In the history of stupid questions the most insanely stupid question of all must be:
Would you press the nuclear button?
If you answered YES to the above question, here's a quiz.
Are you:
a) Insane?
b) A criminal?
c) Ideally suited to be a world leader?
4 comments:
Here's the weird, unfortunate thing. I think every leader of the former USSR, present Russia, and the US since 1950 would have done just that, given the right circumstances. If they were told that the other country had launched, or were about to launch, missiles, they would have pushed the button. Gorbachev, Carter, Obama.....doesn't matter. It's the world we've put ourselves into.
Watch an old movie, with Henry Fonda....'Fail Safe'....it shows how it can happen, even in the best of circumstances.
Now, in the worst of circumstances, with a con man as president, and a true oligarch in charge of Russia, the chances are increased.
SFM, yes, what you say is all true.
Nevertheless it's equally true that "pushing the button" is a euphemism for MAD: Mutual Assured Destruction, on both sides, all sides, and it doesn't matter who pushes first. Somehow the euphemism has managed to blank out the reality of what it actually means, the irreparable everlasting inescapable damage to this entire planet and the life on it. Therefore the stupidity of the question goes beyond every imaginable definition of stupidity.
Yes, you are right. But, has that stopped them, made a difference in their decision making? Sadly, no.
If there was a way to make that scenario of devastation vividly, believably real to everyone on the planet - maybe a realistic documentary-type film, not one of those post-nuclear dystopia fantasies - maybe this would change attitudes to the push-button question. I know there have been some attempts to make such a film but it would need something truly major, thoroughly researched, with facts and figures and absolutely realistic depictions of the effects, on every aspect of life on earth. Why couldn't some billionaire philantropist finance such a film?
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