Transcript File
Nuclear Fear What’s Everyone so Afraid of? • We’ve talked a little bit (okay, a lot) about atomic bombs and their incredible power. • Buuuuut we haven’t mentioned everything. • One word we’ve barely mentioned is fallout. *Fallout is the spread of radioactive material from the site of a nuclear detonation. • By the by: • Ground zero: the site of a nuclear detonation. Preparedness • These new weapons have no real new defense. • The closest thing we have is called the… Preparedness, Cont. • Back in the Cold War, fallout shelters were all over the place. • Any new major public building (e.g. schools, libraries) was required to have one. • It’s not like we fill them in with concrete, either…check it out. • https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?m id=zOkOMPGcU2i4.kTjHDen3AmX4&hl=en Turn and Talk 1) How much did the average American probably know about nuclear weapons back then? Where would they learn about them? 2) How much does the average American know about nuclear weapons now? 3) How much did the average American know about Communism or the USSR back then? 4) For perspective, how much do you know about Russia? China? ISIS? Propaganda • (Yes, this means we’re going to make propaganda) • Propaganda during the Cold War was meant for both the people at home and people around the world. • Remember, *we wanted to portray the USA as a land of freedom and wealth. • There was a great deal of competition between the US and USSR for propaganda “bragging rights.” Propaganda at Home/*Domestic Propaganda • We wanted people to hate and even fear the USSR…but we didn’t want panic. • So what did we do? 1) Made Communists seem like a serious and everlasting threat. 1) We did a lot of this yesterday with the Red Scare Experiment 2) Downplayed the power of nuclear weapons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu5jw60 Duck and Cover! Kill the Myths (15) Atomic Weapons Will Not Destroy The Earth Atomic bombs hold more death and destruction than man ever before has wrapped up in a single package, but their over-all power still has very definite limits. Not even hydrogen bombs will blow the earth apart or kill us all by radioactivity. Doubling Bomb Power Does Not Double Destruction Modern A-bombs can cause heavy damage 2 miles away, but doubling their power would extend that range only to 2.5 miles. To stretch the damage range from 2 to 4 miles would require a weapon more than 8 times the rated power of present models. Radioactivity Is Not The Bomb's Greatest Threat In most atom raids, blast and heat are by far the greatest dangers that people must face. Radioactivity alone would account for only a small percentage of all human deaths and injuries, except in underground or underwater explosions. Radiation Sickness Is Not Always Fatal In small amounts, radioactivity seldom is harmful. Even when serious radiation sickness follows a heavy dosage, there is still a good chance for recovery. Propaganda Assignment! • You are to choose one of the following assignments and do it individually. • For each choice, you should be writing/designing as though you are from the American government during the Cold War. A) Create a propaganda poster advertising the safety of fallout shelters OR denouncing the USSR/Communism B) Write a two-paragraph radio PSA to put Americans at ease about nuclear weapons OR instructing them on how to find communists. Make it convincing!