The Doomsday Clock and 24
Victoria Hardy
Victoria Hardy is the drummer for the pop duo 3 Feet Up. She lives in
North Carolina with her husband, who is also the other half of the duo
and they are currently recording their second CD. 3 Feet Up was
featured in the Living Room Live Series on the CBS Early Show in July
of 2006.
Victoria Hardy
January 18, 2007
The Doomsday Clock is said to be clicking closer to midnight, what
dismal imagery these words create. According to an article in USA Today
(Usatoday.com) The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was created as a
newsletter in 1945 by a group of nuclear physicists concerned about
nuclear war, the Doomsday Clock came into being in 1947 with midnight
representing widespread nuclear conflict. The clock has moved 18 times
in the years since, coming closest to midnight, just two minutes shy,
after the United States successfully tested the first hydrogen bomb in
1953. In 1991 the clock was 17 minutes away from striking midnight at
the end of the Cold War. Now the clock is poised at 11:55 and the
threat comes not just from nuclear weapons, but climate change.
An article in Boston.com (Boston.com) quotes the board of director of
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, as saying "We stand at the brink of
a second nuclear age." North Korea's test of nuclear weapons over the
summer, Iran's nuclear ambitions and the continuing presence of
American and Russian nuclear weapons are some of the reasons they cite
for moving the clock. Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and a
member of the bulletin's board of sponsors told reporters, "We
foresee great peril if governments and societies do not take action now
to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate
change."
As I was reading these articles, the science fiction geek in me drawn
like a magnet to the word Doomsday, I couldn't help but reflect back
on the advertisements aired for FOX's hit show 24 last night. While
watching Season 6 of American Idol, every other commercial break showed
scenes of a mushroom cloud rising over an American city. I'm not a
fan of 24 and I understand that there are millions of people perched on
the edge of their seats to watch Jack Bauer save the world each week,
but with the Doomsday Clock ticking forward, is it really responsible
to show America huddled under an nuclear cloud?
In an AP poll released New Years Day, 6 in 10 of those questioned felt
that 2007 would be the year that we would see an attack on home soil in
the form of nuclear or biological weapons. And then with God being kind
enough to warn Pat Robertson of the upcoming death of millions, it
seems we are preparing ourselves for the inevitable. A movie released
over the summer, justly banned from theaters in the US as being
irresponsible, depicted the killing of an American president, but is
showing image after image of mushroom clouds during prime time any
better?
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewByAuthor.asp?authorID=1390
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