I just wanted to link today's Irregular Webcomic, not so much because of the comic, but because of the annotation. I remember feeling very much like that during the 80s.
Kinda weird, considering the annotation seems to have nothing to do with the strip.
But I didn't actually feel that way during the 80s at all - largely because there was no real threat of nuclear war at all (unlike what DMM says). Sure, the Cold War was going on and it was really chilly at times, but it struck me more just as superpower rivalry than one side or another itching to start a fight.
When the Wall came down, I was happy for the people behind the former Iron Curtain. But I didn't and still don't actually think it was good for the world - and I think later events have bore that out pretty well. I think the "new world order" that arose after that directly and ultimately led to the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan today - if the USSR had still been around I don't think any of that would have happened or been allowed to happen. Either way, I've definitely been more worried about a single superpower's rampant abuse of its position over the past few years than I was about the Cold War for the whole of the 80s.
Whilst I agree that the threat of nuclear war was actually negligible, as a ten year old kid that didn't really get through to me, and it was very easy to blow it all out of proportion.
And I agree that in what has happened since we've very probably observed a superpower panicing because it no longer has a real enemy to keep it's citizens in line and therefore inventing one, although the Wall coming down has done wonders for Germany.
And yes, I'm much more worried by the current world situation now than what I was back then, alas, now I'm much more jaded by it all as well.
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But I didn't actually feel that way during the 80s at all - largely because there was no real threat of nuclear war at all (unlike what DMM says). Sure, the Cold War was going on and it was really chilly at times, but it struck me more just as superpower rivalry than one side or another itching to start a fight.
When the Wall came down, I was happy for the people behind the former Iron Curtain. But I didn't and still don't actually think it was good for the world - and I think later events have bore that out pretty well. I think the "new world order" that arose after that directly and ultimately led to the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan today - if the USSR had still been around I don't think any of that would have happened or been allowed to happen. Either way, I've definitely been more worried about a single superpower's rampant abuse of its position over the past few years than I was about the Cold War for the whole of the 80s.
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And I agree that in what has happened since we've very probably observed a superpower panicing because it no longer has a real enemy to keep it's citizens in line and therefore inventing one, although the Wall coming down has done wonders for Germany.
And yes, I'm much more worried by the current world situation now than what I was back then, alas, now I'm much more jaded by it all as well.
Reply
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