http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488A classic movie called threads.
So far as I watch I think section 6 demonstrates why people like war so much. It was the same with world war 1. Everyone thought it would be over by Christmas, there would be dashing charges on horseback into waiting cannons, and that all in all if you survived people would respect you for it.
Perhaps instead whenever someone claims to have fought in WWII, Korea, or especially Vietnam, we should instead say, "You reap what you sow, why didn't you go against it!" Or Better, "You know what a hero is right? Someone who gets people killed."
The one thing I thought was odd was that the pamphlets suggested such a stupid construction over advising people to take cover in a basement or cellar if they had one. But I suppose the point was simply to avoid panic prior to any bombing. It was also interesting to see how the couple romanticized war as a fond memory. They didn't have a real idea of how utterly destructive and virtually unsurvivable a blast would be in certain areas. Probably another government construct to keep people at home and avoid a panic rush away from any targeted areas.
I have heard that the current nuclear weapons of the world could destroy the earth several times over. But that would assume all were released. I wonder though who has any nuclear arms targeting countries in the southern hemisphere. Would Argentina or New Zeland for example be safe from direct bombing. But end up dying anyway due to fall out or changes in the climate if a large enough exchange went on in the northern hemisphere?
Yes I interpret the entire point of the movie, in addition to showing the 'bright' side of war that brings people to war, was to show people what the shelters actually were. They were make shift mausoleums. Everyone was to build a box that would protect their bodies from the blast, if they survived that was good, if they got sick then they were to stay in the 'shelter' for two weeks, die, and be packaged in next to their ID and Birth certificate (Gravemarker). The paper sacks was the device the author used to show this, the couple packaged themselves.
From what I have heard nuclear winter would set in. There would be so much dust kicked into the air that the sunlight would be reduced significantly. All plant life would stay in seed or winter dormant form for about 4 years. The other effect of this dust is that it would be radioactive. Radioactive dust would kill animals that had high metabolisms quickly. Mammals, birds, possibly every living creature.
What I would be interested in knowing is if both sides knew this. The idea of blowing up a single bomb is one thing when you can leave the area, it's quite another to vaporize a land mass the size of Russia or the United States. Even if only one side launched an attack the 'winners' would stave to death. If both realized this, then the entire cold war was nothing but saber rattling of the deadliest variety. Unless they were entertaining Dr. Strangelove at their meetings, they would realize that launching nukes would be a redundant counter-strike. Hence, Mutually Assured Destruction.