Black Hole Sun
13 years ago
Monday, March 30, 2009
"Duck and Cover" (Civil Defense Film from early 1950's)
It may difficult for you to take this seriously, but at the time, the Soviet atomic threat was frighteningly real. School children viewed this government sponsored across the country. Can you imagine living in the midst of such paranoia? In your opinion what value would there be for the students to see this?
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9 comments:
I thought this video was very interesting. Although it may have some good points about ducking and covering yourself, you could still be burned up, thrown against a wall hard enough to be killed, never be found, or even blinded by the fierce and intense light. Anyways, I thought it was a good video for the 1950s.
William Finch
Did the U.S. goverment know the Russian military had Atomic Bombs or was this an assumption?
Henry A.
That video was interesting because it showed the fear of communism, anarchist, spies and fifth columnists, and of possible nuclear warfare. Honestly i dont think that the video was very helpful because 1 you would most likely be blown away by the explosion and 2 if you somehow survived the actual nuke then the radioactivity in the area would prove terribly damaging or lethal.
Nick
P.S: Last post which didnt have a name was mine
Henry,
The Soviets tested an atomic bomb in 1949, so yes, we knew they had one.
I wonder whether the people in the government responsible for the contenct of the film knew the extent to which the advice they gave was worthless as a defense. Could they possibly have given advice to make people feel more secure? If people can't do anything productive in the face of a nuclear attack, would it be better for them to freak out and run amok, or simply to duck, cover, and await their demise?
i thought the government was just trying to calm everyone down. After all, we had nuclear bombs and we knew that if you ducked and covered you still would of died. I think it is a feeble attempt on the Governments behalf.
Christian Frediani
I look back at this and laugh, but when I think about it, people really didn't know how to protect against an atomic attack. The main reason I think was to give people, especially kids, a peace of mind.
Stuart - 1st period
Mr. Abts has an interesting point too.
Stuart - 1st period
This video looked as if it taught everyone to be safe if an atomic bomb hit. But really, hiding under a desk or lying down on the ground wouldn't protect you. I think this made the public feel safe if a bomb hit but actually, they wouldn't be very safe. If a house was knocked down and you were under a desk, you'd either die or you would get stuck under all of the debris. How would you survive then? No food, no water, and you would probably have a lot of cuts. You could die of loss of blood if you had a big cut. I don't think that the government got the people ready for an atomic bomb attack.
FF 6
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