Podcast- Psychological Impacts of the Threat of Nuclear War

The podcast discusses the psychological impact of the threat of nuclear war. It explores the history and evolution of nuclear technology, the personal experiences of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the effects on children. The threat of nuclear war instills fear and psychological impacts such as powerlessness and alienation. It is important to educate society and find solutions to reduce the chances of nuclear war, and to raise awareness among those in power about the devastating consequences. Hello, everyone. Welcome to my first podcast discussing the psychological impact of the threat of nuclear war. The dawn of the nuclear age in the 19th century has imposed unimaginable lasting impacts on the children and families that live in our society today. The threat of war and the use of nuclear weapons has created psychological impacts of anxiety, fear of the loss of life, and devastation that would come as a result of war, which has caused tremendous psychological impacts on children. We can see the impacts that the threat of nuclear war imposed through the psychology behind nuclear war, the impacts that the possibility of nuclear war have on our society, and the effects that it has on children specifically in our world today. First, let's dive into the psychology behind nuclear war. Throughout our history, the evolution of nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear technology have altered our perceptions of what we now know of them today. Wellerstein stated that nuclear power was intentionally meant to be the hopeful side of nuclear technology, the atom for peace opposed to the atom of war. The fear there came in through the back door, the fear of accident and mishap. When the use of nuclear power and technology was first thought of, it was thought to be used for peaceful purposes, such as propelling submarines and aircraft carriers, and as a potential source of energy and power plants. As the war in Europe continued throughout the 1950s, the U.S. had intentions to end the war and end the war quickly, which opened the doors to treacherously using nuclear technology. This led to the making of the most deadliest weapon that would now be known of in the history of our world today. Dyer even states that the authority for nuclear war has slipped out of human control and has been taken over by technology, where military and political thinking often betray a failure to grasp the ways in which nuclear weapons must radically alter our conceptions of war and international relations. As the idea of the use of nuclear technology has evolved, it has transformed from an idea of use for peace to war. Along with the emergence of nuclear technology has come the emergence of radical politics that have altered the way that citizens think of the phenomenon as a result of the decisions that they have made with such technology in the past, such as the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the devastation that was seen after the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we now know that the nuclear bomb is the greatest immediate threat to the health and welfare of mankind, where people can be utterly dazed, psychologically destroyed, and even incapable of ensuring their own continued survival. The impact that the dropping of the two bombs on Japanese soil has instilled are tremendous and have great psychological impact on multiple generations of survivors, the children of our society, and the individuals all over the world as they fear what could happen again. Since we just learned about the psychology behind nuclear war, let's now dive into and examine the impacts that the possibility of nuclear war impose on our society. The threat of war and the use of nuclear weapons now haunt the individuals of our society. As individuals try to continue living their daily lives, some often fear the threat of nuclear war. This fear instills psychological impacts as the fear of nuclear war can consist of feelings of powerlessness, nervousness, sensationalism, alienation, dehumanization, and psychic numbing. We can see the psychological impacts that the threat of nuclear war instill by looking at the personal impacts through the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the film Hiroshima that we watched as part of our class course, survivor Akiko Takakura gave her testimony of surviving the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 5, 1945. Akiko Takakura was a bank clerk and was only 17 years old at the time of the bombing. Takakura is now the last witness alive from the bomb, and testified that after the bomb she saw the city as a city of death, because everyone was dead wherever she looked except for her. She said that she found her friend right next to her, but she eventually died due to a broken spine from the bomb at only the age of 18. She stated that she often visits the city in the tea room where she can see the road where she escaped. She said that she sees families walking happily, holding each other's hands, and often thinks about the horrible scenes she once saw before in the same exact place, just as it had never happened. This is just one of the many individuals that experienced this unimaginable, catastrophic event in history, where individuals contained broken spirits, initiative gone, where they moved and behaved like automaton, containing a sense of guilt, a feeling of failed enactment, of not having been able to do anything to help others survive, many neurotic disorders, reduced work capacity, and a breakdown in social relationships. Now that we have a small insight to some of the effects that nuclear bombs have on individuals, we can see that the psychological impacts of nuclear war and the threat of nuclear war are horrifying. As individuals grow up in our society today, and as international tensions rise, children are being taught about the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The psychological impacts on children are rising and becoming more prevalent. Wagner states that many children and adolescents are very much aware of the threat of nuclear war and are more frightened and bewildered by the prospect than many adults are willing to admit. The psychological impact and fear of nuclear weapons can be much more seen in children and adolescents as they live their life imagining their future and what they want it to look like. When the topic of a nuclear threat or war arises, children often get very fearful and start worrying that they might not be able to go to college, have a family, or get their dream job, etc. There are so many reasons. They know that if a nuclear fallout was to occur, then the whole world would be over and they wouldn't get a chance to experience life as many adults have already gotten the chance to do. Wagner also states that we are jeopardizing the opportunity to enjoy a life with a future by our apparent willingness to contemplate war. As international tensions rise and as the leaders of the countries start to put themselves before their people, a sense of rationality is lost. This increases the chance of nuclear fallout. As these certain people mess around and threaten each other with nuclear bombs, we have innocent children worrying every day about if they are going to be able to experience life without dying. This constant worry creates psychological impact. Since we have now learned about the impacts of the threat of nuclear war, we should try to give attention to some possible solutions. The threat of nuclear war is a very important phenomenon as it has the ability to end our whole world in an instant. So it is very important to realize that some action must take place to try and de-escalate the circumstances that our society face today. We must try to educate our society and find a solution that could help reduce the chance of nuclear war. While bringing back a sense of rationalism to the individuals who hold powerful positions in our world today, Wagner states that people's uniform behavior has resulted in the unbroken escalation of nuclear arsenals. However, informed behavior has the potential to transform nuclear threat into world peace. When individuals that hold high power in society do not realize or even take a minute to think about the horrendous destruction that a nuclear attack would cause, irrational thoughts and behaviors take place that could lead to unimaginable consequences. Wagner also states that we need to understand the nature of the threat itself and our ability to conceptualize it realistically, and that such an accomplishment will allow us to become effective, appropriate contributors to the task of diminishing the threat of nuclear war and building a world in nuclear peace. If the individuals of our society and world took an effort to call out the radical politicians that think the nuclear threat is a joke, and in turn educate and show them the effects that nuclear war would impose and the psychological impacts that the threat is having on the individuals of our society, mostly impacting children, then the threat could de-escalate leading our world to peace internationally. Thank you so, so much for listening to my podcast today about the psychological impacts that nuclear war impose on our society. Stay tuned for my next podcast that will continue examining the topic.