Fellow children of the 80s, read this and say it with me: “No shit, Sherlock.” 1980s pop culture was all about impending, inevitable nuclear doom. Tom Nichols at The Atlantic: I Want My Mutually Assured Destruction
I have a vivid memory – cir. 1983, so I’d’ve been 14 – walking into the room while Reagan was on the TV & asking my grandmother if he’d announced the war with Russia had started. I didn’t think there’d be any other reason for him to be on in the middle of the day.
I remember a (delusional) sense of relief when the Soviet Union broke up. There was just enough of the weight of that dread finally lifting. I think this is why these constant existential threats don’t send me into a panic. It was always going to happen.