Originally Posted by
KerrAvon
I share the sentiment of the opening post. I remember the cold war and being aware of the potential for nuclear war in the seventies and eighties, but that felt different to now.
The stand off between NATO and the Warsaw Pact felt dangerous, but there was no sense of the people with their fingers on the triggers being willing to act irrationally. I can't say the same about today.
The increase in the number of nuclear powers in the world is part of the issue as is the extent to which we are driven by more extreme ideologies. I appreciate that we are exposed to propaganda about both countries, but the possession of nuclear weapons by countries such as North Korea and probably Iran is concerning as the leadership of the former might believe that they could deal with the 'hardship' of a nuclear exchange and the latter might believe that they would all be going to paradise.
Our issues are not restricted to warfare either. We seem incapable as a species to address climate change and the slow destruction of the ecosystems that we rely upon.
We now live in a world where the truth is whatever social media says it is and the likes of 'populist' leaders like Trump and Johnson can rise to power by saying whatever people want to hear irrespective of whether it can be delivered.
I think I'm going off to get drunk now.