has lied about everything. I don’t know that it’s the best move right now, but it’s weird to observe how we constantly fuck around where NO ONE wants us, but this time it seems pretty universally accepted that Ukraine is being illegitimately clobbered by Russia and is screaming for help, and we just jam our thumbs ups our butts.
Yeah, totally. And it’s so hard to get a proper sense of just what we’re seeing.
One guy will say Putin is just flexing, and then I’ll turn the channel and some other dude is talking about how Putin is mentally unhinged, yadda yadda.
I was really obsessed and negative over the weekend. I kinda went down a really dark rabbit hole. Today I’m in a different mindset. I’ve kind of put my worries and paranoia on the back burner because . . . well, fuck, what can I do, right? If the worst case scenario played out, we’re pretty much all shit out of luck and in the same boat, so to speak. I don’t have the money, time, or dedication to buy/build/stock myself a fallout shelter. Just gonna try and keep living my best and deal with the end of the world if and when we get there (hopefully never).
My mother (late 70s, perpetually anxious) wants me to get a passport. I asked her, “Where the fuck do you think we’re going?” If there’s a nuclear attack, nowhere will be safe.
Yeah, I suppose. I’ve always heard the bit about “enough nukes to blow up the world 10 times over” (or 20 or whatever it is now) but I honestly don’t know exactly what that means.
I mean, it’s definitely not good for us or the planet to detonate 10,000 nuclear warheads, or whatever the number is. But is that the only ending? All or nothing? What if just a few ICBM’s were lobbed at each other and then we suddenly realized, “Oh, fuck, this is a bad idea. Let’s stop NOW!” We know the capital cities and the main metropolitans will be the first and primary targets. So, sucks big time to be in DC, NY, LA, Chicago, etc. But I’m sure you’d be much better off (at least in the short term) being in a cabin in Montana or something. And that would be my goal if resources were not a concern. Get my ass to the mountains . . . . in the most “insignificant” area possible. The cities are fucked immediately. All the supplies are gone and what’s left of humanity is a chaotic swirling mess of violence. But if you already know how to grow some corn and catch some fish . . . you could sustain better than the typical Suburban (or Urban) Joe.
The passport idea is kind of silly, though. The last thing I’d want to deal with in the midst of all this bullshit would be the neverending clusterfuck of air travel and international immigration. We can BARELY get all this shit right now. And you’ve seen what happens to organizations when 5-10% of a workforce takes a leave. How are airports and jumbo jets going to fare with 80% of their team dead? I think survivors of the nuclear winter will by default all find themselves back to pioneer days. And we’ll be better off in the areas that we haven’t already completely paved over than the open wilderness where the bounty of nature may still exist in some form (no, I’m not tossing back the 3 headed fish).
Watching Biden’s State of the Union speech right now. I feel ill. It’s being presented (at least the intro portion) like a victory speech, but Putin’s got a 40 mile convoy of tanks and armament just outside Kyiv with one finger on the big red button.
What I don’t know and wish I knew more about is . . . just how easy is it to launch nuclear missiles? How many (if any) need to comply and sign on? How many keys and launch codes are needed?
It SEEMS like any country with nuclear capabilities should have a staggering bunch of failsafe protections to exclude the possibility of some asshole just getting drunk and angry and deciding to blow up the planet. But I don’t know.
Given how evil and incompetent so much of humanity is I’m actually impressed and surprised that we’ve managed to last this long already. I pray that this weird lethal global stalemate that we’re all stuck in lasts forever, but I just have this horrible sense that it’s all inevitable. We’ve come to a point in civilization where we have the collective capability to completely destroy everyone and everything. I don’t think it’s a matter of if, but when.
Sorry for the doomy shit.
I just can’t really shake it.
Hopefully things will improve and I can go back to obsessing about much more joyful stuff like Alice Cooper, fine Italian footwear, and making the perfect meatloaf.
Alright, first and foremost, assuming the worst comes to pass… What kind of life is it that you’re unabomber-ing in Montana or suffocating in a fallout shelter somewhere? Is that really a life anyone is looking forward too? Why cling to that shit? Just run out and dance in the fallout and get that shit over with instead of suffering a slow agonizing death.
Second NONE of the US cities are getting hit. The US’s Missile Defense System is decades (read “dickheads”) of front of any other country remotely close to us In warfare. Our MDS will intercept anything coming our way and detonate it over the ocean (Unless that’s all bullshit our government put out for posturing, but I doubt it. Not with our military budget). What we do have to be fearful of is nuclear fallout, but that looks like a bunch of people getting sick NOT giant holes in our landscape. He’d have to put his nuke on an ICBM and even then it doesn’t really have the range to hit the US. I read an article that Putin was bragging to trump that he had stingers (?) or some shit “…and they’re soo fast!!!” but I’m certain they don’t have range that an ICBM has.
I also, do not know how easy it is for foreign “leaders” to launch nukes. I know our leader needs to go through several fail safes and even that chain can deny it at any given step. I’m not sure if Putin has an actual button or if their are steps he must follow.
I get the concern, but it’s not time for panic mode yet.
I do find it interesting that trump is praising putin, but he’s always done that, but the extra is that he likes that he thinks putin is sticking it to America because that bitter little fuck is still mad we rejected his ass. what a petty little shit.
The rhetoric from Moscow is both outrageous and frightening at times. However, I believe (hopefully) it’s just for show, as they are desperate to break the unity amongst the European nations. I actually feel badly for the Russian people who don’t want this war and are being fed nothing but lies through their state-owned television news services. The pictures of Putin sitting at a long banquet sized table with his economic and military advisors 30 feet away from him is very telling.
As for Ukraine, what will they have left when this is over? Russia should foot the bill for all of the rebuilding that’s going to be needed. Schools, hospitals, bridges, roads, apartment complexes, etc. Their resolve to fight back is awesome but also heartbreaking as the death and destruction continues.