Fearful, anxious, scared of dying from nuclear attack

[fishman65]

When I was very little in the 60s I remember being terrified by the air raid sirens being tested "just in case they were ever needed again" every week at lunchtime. I remember seeing newspaper stands with very alarming headlines about the Cuban missile crisis. Nuclear weapons were very real and very threatening.

My job was very stressful and involved national security. Nobody knew what was going on because there was a need to know policy even amongst work colleagues.

I agree, Fishman..Our media happily turns a blind eye when it's needed.

Crikey Pulisa you must have been very young reading about the Cuban missile crisis!! That was 1962 wasn't it. Kennedy and Khrushchev. I didn't exist so wouldn't have been too worried.

[pulisa]

It's a vivid memory but if it was in 1962 I would have been a very precocious reader! I must have got it wrong or it was something else nuclear bomb related? It did seem to be an ongoing threat in the Dark Ages.

[Lencoboy]

When I was very little in the 60s I remember being terrified by the air raid sirens being tested "just in case they were ever needed again" every week at lunchtime. I remember seeing newspaper stands with very alarming headlines about the Cuban missile crisis. Nuclear weapons were very real and very threatening.

My job was very stressful and involved national security. Nobody knew what was going on because there was a need to know policy even amongst work colleagues.

I agree, Fishman..Our media happily turns a blind eye when it's needed.

Twas ever thus then, as far as conventional printed newspapers are concerned?

Presumably your 'stressful' job concerning national security you mentioned must have been during the later Cold War era. I bet it probably also involved keeping the likes of the IRA in check, who of course were one of our most immediate security concerns back then in the 80s.

I read a Q and A on the BBC site this evening concerning the attack on the nuclear power plant in Ukraine (of which certainly turned out to be a lucky escape), where someone asked a question about 'how would the UK be affected had said attack resulted in full-on nuclear fallout?' and they replied with something along the lines of 'The UK is too far away for it to have had any detrimental impact on us'.

I'm sure there was mention of traces of airborne radiation that had blown over to parts of England by the wind in the aftermath of Chernobyl back in 86, but we still survived it all pretty much unscathed. I don't even remember any of it as it happened at the time, especially as I was only 9 back then, and still virtually oblivious to the news in general.

I bet had Chernobyl happened today (even without the current Ukraine conflict), we would probably never have heard the last of it from both the media and the serial conspiracy theorists!

[fishman65]

Pulisa 'could' tell you what her career entailed Lenco, but then she'd have to bump you off.

I remember Chernobyl, I was 20 but more interested in going out drinking beer. I seem to remember radiation levels measured in the Welsh mountains were higher than normal. If you get a chance there's a very good documentary on CH5 with Ben Fogle. He goes to Pripyat on a guided tour and stands inside control room 4 where it all happened. The city of Pripyat is eerie with its rusting ferris wheel and bumper cars.

[spectrum123]

TBH, I don't think our media have helped a jot over the past couple of weeks, with their endless spewing out of sensationalistic headlines. They've already been at it incessantly with Covid over the past 2 years, by trying to make out that things were much worse than they actually were. Ditto for the Global Financial Crisis

I seriously wish the editors and journalists would just wise up and tone things down period, but I can't imagine that ever happening, as all they seem to care about most of the time is chasing dosh and clicks!

The 2008 global crisis was pretty devastating if you were in employment, it led to a decade of wage stagnation and poor economic growth, not forgetting 'austerity'. If anything, the media and government either didn't want or didn't see it coming.

[spectrum123]

There's also the matter of how our media paints the picture. While this invasion of Ukraine is an awful and brutal act, the NATO 10 week bombing of Belgrade, Serbia in 1999 led to the deaths of an estimated 500+ civilians. Schools and hospitals were hit. Residential homes too. But I don't remember hearing anything about those in our media

Smart munitions have moved on a lot since then, there will always be collateral damage though.

We accept less and less collateral damage as each year passes. It is though expensive, whilst we in the west consider it a price worth paying, it doesn't appear that this is reciprocated by the Russians in Ukraine.

[Panicattacka]

Well, NATO's policy announcement yesterday that it would not enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine should come as a bit of a relief for those worried about immediate escalation. Biden's State of the Union speech a few days ago also spelled out where the lines are, and what NATO will and will not be doing.

I'm getting tired of all these screeching hysterical SJW types (mainly in some MSM places and on social media) idiotically demanding NATO intervention, as if we are talking about some rinkydink 3rd world military with no WMDs. Ukraine is not an EU country, it is not a NATO member, and it has a 1,000 year complex history with the Russians in terms of culture, language and blood (massive rates of inter-marriage between the two over the years). It was a major member of the USSR, and many great and famous USSR personnel came from the Ukraine. In short, it isn't worth it for us in the West to start the Big One over it.

Now you can all shout at me about how callous I am, and maybe I am, but I am a member of the realpolitik school of international relations, and I deal in realism, not idealism.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's all a question of how far are you willing to go. It's easy to demand NATO do something without having to determine what that is. NATO has been happy to steam into small nations with one rifle to every 3 men. This is different.

It's a big test for them because China is watching. If they see Russia get it's way won't China make a move on those already in it's sights?

I think we have to beware both parties on this one. The Ukrainian leader has twice told us of a nuclear disaster under Russia. Neither happened. I'll assume Russian commanders prefer to remain alive since they are professional soldiers and not some medieval religious nutters. We've heard how Ukrainian troops are kicking Russia's arse one minute (don't need NATO then) whilst Russia has taken over a major sight the next. We've heard how Russia is running out of supplies yet on they plod. And we've heard how polls show an increase in support for Putin. And of the foiled assassination plot against the Ukranian leader thanks to intelligence from some federal agency of Putin's who don't support his actions (If you believe such things )

The language is purposeful. It's like the Nazis, nuclear disaster, etc. It's aimed at support. It's understandable in or out of war. But anxious people need to be careful processing this because it will fit right into their worst case fears.

[Lencoboy]

It's all a question of how far are you willing to go. It's easy to demand NATO do something without having to determine what that is. NATO has been happy to steam into small nations with one rifle to every 3 men. This is different.

It's a big test for them because China is watching. If they see Russia get it's way won't China make a move on those already in it's sights?

I think we have to beware both parties on this one. The Ukrainian leader has twice told us of a nuclear disaster under Russia. Neither happened. I'll assume Russian commanders prefer to remain alive since they are professional soldiers and not some medieval religious nutters. We've heard how Ukrainian troops are kicking Russia's arse one minute (don't need NATO then) whilst Russia has taken over a major sight the next. We've heard how Russia is running out of supplies yet on they plod. And we've heard how polls show an increase in support for Putin. And of the foiled assassination plot against the Ukranian leader thanks to intelligence from some federal agency of Putin's who don't support his actions (If you believe such things )

The language is purposeful. It's like the Nazis, nuclear disaster, etc. It's aimed at support. It's understandable in or out of war. But anxious people need to be careful processing this because it will fit right into their worst case fears.

That's the problem Terry. Too much conflicting information (no pun intended) from the media that forever seems to keep flip-flopping back and forth, often to suit individual editorial and journalistic agendas, plus of course, excessive use of over-emotive and hyperbolic lingo. They've done very similar things over Covid as well.

Little wonder so many of us feel confused right now.

[loonarider77]

Thank you all for your posts. They really helped and are insightful. It meant I was able to relax and enjoy a somewhat calm few weeks since I posted.

Stupidly, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and of course you can't always avoid war talk and saw one poster mention that the way things were escalating in the Russian/Ukraine war it would certainly prompt a WWIII involving nuke weapons.

Just when I was feeling fine then it hit me that we're so close to being nuked.

I wish I could shake these feelings of dread. It's spring time, it's a sunny morning and I just want to lay in bed and wither away.

My partner keeps telling me it would be dumb for Putin to start a nuclear war, but I think that if this mad man gets pushed into a corner, he will have no choice but to obliterate himself and everyone else kamikaze style.

I don't know, I just want it all over and to focus just on the pandemic instead like the good old days (said sarcastically) :(