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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2...thinkable.html
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Making nuclear war thinkable What's wrong with this picture? To begin with, if it weren't a Hollywood special effects shot, the guy would probably be blind from looking right at the exploding nuke -- he clearly didn't duck and cover. Also, the whole detached observer quality of the photo subliminally says nuclear catastrophe is no big deal, something that can safely be survived at a distance. The biblical name and hint of a halo even hint at something transcendent. In other words, CBS is helping make the use of nukes a little more thinkable. I wonder how this thing ever got off the ground. Maybe it went something like this: You guys have been in the doghouse for a couple years now, ever since the Janet Jackson costume malfunction and the Dan Rather mess. Getting Katie for the news was a start, but you need to do more. Here's a thought. How about a "high-concept" TV soap featuring a plucky red state small town with a biblical name surviving nuclear catastrophe while those sinners in the big cities apparently burn in hellfire and disappear? How cool is that? CBS seemed to buy it. They signed for at least 13 episodes, and the new series "Jericho" will air weekly, starting this Wednesday. A drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive. Fear of the unknown propels Jericho into social, psychological and physical mayhem when all communication and power is shut down. The town starts to come apart at the seams as terror, anger and confusion bring out the very worst in some residents. But in this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had and the most unlikely heroes will emerge. Again, what's wrong with this picture? More than 20 years ago, in the early years of the Reagan administration, loose talk about "survivable nuclear war" created a huge outcry, here and abroad. ABC produced a TV movie called "The Day After." While operating within the constraints of network TV, the show tried to communicate some of the true horror of a nuclear war. The Reaganites learned their lesson and shut up. Now, little more than two decades later, CBS is about to show nuclear war as something that happens elsewhere, off-camera except for a mushroom cloud or two on the horizon, nothing that can't be survived by good people learning to work together in a small town far from Ground Zero. Yeah, right. Call me a cynic, but I don't think it's any accident that this show is airing at the very time that the Bush administration is trying, through a disingenuous combination of leaks, diplomatic initiatives and gradually escalating threats, to build support for a preemptive strike -- possibly with nuclear "bunker busters" -- against Iran. And while they insist they haven't made up their minds to go to war yet, chances are -- based on past performance -- they've already made their decision. It's not a matter of "if," but "when" -- and how to sell it. The neocon strategists know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of selling another preemptive war to the public through rational argument. What they can do, without ever discussing the real issues, is make emotional appeals to their base, get them worked up, and then use them to bludgeon political opponents of preemptive war. Who knows? "Jericho" might do the job. On the one hand, it stirs anxiety about nuclear war, and thus builds support for a "preventive war" against Iran. On the other hand, showing nuclear war safely going on in the background while people are fine and going about their lives in the foreground helps desensitize the audience to the horror of nuclear weapons and makes nuclear war less unthinkable. It helps erode taboos about a U.S. nuclear first strike -- should that become necessary to get rid of those underground labs in Iran. It just might work. Holy ****! (Update): Here's executive producer Jon Turteltaub on Sci Fi Wi Jon Turteltaub, the executive producer of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic drama series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that he did research about what might happen after a nuclear attack and was surprised by the answers he found. "This is going to sound odd, but a nuclear bomb is not as bad as everybody thinks," Turteltaub in an interview. "Without question on the scale of things in the world, it's on the bad scale of things that can happen. Puppies are on the really good side of things [laughs]. But sometimes we have this image that one nuclear bomb would take out all of New York City and Brooklyn and Queens and parts of New Jersey." That wouldn't be the case with the initial blast, Turteltaub (National Treasure) added. "Part of the question is how much of the area is uninhabitable versus how much in our perception and our fears is uninhabitable," he said. "Coping with our own panic may be a greater enemy than the reality of these things." Just in case there was any doubt about where these guys are coming from. |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
This is all crap! In CAP in the late 70's we got hammered with all the
information on what would happen in every model of nuke war, (That they could think of, (and man did they think, (LOL))). Even a limited strike on major Metro targets takes out the power grid right away. The EM pulse would fry most every thing else, (And don't forget the hard targets in the silos, (wow those would be dirty strikes). The blinding light from the first fission would have flashed everything for at least 20 mile, (For a small hit). Well the dead birds at the end scene show fallout is comming, (Tune in next week for another ep., (Same Bat time, Same Bat Channel)! Carl We will go together, When We go, In a Glow!!! |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
wrote: http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2...thinkable.html Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Making nuclear war thinkable What's wrong with this picture? To begin with, if it weren't a Hollywood special effects shot, the guy would probably be blind from looking right at the exploding nuke -- he clearly didn't duck and cover. Also, the whole detached observer quality of the photo subliminally says nuclear catastrophe is no big deal, something that can safely be survived at a distance. The biblical name and hint of a halo even hint at something transcendent. In other words, CBS is helping make the use of nukes a little more thinkable. I wonder how this thing ever got off the ground. Maybe it went something like this: You guys have been in the doghouse for a couple years now, ever since the Janet Jackson costume malfunction and the Dan Rather mess. Getting Katie for the news was a start, but you need to do more. Here's a thought. How about a "high-concept" TV soap featuring a plucky red state small town with a biblical name surviving nuclear catastrophe while those sinners in the big cities apparently burn in hellfire and disappear? How cool is that? CBS seemed to buy it. They signed for at least 13 episodes, and the new series "Jericho" will air weekly, starting this Wednesday. A drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive. Fear of the unknown propels Jericho into social, psychological and physical mayhem when all communication and power is shut down. The town starts to come apart at the seams as terror, anger and confusion bring out the very worst in some residents. But in this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had and the most unlikely heroes will emerge. Again, what's wrong with this picture? More than 20 years ago, in the early years of the Reagan administration, loose talk about "survivable nuclear war" created a huge outcry, here and abroad. ABC produced a TV movie called "The Day After." While operating within the constraints of network TV, the show tried to communicate some of the true horror of a nuclear war. The Reaganites learned their lesson and shut up. Now, little more than two decades later, CBS is about to show nuclear war as something that happens elsewhere, off-camera except for a mushroom cloud or two on the horizon, nothing that can't be survived by good people learning to work together in a small town far from Ground Zero. Yeah, right. Call me a cynic, but I don't think it's any accident that this show is airing at the very time that the Bush administration is trying, through a disingenuous combination of leaks, diplomatic initiatives and gradually escalating threats, to build support for a preemptive strike -- possibly with nuclear "bunker busters" -- against Iran. And while they insist they haven't made up their minds to go to war yet, chances are -- based on past performance -- they've already made their decision. It's not a matter of "if," but "when" -- and how to sell it. The neocon strategists know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of selling another preemptive war to the public through rational argument. What they can do, without ever discussing the real issues, is make emotional appeals to their base, get them worked up, and then use them to bludgeon political opponents of preemptive war. Who knows? "Jericho" might do the job. On the one hand, it stirs anxiety about nuclear war, and thus builds support for a "preventive war" against Iran. On the other hand, showing nuclear war safely going on in the background while people are fine and going about their lives in the foreground helps desensitize the audience to the horror of nuclear weapons and makes nuclear war less unthinkable. It helps erode taboos about a U.S. nuclear first strike -- should that become necessary to get rid of those underground labs in Iran. It just might work. Holy ****! (Update): Here's executive producer Jon Turteltaub on Sci Fi Wi Jon Turteltaub, the executive producer of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic drama series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that he did research about what might happen after a nuclear attack and was surprised by the answers he found. "This is going to sound odd, but a nuclear bomb is not as bad as everybody thinks," Turteltaub in an interview. "Without question on the scale of things in the world, it's on the bad scale of things that can happen. Puppies are on the really good side of things [laughs]. But sometimes we have this image that one nuclear bomb would take out all of New York City and Brooklyn and Queens and parts of New Jersey." That wouldn't be the case with the initial blast, Turteltaub (National Treasure) added. "Part of the question is how much of the area is uninhabitable versus how much in our perception and our fears is uninhabitable," he said. "Coping with our own panic may be a greater enemy than the reality of these things." Just in case there was any doubt about where these guys are coming from. Well, you certainly went around the long way to display your hatred of CBS and its policies,,,and to express it through a sitcom, no less. I got a solution for you so as not to be so stressed out....turn off the channel and watch other garbage on other stations. |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
wrote: http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2...thinkable.html Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Making nuclear war thinkable What's wrong with this picture? To begin with, if it weren't a Hollywood special effects shot, the guy would probably be blind from looking right at the exploding nuke -- he clearly didn't duck and cover. Also, the whole detached observer quality of the photo subliminally says nuclear catastrophe is no big deal, something that can safely be survived at a distance. The biblical name and hint of a halo even hint at something transcendent. In other words, CBS is helping make the use of nukes a little more thinkable. I wonder how this thing ever got off the ground. Maybe it went something like this: You guys have been in the doghouse for a couple years now, ever since the Janet Jackson costume malfunction and the Dan Rather mess. Getting Katie for the news was a start, but you need to do more. Here's a thought. How about a "high-concept" TV soap featuring a plucky red state small town with a biblical name surviving nuclear catastrophe while those sinners in the big cities apparently burn in hellfire and disappear? How cool is that? CBS seemed to buy it. They signed for at least 13 episodes, and the new series "Jericho" will air weekly, starting this Wednesday. A drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive. Fear of the unknown propels Jericho into social, psychological and physical mayhem when all communication and power is shut down. The town starts to come apart at the seams as terror, anger and confusion bring out the very worst in some residents. But in this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had and the most unlikely heroes will emerge. Again, what's wrong with this picture? More than 20 years ago, in the early years of the Reagan administration, loose talk about "survivable nuclear war" created a huge outcry, here and abroad. ABC produced a TV movie called "The Day After." While operating within the constraints of network TV, the show tried to communicate some of the true horror of a nuclear war. The Reaganites learned their lesson and shut up. Now, little more than two decades later, CBS is about to show nuclear war as something that happens elsewhere, off-camera except for a mushroom cloud or two on the horizon, nothing that can't be survived by good people learning to work together in a small town far from Ground Zero. Yeah, right. Call me a cynic, but I don't think it's any accident that this show is airing at the very time that the Bush administration is trying, through a disingenuous combination of leaks, diplomatic initiatives and gradually escalating threats, to build support for a preemptive strike -- possibly with nuclear "bunker busters" -- against Iran. And while they insist they haven't made up their minds to go to war yet, chances are -- based on past performance -- they've already made their decision. It's not a matter of "if," but "when" -- and how to sell it. The neocon strategists know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of selling another preemptive war to the public through rational argument. What they can do, without ever discussing the real issues, is make emotional appeals to their base, get them worked up, and then use them to bludgeon political opponents of preemptive war. Who knows? "Jericho" might do the job. On the one hand, it stirs anxiety about nuclear war, and thus builds support for a "preventive war" against Iran. On the other hand, showing nuclear war safely going on in the background while people are fine and going about their lives in the foreground helps desensitize the audience to the horror of nuclear weapons and makes nuclear war less unthinkable. It helps erode taboos about a U.S. nuclear first strike -- should that become necessary to get rid of those underground labs in Iran. It just might work. Holy ****! (Update): Here's executive producer Jon Turteltaub on Sci Fi Wi Jon Turteltaub, the executive producer of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic drama series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that he did research about what might happen after a nuclear attack and was surprised by the answers he found. "This is going to sound odd, but a nuclear bomb is not as bad as everybody thinks," Turteltaub in an interview. "Without question on the scale of things in the world, it's on the bad scale of things that can happen. Puppies are on the really good side of things [laughs]. But sometimes we have this image that one nuclear bomb would take out all of New York City and Brooklyn and Queens and parts of New Jersey." That wouldn't be the case with the initial blast, Turteltaub (National Treasure) added. "Part of the question is how much of the area is uninhabitable versus how much in our perception and our fears is uninhabitable," he said. "Coping with our own panic may be a greater enemy than the reality of these things." Just in case there was any doubt about where these guys are coming from. Well, OK. Sure. It's a TV show. More importantly - no-one knows the nature of the catastrophe. It could be missiles, bombs, terrorists (gasp). Equally, it could be aliens. Since a big part of the suspense in the show seems to be them trying to work out what exactly happened, simply assuming it's a nuclear attack seems a little dumb. Iain |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
Jon Schild wrote:
As for your "biblical name" slam, the Jericho in the bible was full of bad people and was destroyed. Actually, there's no suggestion that the people in Biblical Jericho were "bad." They were just living in a city that stood on land that God had decided to give to the Israelites. And they were destroyed because God decreed that everything that breathed in the city, even all the animals, was to be offered as a sacrifice to him. Matt Hughes http://www.archonate.com/majestrum |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
"Matt Hughes" wrote in message
ups.com... Jon Schild wrote: As for your "biblical name" slam, the Jericho in the bible was full of bad people and was destroyed. Actually, there's no suggestion that the people in Biblical Jericho were "bad." They were just living in a city that stood on land that God had decided to give to the Israelites. And they were destroyed because God decreed that everything that breathed in the city, even all the animals, was to be offered as a sacrifice to him. What an awesome god! Cthulhu ain't got nuthin' on Jehovah. |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
El Puerco wrote: "Matt Hughes" wrote in message ups.com... Jon Schild wrote: As for your "biblical name" slam, the Jericho in the bible was full of bad people and was destroyed. Actually, there's no suggestion that the people in Biblical Jericho were "bad." They were just living in a city that stood on land that God had decided to give to the Israelites. And they were destroyed because God decreed that everything that breathed in the city, even all the animals, was to be offered as a sacrifice to him. What an awesome god! Cthulhu ain't got nuthin' on Jehovah. ROFL! |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great FunFor Everyone
wrote: http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2...thinkable.html Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Making nuclear war thinkable What's wrong with this picture? To begin with, if it weren't a Hollywood special effects shot, the guy would probably be blind from looking right at the exploding nuke -- he clearly didn't duck and cover. He was also hundreds of miles away. Nuclear blasts don't blind from some sort of evil magic, but from sheer brightness. If you are far enough away you are safe, at least from the immediate blindness. Also, the whole detached observer quality of the photo subliminally says nuclear catastrophe is no big deal, something that can safely be survived at a distance. The biblical name and hint of a halo even hint at something transcendent. In other words, CBS is helping make the use of nukes a little more thinkable. Perhaps you should have watched the show before reviewing it. I wonder how this thing ever got off the ground. Maybe it went something like this: You guys have been in the doghouse for a couple years now, ever since the Janet Jackson costume malfunction and the Dan Rather mess. Getting Katie for the news was a start, but you need to do more. Here's a thought. How about a "high-concept" TV soap featuring a plucky red state small town with a biblical name surviving nuclear catastrophe while those sinners in the big cities apparently burn in hellfire and disappear? How cool is that? This is just ludicrous. No mention was made of "sinners" or "hellfire" anywhere in the episode. The determination of Denver is mostly a guess, based on the direction of the blast and the location of large cities in that direction. Knowledge of another blast in Atlanta is accidental. They have no clue whether other large cities were hit, or if so which ones. And there is no mention of the people in the small town all being non-sinners, or more righteous, or being chosen by God ro survive, or any similar crap. I don't even recall a shot of a church anywhere in the first episode. As for your "biblical name" slam, the Jericho in the bible was full of bad people and was destroyed. Hardly the sort of fuzzy warm image you seem to claim for the name. CBS seemed to buy it. They signed for at least 13 episodes, and the new series "Jericho" will air weekly, starting this Wednesday. A drama about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon, plunging the residents of a small, peaceful Kansas town into chaos, leaving them completely isolated and wondering if they're the only Americans left alive. Fear of the unknown propels Jericho into social, psychological and physical mayhem when all communication and power is shut down. The town starts to come apart at the seams as terror, anger and confusion bring out the very worst in some residents. But in this time of crisis, as sensible people become paranoid, personal agendas take over and well-kept secrets threaten to be revealed, some people will find an inner strength they never knew they had and the most unlikely heroes will emerge. Again, what's wrong with this picture? I guess it depends on how long you have been reading news and watching what happens. Your description, worded to sound as silly as possible, is essentially what has happened after many major disasters. More than 20 years ago, in the early years of the Reagan administration, loose talk about "survivable nuclear war" created a huge outcry, here and abroad. ABC produced a TV movie called "The Day After." While operating within the constraints of network TV, the show tried to communicate some of the true horror of a nuclear war. The Reaganites learned their lesson and shut up. Yes, that's the American way. Stamp out any opinion that doesn't match yours. I believe that nearly all of Japan survived their nuclear attack quite nicely. The uproar came mostly because Reagan was a republican, and most of the uproar totally ignored everything he said. He was also vilified, called stupid, accused of being in his dotage etc for saying that the Soviet Union should tear down the Berlin Wall. But it still happened. Now, little more than two decades later, CBS is about to show nuclear war as something that happens elsewhere, off-camera except for a mushroom cloud or two on the horizon, nothing that can't be survived by good people learning to work together in a small town far from Ground Zero. Yeah, right. Well, how much show do you get if you put a camera in downtown Denver, watch the bomb fall, and then go to black? They deliberately chose an area far enough away from any blast to not be immediately impacted, and small enough to not become a target itself. That should be obvious even to someone looking for every possible flaw. Call me a cynic, You are definitely a cynic. but I don't think it's any accident that this show is airing at the very time that the Bush administration is trying, through a disingenuous combination of leaks, diplomatic initiatives and gradually escalating threats, to build support for a preemptive strike -- possibly with nuclear "bunker busters" -- against Iran. And while they insist they haven't made up their minds to go to war yet, chances are -- based on past performance -- they've already made their decision. It's not a matter of "if," but "when" -- and how to sell it. You know, I am thoroughly sick of the idea that everyone thinks alike, and all people are really nice liberals who understand every issue the same way, and therefore if any idea outside that nice liberal mainstream surfaces, it is orchestrated by the tiny minority of evil hateful nasty ignorant stupid people who actually dare to disagree. You don't even present any backup or evidence for your wild charges. Those charged are guilty because you say so, I guess. The closest we have come to nuclear war is when JFK had the guts to stand up to soviet emplacement of nukes in Cuba. But it had to be done, and he won. The neocon strategists know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of selling another preemptive war to the public through rational argument. What they can do, without ever discussing the real issues, is make emotional appeals to their base, get them worked up, and then use them to bludgeon political opponents of preemptive war. Who knows? "Jericho" might do the job. On the one hand, it stirs anxiety about nuclear war, and thus builds support for a "preventive war" against Iran. On the other hand, showing nuclear war safely going on in the background while people are fine and going about their lives in the foreground helps desensitize the audience to the horror of nuclear weapons and makes nuclear war less unthinkable. It helps erode taboos about a U.S. nuclear first strike -- should that become necessary to get rid of those underground labs in Iran. It just might work. Holy ****! (Update): Here's executive producer Jon Turteltaub on Sci Fi Wi Jon Turteltaub, the executive producer of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic drama series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that he did research about what might happen after a nuclear attack and was surprised by the answers he found. "This is going to sound odd, but a nuclear bomb is not as bad as everybody thinks," Turteltaub in an interview. "Without question on the scale of things in the world, it's on the bad scale of things that can happen. Puppies are on the really good side of things [laughs]. But sometimes we have this image that one nuclear bomb would take out all of New York City and Brooklyn and Queens and parts of New Jersey." That wouldn't be the case with the initial blast, Turteltaub (National Treasure) added. "Part of the question is how much of the area is uninhabitable versus how much in our perception and our fears is uninhabitable," he said. "Coping with our own panic may be a greater enemy than the reality of these things." Just in case there was any doubt about where these guys are coming from. Or, it just could be that the scientific fact is that a nuclear attack is NOT necessarily as horrible as a lot of people think. During all the brouhaha over "nuclear winter" some facts got itnored by the general public, like for instance that the number and size of blasts makes a huge difference in the result. The way most peace activists of the time talked, one nuke dropped anywhere on North America would make the entire planet uninhabitable. It is true that enough nukes would make the planet totally uninhabitable. But another fact is that two nukes dropped in Japan created a local disaster only. The attack in this show is obviously somewhere in between, or there would be no story to tell. By the way, what Turtletaub says is true. One nuke wouldn't take out that much territory. It would possibly make that much territory unlivable for while, not just due to radioactive fallout. The target coordinates in US ICBMs were not cities, but specific points. A government center, a major rail yard, a major airport, that sort of thing. |
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
Sea Wasp wrote: wrote: http://letterfromhere.blogspot.com/2...thinkable.html Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Making nuclear war thinkable It's always been thinkable. We did it twice to stop a much longer, more drawn-out war from continuing. Push us or anyone else similarly armed into a sufficient corner, we or they will do it again. There is no weapon yet made that people WON'T use, just ones they are more or less reluctant to use. Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out? How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence? Will his tortured mind give in to its uncontrollable desires? Can he resist the temptation to push the button that, even now, beckons him even closer? Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history? At the MERE...PUSH...of a SINGLE...BUTTON! The beeyootiful SHINY button! The jolly CANDY-LIKE button! Will he hold out, folks? CAN he hold out? |
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