Nuclear Radiation = Death, or does it?
How is fear of nuclear/radiation used today to influence/manipulate/affect current events?
In class we watched a movie that tugged at the fear of nuclear disaster called “China Syndrome”. This movie was a fictional depiction of a nuclear disaster but two weeks later the Three Mile Island accident happened, a real nuclear reactor incident sent the movie into fame. “You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.” – Robin Williams
The three mile island accident is eerily similar to China Syndrome. Although china syndrome was completely fictional and random, a stuck indicator led to human error within the movie and the three mile accident. Pennsylvania was mentioned in both china syndrome where the three mile island happened. Because of those similarities the movie gained amazing traction and was the hot topic of the day. This spooked many people and led many people to begin protesting nuclear power. Among those protester was the lead actor Jane Fonda who was the topic of New York Times “ Did Jane Fonda Ruin Nuclear Power?”. Clearly The movie China Syndrome affected the general population of north america and their opinion on nuclear power. So Jane and others protesters were able to slow the nuclear movement in the 80’s but how are people using fear of nuclear today?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16wwln-freakonomics-t.html
http://freakonomics.com/2008/08/20/did-jane-fonda-ruin-nuclear-power-a-guest-post/
What current events are manipulated by the fear of nuclear radiation? Maybe the headline “Nuclear War has Become Thinkable Again We Need a Reminder of What it Means” will spark your interest.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/17/nuclear-war-has-become-thinkable-again-we-need-a-reminder-of-what-it-means
North Korea and USA are in a heated conflict with nuclear weapons being the center of attention. Just the threat of nuclear war has brought the global news into an uproar with unlimited articles and videos following the topic. The reason why there are so many articles and videos is because people are afraid of nuclear and they want to know more.
With North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can hit UN allies such as South Korea people are on high alert similar to the cuban missile crisis. People are frightened by the slightest potential of nuclear war and will began to clamor towards a solution of a nuclear free zone. North Korea is using just the fear of nuclear war as bargaining tool. North Korea might not even be able to get a nuke off the ground but they gain power with every demonstration successful or not. What they will do with this power has yet to be seen.
Is North Korea going to trade its nuclear program to cash in with USA and gain some major relief efforts to reduce the famine and sanctions placed on the country. And they will cash in big because North Korea’s economy has been able to survive all the sanctions the UN and the USA could throw at them and continue to develop their nuclear program. Or just hold on weapons to use as a stick to throw around in other international affairs. North Korea is using the fear of nuclear to try to get a position at the global political table.