redrumloa wrote:
As a teen in the 80's, the threat seemed real.
The threat *was* real! The nuclear buildup was astronomical, and the "military tension" in the air was really thick and felt by everyone. It permeated everything, even entertainment, as can be seen in cold war era movies like "spies like us", "wargames", "real genius", "red dawn", "Amerika", "The morning after", etc.
Everyone was literally waiting for WWIII. I'm dissapointed that this isn't documented very well in any documentaries I've seen, but in casual conversation, everyone in this country was talking about it. No documentary has recorded this very well.
I had a friend who's father literally had a stockpile of guns and a garage full of military grade freeze dried food. His father was no nut either, and this was not off in the backwoods somewhere(though Cuba is only ~90 miles off the FL coast). "The reds are coming", how many times did you here that? I'd bet most people our age and older still have a deep distrust of Russian people when it really comes down to it.
I didn't really "distrust" the Russians, I sort of had a certain respect for them, somewhat analgous to the way you shake hands before starting a boxing match... I don't know, hard to explain I guess. I distrusted them in the same way you distrust an opponent in chess... you know he's trying to win and you're in his way... :-)
I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm kind of nostalgic about the cold war, I sort of felt safer about world stability with two superpowers posed in stasis. It felt like "order" as opposed to the feeling the world has now, it feels like anarchy now that the world isn't divided into "us" and "them. "
These ramblings have been brought to you by sleep deprivation.