Protect and Survive

[JDFP]

All our wonderful talks recently regarding nuclear war have led me back to re-watching the great British "Protect and Survive" series (you can find most of these on Youtube). These were a series of "public service announcement" films made in Britain during the early 80's that were to be played within the 2-3 days prior what was to be classified as an "immanent nuclear attack" on the U.K. (see the great British film "Threads" for more on this, it was the British version of "The Day After" made in '84). It's a shame we didn't have something like this here in the U.S. Here's one of the videos... Of course, this video is laughable but still scares the shit out of me (mostly the music at the end of it, it freaks me the hell out, man). In most of these videos they stress the importance of "keeping your radio near you at all times for important radio announcements AFTER the attack". What they don't tell you is that it's pointless to do so -- because THERE WON'T BE ANY RADIO TOWERS STILL STANDING OR OPERATING after a nuclear war! I also really get a kick out of the nonchalant way in which the video addresses the death of people. "Oh dear, grandma just died, let's wrap her in the blankets and put a tag around her body with name and address for the authorities when they arrive!". It's highly disturbing and almost laughable to think that there would be any authorities still around to concern themselves with ONE dead body with the millions of other bodies still around (the ones that didn't get incinerated by the flash). "The radio will advise you what to do about taking the body away for burial" -- guess what? No it won't! Because there won't be any radio, chief! Anyway, these videos both crack me up and at the same time scare me (nervous laughter, if that makes sense?). I guess they were an important tool if necessary to be used in the early 80's had a nuclear war taken place to keep people from completely panicking during an "immanent nuclear attack". I gotta say though, the music at the end of these things... man, that music really gets to me. I think it's intended to be scary though. j.p.

[Rancid Carcass]

It's like some weird Fallout 3 DLC.

[Eyebiter]

Here in America a famous cartoon called 'Duck and Cover' was used to indoctrinate US elementary students on Atomic War.

[shootemindehead]

I watched the 'Atomic Cafe' last week and it's staggering the amount of propaganda the US put about re: Atomic weaponry in the 50's. Even more worrying were the senators openly adovcating the use of such weapons in the Korean war! Thank god the Russians had the bomb as well, that's all I can say.

[Legion2213]

The UK had the highest concentration of targets per square mile than any other place on the planet, in the event of a full scale nuclear war ("nookular combat, toe to toe with the Rooskies" as Slim Pickens would say) we would've been horribly fucked. I love Patrick Allens voice over for the Protect and Survive films BTW, he had a shouty authority about him.

[JDFP]

Here in America a famous cartoon called 'Duck and Cover' was used to indoctrinate US elementary students on Atomic War. Absolutely brilliant. "Duck and cover!" -- that way when the nuclear strike comes and the blast from the nuclear explosion comes you'll be lying in a semi-fetal position for the blast to consume you. Fantastic. If you are lucky you'll be within a good 10 mile radius of the nuclear explosion so you'll be one of the lucky ones to go "fast with the flash" and be disintegrated before you knew what happened (and damn straight I'd call that lucky during a nuclear war considering the alternatives of dying from the fire or radiation sickness). If you're not, you'll probably be consumed by the nuclear fire if you're within a good 25 mile radius or so (depending upon the yield of the nuclear warhead that struck -- and they become more powerful all the time). Look on the bright side, if you're within a good 50 mile or so radius of a nuclear explosion (or 100 plus miles depending upon the yield of it) you may survive the initial blast just to die from radiation exposure within a week or so of the initial blast. Good times... you get to see your hair and teeth fall out with bleeding blisters on your body while you are profusely vomiting any intake of food you attempt to ingest before you die from the sickness. Good times! Talk about getting to survive the worst of it for a pleasant surprise! "It isn't fair! I had all the time I wanted and needed!" What they don't show you in "The Twilight Zone" episode is Burgess Meredith's character showing the early stages of radiation sickness or what it would ultimately do to him. Take that episode out a few more weeks (if he didn't die from thirst first) and watch how it slowly wrecks his body and ultimately kills him from extreme pain... It all comes down to this: I am fortunate enough to live 25 miles from Oak Ridge, TN. If I find out that a nuclear war is about to take place -- my ass is going with a bottle of vodka to Lockheed-Martin or the Y-12 nuclear power plant in Oak Ridge as quickly as I can get there. If I'm going to die in a nuclear war, by God, I want to be one of the fortunate ones to quickly go with the flash. This pleasant and enjoyable post has been brought to you by j.p. j.p.

[MoonSylver]

("nookular combat, toe to toe with the Rooskies" as Slim Pickens would say) I tell you something else, if this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. Legion, you're a-ok buddy.

[Publius]

What they don't tell you is that it's pointless to do so -- because THERE WON'T BE ANY RADIO TOWERS STILL STANDING OR OPERATING after a nuclear war! Depends on how many warheads are dropped on the UK. Radio towers are often located outside of cities on mountains or hills, and don't have much of a cross-section, so there'd likely be quite a few standing. The question is 1) whether there'd be any functional transmitters, and 2) whether there'd be any audience. I'm sure they figured they might as well be prepared for a scenario where the Russkies opt for a counter-force strike rather than attempting to wipe out the entire population. There'd still be widespread death and destruction, but most of the population would still be alive and in need of organization to prevent societal collapse. Most transmitters and receivers would likely be affected by EMP. Maybe the civil defense authorities had emergency vacuum tube radio sets or Faraday-shielded sets, and hoped there'd be enough functional receivers scattered around to disseminate news.

[BillyRay]

That Protect & Survive clip reminds me of the Look Around You series:

[bassman]

Those videos are scary and funny at the same time. They remind of these videos and safety meetings our company had to have for government jobs after 9/11. They were on terrorism and basically the point of the video was that EVERYONE is a terrorist. I can't seem to find it online, but it's quite funny. "If you notice a white van with no markings or windows....it's probably a terrorist. Contact authorities." "You see that dark skinned man carrying a backpack into a building? He's probably a terrorist." The sad part is that i'm not really exagerating....

[Mitchified]

Those videos are scary and funny at the same time. They remind of these videos and safety meetings our company had to have for government jobs after 9/11. They were on terrorism and basically the point of the video was that EVERYONE is a terrorist. I can't seem to find it online, but it's quite funny. "If you notice a white van with no markings or windows....it's probably a terrorist. Contact authorities." "You see that dark skinned man carrying a backpack into a building? He's probably a terrorist." The sad part is that i'm not really exagerating.... See, where I work, none of that would be considered terrorism. It would be sexual harassment. Because apparently everything constitutes sexual harassment.

[Tricky]

The sad part is that i'm not really exagerating.... And even more sad is that this was less than 10 years ago in our supposedly "enlightened" times.

[blind2d]

Indeed... I mean, it's good to be cautious, but... geez, this just gets silly. That turtle Burt was cool, though. Yeah, "Duck and Cover" had me laughing... then I got really sad because I remembered Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

[JDFP]

then I got really sad because I remembered Hiroshima and Nagasaki... j.p.

[MikePizzoff]

One of my favorite UK punk bands had a great track called 'Protest And Survive', which I'm fairly certain is in reference to all the nuclear shit going on back then. I won't let it pass me by I don't wanna fuckin' die Don't want a bomb in the streets Don't wanna die in the streets Obviously not the smartest lyrics ever, but they certainly get the point across.