On the 65th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing, Annual August Peace Event invited Sacramentans to a recently released documentary, "Countdown To Zero." on Friday, August 6, 2010 at the Crest Theater. The Participant Media sponsored the free showing of 5 PM & 7: 30 PM shows. From August 7-12, the tickets were discounted, thanks to the Ploughshares Foundation for underwriting such discounts. Physicians for Social Responsibility co-sponsored the event and also acted as the fiscal sponsor for August Peace Event. The League of Women Voters of Sacramento County (LWV) provided logistic support. Anne Rudin, a former Mayor of Sacramento from 1983-1992, was among the enthusiasts for promoting peace and harmony through dialog.
On August 6, 1945, a nation tested its might by annihilating another on the other side of the globe. The predominant motif is that the epochal race originating in Hiroshima has traversed a long journey in honing the doomsters' skills. Nuclear material today has become easily portable by ordinary means. The complexion of the planet may undergo instant change in case some madness occurs in handlers' mind. There is indeed a dogged determination of so-called terrorists to exterminate any visible signs of the western city. There is also a fear of total annihilation due to military personnel's error or miscalculation. The defensive response to the first offensive strike will only complete the remaining devastation cycle. Therefore, total elimination of nuclear warheads is most desirable to save our planet.
‘Countdown to Zero' appears to stress that nuclear race is clueless about its destination. The ego-enforcing confidence that the evil originates in others' minds, appears to escalate more investment in weapons of mass destruction. The identity of terrorists in the movie is woefully more fixed and unchangeable. The whole idea of total elimination of nuclear arms is to deprive extremists of any chance to get them. However, there are several hints that the US created the terrorists who are now proving hard to deal with. Oblique messages also become pronounced. The terror laboratories may operate covertly to keep the fears alive and necessary for change of hearts. In such circumstances, the proverbial fight against terror may actually be for the sake of it.
The Hiroshima bombing in 65 years has taught hardly any lessons. 23000 nuclear weapons are said to exist in the world. It is feared more unrecorded weapons in the world may never be detected until they wreak havoc. India, Pakistan and Israel mayn't declare all arsenals for their own ideological reasons.
The world will undoubtedly become safe if they are destroyed. In the end, it sounds convincing, but far-fetched. Will the charity begin at home as the US and Russia have more than 90% of them?
‘Countdown to Zero' chills our hearts and makes us feel as if sitting on the edges of nuclear disaster. Boris Yeltsin's decision not to use the option of triggering the worst catastrophe in the human history arouses reverence for his character.
The director Lucy Walker, after her ‘Devil's Playground' and ‘Blind Sight', achieves a distinctive success in arguing her case for a nuclear free world. The interviews of Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervej Musharaff, Tony Blair and many others add to the intended effect.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 speech at the UN becomes the organizing theme of the entire movie. "Everyman, woman, and child lives under nuclear sword of Damocles hanging by slenderest of threads capable of being cut any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us."
The documentary portrays the terrorists and terminators as full of ‘passionate intensity.' In case of theft or smuggling of nuclear substance, WB Yates's catclysmic vision in "The Second Coming" may become reality.
The movie intends to cure our minds by giving us shock therapy. It sure creates a shuddering effect on those who obey norms of society. But the desperate and disconnected mayn't care at all about the alarmist's message.
The labels of the terrorists and non-terrorists have been used indiscriminately. There is no suggestion of treating alienated, aggrieved and aggressive behavior. The nagging conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia look as if unrelated themes in the main discourse. The possibility of nuclear free world can transpire only if our poisoned minds become free from fears of the unknown.
After the show, a lively discussion followed. Professor Ayad Al-Qazzaz, Department of Sociology, CSUS, asked why the documentary was soft on nuclear ambitions of India and Israel. Many asked questions about first bringing reduction in conflicts and standing by human rights regardless of allegiance to class, region and religion. Ms. Joann Fuller of August Peace Event and Dr. Harry Wang, M.D., president of Physicians for Social Responsibility Sacramento Chapter promised to put suggestions from the audience to the producer and director of the documentary.
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Comments
No surprise the new 'Countdown to Zero' disarmament movie omits life-saving strategies from their agenda of banning nukes, like advocating public Civil Defense, to try and better survive nukes in the meantime.
The disarmament movement for decades has hyped that with nukes; all will die or it will be so bad you'll wish you had. Most have bought into it, now thinking it futile, bordering on lunacy, to ever try to learn how to survive a nuclear blast and radioactive fallout.
There is much people can do to avoid becoming additional casualties.
In a tragic irony, these disarmament activists have rendered millions of American families even more vulnerable to perishing from nukes in the future.
I know, sounds preposterous and crazy, but I'd gladly go on here to prove it with a couple examples, but there's not enough room allowed here, so go see my full review here...
ki4u.com/countdowntozero.htm
It's not that long at all, nor hard to grasp, see for yourself.
- Shane Conn
Hi Shane, The preparedness for impending disaster is virtually missing in the whole discourse. You are right in pointing out that mere fear parading won't help in neither disarmament nor in preventing casualties.
Therefore, it is more sensible to learn survival techniques and manage everyday life in the face of any accident. Thank you very much for your significant feedback and wonderful insight.
Amrik, What a refreshing response, thank you, made my day!
I, like most, would like to see fewer nukes than more, but until the day they are all gone, we'd better know how to better survive them. Too bad that's not also part of saving lives from nukes agenda by anti-nuke crowd!
For instance, most now ridicule 'duck & cover', but for the vast majority, not right at 'ground zero' and already gone, the blast wave will be delayed in arriving after the flash, like lightening & thunder, anywhere from a fraction of a second up to 20 seconds, or more.
Today, without 'duck & cover' training, everyone at work, home, and your children at school, will impulsively rush to the nearest windows to see what that 'bright flash' was, just-in-time to be shredded by the glass imploding inward from that delayed blast wave. They'd never been taught that even in the open, just laying flat, reduces by eight-fold the chances of being hit by debris from that brief, 3-second, tornado strength blast.
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