{"id":94806,"date":"2017-07-03T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=94806"},"modified":"2017-07-01T14:42:07","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T13:42:07","slug":"on-the-mainstream-media-coverage-of-nuclear-war-risks-and-nuclear-abolition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/07\/on-the-mainstream-media-coverage-of-nuclear-war-risks-and-nuclear-abolition\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Mainstream Media Coverage of Nuclear War Risks and Nuclear Abolition"},"content":{"rendered":"

30 Jun 2017 – <\/em>You\u2019re probably an avid consumer of news and reports in one or more daily media \u2013 local, national or global. You want to be well-informed and say interesting things when you meet friends and colleagues.<\/p>\n

And you certainly don\u2019t want to find out that you\u2019ve been taken for a ride by fake news, half-truths, bias or omissions by media that you trusted because you thought you could.<\/p>\n

Now ask yourself whether you remember to have seen one or more of these essentially important initiatives and reports recently, all pertaining to nuclear weapons, the risk of nuclear war and advocacy of nuclear abolition:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>) That a large majority of UN members have drafted a treaty that shall declare nuclear weapons illegal, once and for all?
\nIf not, go here<\/a> and enlighten yourself on one of the most constructive and visionary initiatives in today\u2019s otherwise gloomy world situation.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>) That a conference is taking place these very days about that goal and its process?
\nIf not, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>) That a scary new film shows why Americans should be very nervous about nuclear arsenals?
\nIf not, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong>) That the Marshall Islands filed a lawsuit against all 9 nuclear weapons states for failing to comply with their international legal obligations?
\nIf not, go here<\/a> and see how the smallest actor of all took responsibility on behalf of 7 billion people.<\/p>\n

5<\/strong>) That the Nuclear Crisis Group advocates \u2013 just a couple of days ago \u2013 that steps be taken urgently to de-escalate nuclear flash point such as NATO-Russia and North Korea?
\nIt consists of predominantly former nuclear weapons commanders, ambassadors and scholars, mostly American
\nIf not, go here<\/a> \u2013 this report has not be mention by one single mainstream\/make-believe media!<\/em><\/p>\n

6<\/strong>) That there is an open letter written to Trump and Putin, meeting in Hamburg soon, urging them to declare that a nuclear war can\u2019t be won and must never be fought and to cooperate on a series of other issues?
\nIf not, go here<\/a> \u2013 they are politicians, ministers and ambassadors from the US, Russia, Germany and England.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How many of these had you any knowledge about?<\/p>\n

How prominently do you think they were featured if you saw them in the mainstream media \u2013 given their importance for the very survival of humankind?<\/p>\n

If there were more than one or two you had never heard about, consider this:<\/p>\n

They all involve NATO countries which possess the far majority of the world\u2019s nuclear weapons. NATO is an alliance that is built on the right to use nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

There has never been a referendum<\/em> about the desirability of nuclear weapons in any of the countries \u2013 also not those who call themselves democracies \u2013 that have acquired nuclear weapons. One must assume the reason to be that most normal citizens would not like to be \u201cdefended\u201d by nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tiny minority of countries, most of them NATO members who have nuclear arsenals. Many more countries have decided to never acquire nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say that there are about 100 people in each of the nuclear countries who decide on whether or not to use nuclear weapons in a given situation \u2013 thus around 1000 people. It\u2019s the largest concentration of power ever in human history \u2013 a God-like power to decide whether or not human beings worldwide shall continue to exist, or not.<\/p>\n

In short, non-constituted, dictatorial and non-democratic<\/em>. No one should be given the power to decide about the existence or destruction of 7 billion people. No political goal can justify it.<\/p>\n

And finally ask yourself: Why do most of these so-called \u2018leading\u2019 media systematically ignore these issues today? Why is it that any sex scandal or details of the Cosby trial is more important? What should be our priorities?<\/p>\n

Would it not be natural for them to provide public education and offer a fair hearing of the pros and contras of nuclear weapons and the whole mental and societal construction underlying these weapons \u2013 the nuclearism<\/em> of our times?<\/p>\n

Admittedly, I\u2019ve got a nasty hunch: If citizens around the world were given free press balanced information instead of being kept in the dark, there would be a much stronger worldwide movement for the abolition of each and every nuclear device anywhere.<\/p>\n

Further, thanks to humanity\u2019s civilisational process these Evil weapons would be condemned and\/or thrown on the heap of history as other evil constructs: slavery, cannibalism, absolute monarchy, dictatorships, child labour, pedophilia \u2013 and we would begin to question whether the exact same should not be done to non-nuclear weapons and wars too.<\/p>\n

In the name of ethics, humanity, common sense and civilisation. The US $ 100 billion which are spent annually on nuclear weapons systems alone could be allocated to alleviating human suffering.<\/p>\n

Top editors of the \u2018leading\u2019 media look to what they believe would sell on the \u2013 shrinking \u2013 market. If they served humanity\u2019s 7 billion instead of about 1000 masters of (nuclear) war they might well get more readers and sell more subscriptions and be seen by citizens as a force for the common good, not an integral part of MIMAC \u2013 the Military-Industrial-MEDIA-Academic Complex \u2013 that runs all these wars.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know I\u2019m just using the main argument of the Zeitgeist<\/em>: the market and what will sell and yield a profit to shareholders.<\/p>\n

If media people would think in terms of common sense, ethics and civil courage too and give us diverse, balanced and critical coverage of nuclear war risks, so much the better! Until then, bless the struggling independent truth-seeking media on the Internet!<\/p>\n

Make-believe coverage of the feasibility or legitimacy of nuclear weapons and war as well as omissions of the nuclear facts of our daily lives contributes to increasing that very risk \u2013 the risk of the unthinkable: the end of humanity and the world as we know it.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>TFF Director Prof. Jan Oberg is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 transnational.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 Jun 2017 – Ask yourself whether you remember to have seen one or more of these essentially important initiatives and reports recently, all pertaining to nuclear weapons, the risk of nuclear war and advocacy of nuclear abolition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}