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The Day The World Ended
Johnstone, Caitlin
http://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/04/27/the-day-the-world-ended/Date Written: 2021-04-27 Year Published: 2021 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24346 The day the world ended began like any other day. People woke up, had their coffee, checked their social media, kissed their loved ones, went to work. Nobody knew it was coming. Abstract: - Excerpt: Nobody knew it was coming. The news reporters and pundits hadn’t been informing them that the US and its allies had been simultaneously ramping up aggressions against two nuclear-armed nations in a way that could easily lead to something going catastrophically wrong, or explained to them what this could mean for them and their loved ones. The mass media had never let the truth interfere with the military agendas of their government before, and, as it turns out, they never would. Nobody knew it was coming, so nobody opposed the dangerous acts of brinkmanship that led up to it. Nobody resisted as the Democrats manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against Russia. Nobody resisted as the Republicans manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against China. Nobody objected as war ships were moved, as troops were deployed, as Nuclear Posture Reviews became more and more hawkish and aggressive, as new armageddon weapons were manufactured and fielded, as proxy conflicts were backed, as war planes encroached upon sovereign airspace, as missiles were readied for swift deployment. So it simply did not feature in anyone’s mind that this could be the day they and their loved ones die in a nuclear holocaust. They just went about their day, like it was any other day. Working, texting, thinking pointless thoughts, arguing about nonsense with strangers on the internet. Then it happened. A nuclear weapon was deployed by one side, setting off a chain reaction that had been set in place ready to be triggered long ago, from which there was no coming back. And the funny thing is, it was an accident. Just a stupid, innocent mistake. One of the thousands of people responsible for the operation of those horrific weapons got a little careless with their part in the day-to-day management of the imperfect technology used in an international nuclear standoff that had become increasingly tense and confusing amid rapidly rising cold war chaos. That's all it took. Nothing grand or dramatic. Just a bad decision, made at the wrong time. One minute it seemed fine. The next minute it was the end. The end of everything. Subject Headings |