Saturday, August 27, 2022

Should New York City Get Real About Nuclear War Risk?

The New York Times reports that the City of New York raised eyebrows with a public service announcement (PSA) alerting people to the risk of nuclear attack. (See "Inside the Making of New York City’s Bizarre Nuclear War P.S.A.," August 23, 2022)

You can watch the PSA video on YouTube:

At this writing, it's been viewed by over 880,000 people.

Three quick thoughts:

(1) Does New York City have a "Back From the Brink" resolution, like Chicago? It's good that they recognize the danger; how about advocating for the kind of change that could reduce the risk? 

(2) It's good that 880,000 have now been provoked to think about the reality: as long as the current global nuclear weapons regime continues as it is, New York City and everyone who lives there is extremely vulnerable.

(3) Maybe New York City should be promoting a different message. Many experts say that encouraging people to think that they will be able to escape in the event of a nuclear attack is irresponsible, and that the responsible thing to do is alert people to the reality that the only way out is prevention

This decades-old video is still the best thing I know for "getting real" about the danger associated with nuclear war for large cities:


To be continued ....


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