Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Nuclear War: An Unrecognized Mass Extinction Event Waiting To Happen

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Nuclear War: An Unrecognized Mass Extinction Event Waiting To Happen

Click here to access a speech given by Kenneth Starr to a Symposium: The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction held at The New York Academy of Medicine, 28 February - 1 March 2015.

Yesterday I receive this link to Kenneth Starr's speech in an email from Dave Ratcliffe of ratical.org regarding the current dangers of a nuclear war which our masters seem to be preparing for. Although it violates my rule to post only current material (less than one month), I share Ratcliffe's and many others concerns about the lack of information in today's several generations regarding the devastating effects of a nuclear war. Starr reports that earlier generations knew full well about the effects of a nuclear, but according him this seems to have changed around 1980.

I myself was not really aware of this change, but I think that this explains why so many people today are quite unconcerned about the bellicose anti-Russian statements and actions as well as NATO's military preparations for a war with Russia. I lived through the terrifying days around the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I am beginning to experience similar feelings today. I have been confounded by the apparent lack of concern today about a nuclear war and the absence of any significant anti-war movement. Hence I am posting this.

(I have been seeing frequent references by today's pundits and commentators to the old TV program Star Wars which began after the film Star Wars was released in 1977. I keep wondering if this space opera about intergalactic wars as entertainment did not create this lack of concern.)

In this post you can listen to Starr's address via YouTube (the first 19:36m) or read the script. (I found the audio rather deficient for my old ears.)