THE DAY THE WORLD ALMOST ENDED
ON SEPTEMBER 26th, 1983 THE WORLD ALMOST ENDED. Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov had just witnessed the unthinkable. Five distinct blips of light, each like the point of a dagger, suddenly appeared on his radar monitor. Five missiles launched by the United States of America, were headed for the U.S.S.R.
Stanislav Petrov did not pray. He didn't seek the divine guidance of a supreme being. Directly in front of him a red button flashed. If pushed, it would initiate a chain of events possibly resulting in global thermonuclear war. Despite the iron-like indoctrination of two decades of Soviet military service, Petrov correctly reasoned that the incoming warheads were an anomaly; not nuclear armageddon unleashed by an old Cold War nemesis, but a glitch in the Soviet early-warning system.
Choosing reason, Petrov derailed the nuclear train careening out of control; calling a dead halt to an escalation of events that could've obliterated all life on this planet. Turns out he was right. The incident was triggered by a confused Soviet satellite, erroneously identifying sunlight reflected from clouds, as a spate of incoming missiles.
I first learned of Stanislav Petrov -- and our close brush with nuclear annihilation -- on a segment of C-SPAN's Book TV. An author was giving a sobering, though disturbing presentation on the inevitability of a nuclear mishap. The thing that really sent a chill down my spine, was the author's query: "What if it were up to Michele Bachmann to decide whether or not to push the button?"
Michele Bachmann -- who unabashedly told the world that despite strong feelings to the contrary -- heeded Jesus Christ's command to marry her husband and become a tax attorney. Religion vs. reason?
After a sleepless night, I posted the following on my Facebook page . . .
I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever's making the decision to understand that once it's pushed, it's over. Finito. They're not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won't be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn't just a dress rehearsal for something better -- but the only shot we get.
Are you comfortable with the idea of someone who believes they receive career advice directly from Jesus Christ having access to the nuclear launch codes? What if the connection proved to be fuzzy? Someone who doesn't believe in evolution, but does believe in the biblical prophecy of Armageddon -- and that THEY might just be God's "chosen one" to kick things off?
How about the fact that the only country ever to use nuclear weapons to incinerate other human beings was the most homogenously Christian: the United States of America, lead by Harry Truman?
Truman, the son of devout Southern Baptists, used not one, but two atomic bombs to vaporize civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, despite Japan's repeated attempts to negotiate a surrender.
Religious fanaticism was the catalyst for the 9/11 attack, resulting in two wars, hundreds of thousands killed or wounded, and nearly two trillion in spending. And oh yeah, how about the prospect of a nuclear Iran? As the late Chris Hitchens once asked, "Would you prefer a Middle East that's Muslim, or atheist?"
Next time that red button is flashing, would you prefer reason to prevail -- or should we all just say a prayer and hope for the best?
Stanislav Petrov did not pray. He didn't seek the divine guidance of a supreme being. Directly in front of him a red button flashed. If pushed, it would initiate a chain of events possibly resulting in global thermonuclear war. Despite the iron-like indoctrination of two decades of Soviet military service, Petrov correctly reasoned that the incoming warheads were an anomaly; not nuclear armageddon unleashed by an old Cold War nemesis, but a glitch in the Soviet early-warning system.
Choosing reason, Petrov derailed the nuclear train careening out of control; calling a dead halt to an escalation of events that could've obliterated all life on this planet. Turns out he was right. The incident was triggered by a confused Soviet satellite, erroneously identifying sunlight reflected from clouds, as a spate of incoming missiles.
I first learned of Stanislav Petrov -- and our close brush with nuclear annihilation -- on a segment of C-SPAN's Book TV. An author was giving a sobering, though disturbing presentation on the inevitability of a nuclear mishap. The thing that really sent a chill down my spine, was the author's query: "What if it were up to Michele Bachmann to decide whether or not to push the button?"
Michele Bachmann -- who unabashedly told the world that despite strong feelings to the contrary -- heeded Jesus Christ's command to marry her husband and become a tax attorney. Religion vs. reason?
After a sleepless night, I posted the following on my Facebook page . . .
I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever's making the decision to understand that once it's pushed, it's over. Finito. They're not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won't be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn't just a dress rehearsal for something better -- but the only shot we get.
Are you comfortable with the idea of someone who believes they receive career advice directly from Jesus Christ having access to the nuclear launch codes? What if the connection proved to be fuzzy? Someone who doesn't believe in evolution, but does believe in the biblical prophecy of Armageddon -- and that THEY might just be God's "chosen one" to kick things off?
How about the fact that the only country ever to use nuclear weapons to incinerate other human beings was the most homogenously Christian: the United States of America, lead by Harry Truman?
Truman, the son of devout Southern Baptists, used not one, but two atomic bombs to vaporize civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, despite Japan's repeated attempts to negotiate a surrender.
Religious fanaticism was the catalyst for the 9/11 attack, resulting in two wars, hundreds of thousands killed or wounded, and nearly two trillion in spending. And oh yeah, how about the prospect of a nuclear Iran? As the late Chris Hitchens once asked, "Would you prefer a Middle East that's Muslim, or atheist?"
Next time that red button is flashing, would you prefer reason to prevail -- or should we all just say a prayer and hope for the best?
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The two greatest threats to the world are religous fanaticism, and unbridled corporate greed (and not necessarily in that order).
I agree, and I do believe they are working together to do whatever the hell they desire on this planet... all of us be damned, so to speak.
But... and there's always a but, isn't there? I believe that for every deranged politician with the potential to make it to the hot seat where they could push that button, are a hundredfold men in business suits, devoid of any true belief in anything but the Almighty Dollar, influencing, controlling, manipulating and coercing those weak-minded zealots into doing exactly as they wish. The idea that the decision to push the button is coming from their beloved Savior is simply a feeble way of convincing themselves that they have some control, that their actions are tied to something more worthy and somehow good, even if it will only be understood in the after-life. It’s their last-ditch effort to feel that they are still good, still human.
The people who are in these positions of power, behind the scenes and in front, are ultimately slaves to the hunger for accolades and domination, and will do anything necessary to obtain it. Putting the face of God on top of it is nothing more than a justification to either satisfy the masses or to persuade themselves that they aren't as despicable as they seem. The rush of obtaining supremacy eclipses any real belief in a higher power or a sacred book. That’s just a tool they use; a means to an end.
Growing up in a world of religious tradition, I have seen those who use & abuse their power in the name of God. I have been a victim of their egomaniacal psychopathy, and I truly despise them. But, as much as I want to label all of them as idiots and manipulators for their God, I can't dismiss the many, many examples of compassion, empathy, and love that so many of them exemplify in their ordinary, imperfect lives. I can't agree with their dogma, or with many of the decisions they make about political issues, but I greatly admire their unshakeable core which opens them up with vulnerable hearts and embraces others with their humanity. This is where I learned it, after all.
This is the kind of person who could not bear to press that red button, not unless they knew for an absolute surety that it was clear and present danger to those they loved. Religious people do not hold the market on love and compassion, but their superstitious & backwards beliefs do not make them any less human than those of us who aren't under the influence of religion. The majority of us are, deep within us, simply humans trying to make sense of this insane world that is around us. Most of us didn't build this world, but it is up to us to change it. It's our responsibility, somehow, impossibly, to stop those psychopathic, inhuman persons who did build it and will continue to suck the rest of us dry, all the while justifying their degenerate actions within their own sick minds.
No, I would not want Sarah Palin sitting there, but I wouldn't want a VP from a big oil corporation there either. They'd find some way to exploit the situation for their own gain. I would rather that a real, emotional human being sit there who know how to rely on his own knowledge and intuition to whisper to him "No, this isn't what it seems and there's too much at stake". I'd like someone just like Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov sitting there. Wouldn’t you?