Scott. Your example is indeed highly motivational and a rallying point for all who seek global peace and security. I respect your courage, perseverance and integrity.
I am immensely grateful to you, Scott (If I may address you by your first name. And even if I may NOT, ain't shit you can do about it ANYWAY! 😡🤬😊🧡🌷) for your decades-long attempt to save our [probably unworthy] asses. I'm in my mid-'70s, and have come to the conclusion that we are still in what I call "The Barbaric Age."
In fact, I am 100% convinced, that, in the future, on the first day of a history class, at a high school, in the year 4275 CE, the period of human history from homosapiens to the year 2955 CE will be called, "The Barbaric Age" in the history books of the future. Of course, as you can see, this year--the year 2026--is WITHIN "The Barbaric Age." Nuclear weapons??!! With the capability of wiping out ALL LIFE ON EARTH--plant, insect, animal, and human?! I mean, what the FUCK??!!
In short, we're STILL fucking barbarians. And, again, BELIEVE ME, in the future this year that we are living in now will be a year of "The Barbaric Age."
For ME (to be honest), as a so-called "African-American," although I might LIKE to give Pappa (Pope) John Paul II some creds, AIN'T HAPPENING. Sorry [No I ain't]. I don't know how he can escape carrying, on his shoulders, the legacy of Pappa (Pope) Nicholas V, who, in TWO Papal Bulls,
gave his official "blessings" on, and approval of, THE SLAVE TRADE. When you tell me that you're "The Representative of God on Earth," then, at the SAME TIME, take a group of people--Africans--some 7,700 miles away from their homes; have their TONGUES cut out of their months, pickled, put in jars, and placed on your mantels for souvenirs as punishment for their speaking their native languages--then NOT ONLY are you NOT the "Representative of God on Earth," you ALSO are not "The Representative of Satan on Earth," because even SATAN wouldn't do some extremely horrifying shit like that.
The Papacy--at least as I recall--is actually on record of APOLOGIZING to the Jews for the hundreds of years of persecution they suffered under Pappa. But that Papacy ain't apologized ONE IOTA for what they did in enslaving the ancestors of Black folks of the diaspora. Well, for ME, such an "apology" wouldn't mean shit anyway.
Needless to say, I left Christianity on April 5th, 1968 [the day after Doc King got whacked] after having spent 14 years--from nursery school through high school--within the Catholic system. Imagine how I felt when, in 1968, I first learned that Pappa Nicholas had written TWO Papal Bull[shits] giving the Portugese his official CATHOLIC/CHRISTIAN approval to enslave my people.
"Travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who treated the Prophets as liars." (Qur'an).
Yeah....That's right. How much longer COULD Western "civilization" have been expected to last, hum? You don't committ unspeakable, HORRENDOUS crimes, for some 500 years (for the Church of Rome, even MUCH longer) and then have the brazen audacity to think that there ain't no payback comeing. Western "civilization" AIN'T CHANGED. It's still murdering its way all over the fucking planet, with a PEDOPHILE in charge--our "Pedophile-in-Chief," Donald J. Trump.
I don't want to die with my FACE melted. Yet, on the other hand, how much MORE are human beings expected to take when even the West's RELIGION is DEAD? (Was it EVER alive??)
Well, nevertheless, GOOD LUCK, my man, on your efforts!! (I LOVE your story about how you helped "the brothers" in prison, after establishing yourself in basketball. May Almighty Allah Bless you and keep you, forever and EVEN forever. Ameen. And I mean that!! YOU are GOLD!!!!!)
Obviously, I just had to get this shit off my chest. Sorry [No I ain't.]
One more thing, however unbelievable this may sound. I am a FOUNDING FATHERS PATRIOT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. But in the sense that they told the European Monarchies, "You motherf***ers BEST keep yo asses in Europe!!" And they told Pappa, "You'd BEST keep yo ass behind the walls of the Vatican!!!"
Although Washington & Jeffreson had slaves, the Founding Fathers, within only 89 years (1776-1865) destroyed an institution--slavery--that had been on this planet for ELEVEN-THOUSAND (11,000). years. Now, THAT'S some remarkable shit!!
Anyway, I just wanted to get that straight. I ain't against my country. I'm against the ASSHOLE MOTHERFUCKERS THAT HAVE HIJACKED WHO THE FOUNDING FATHERS PAVED THE WAY FOR US TO BE!! (I wish, in fact, that you could assemble some of your Special Forces friends and FIX this shit!!!)
I dare say all us kids who lived through the cold war, duck & cover, Cuban Missiles, CONALRAD, Fallout shelters, pics of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, wanted nuke treaties and experienced a day or a childhood with moments like yours. Today the memory of that or of general war has faded and it makes us dangerous.
Agree with most of your statement however “All” us kids who lived thru those tenuous years do not agree with the idea of Peace Treaties Alas, Washington! Otherwise there’d be much more informed educated public which did not fall prey to MAGA nonsense/lies.
A great and sobering story- how do we even begin a new chapter of arms control when trust and verify is an essential component. How can Russia trust anything that comes from our government?
Thank you Scott. An illuminating and personal yet universal story of fear of nuclear annihilation.
I remember growing up in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis and seeing for the first time army vehicles on the streets and it hitting me personally that this actually could be the end of the world. Many years later I learned about the "man who saved the world" on 27 October 1962, Vasily Arkhipov. And that Soviet missiles in Cuba were in partial response to U.S. missiles being stationed in Turkey.
It must have been in the 1950th, when I became an active member of an environmental organisation in Switzerland, and someone gave us a speech about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We had seen a lot of pictures from Germany or even gone there.
But the destruction of the Japanese cities and the number of dead was staggering. That's a lot of my friends, and I became opposed to nuclear weapons, and then later against nuclear power plants too.
It is absolutely necessary that there is a control system, and even more important, a reduction and then a total ban on all nuclear weapons.
We also need a stop to building new nuclear reactors. The main reason is that no nuclear reactor ever built made a cent of profit, if the cost for the safekeeping of the highly radioactive waste for the next 100 000 years is put into the equation.
Also, the high possibility of accidents with the release of radioactive materials.
Mr Ritter, you do write very well. This essay seriously moved me. As a European fella slightly older than yourself I remember those games we had to play in West Germany during the 1970's when stationed there. One of my jobs? To plot nuclear detonations and estimate yield and wind speed/direction on the battlefield. It's something you don't ever forget.
Thank you for this essay, Scott. But I must point out that "arms control" is an ultimate expression of Russophobia - if you understood the progress of arms build-up, every time the U.S. taking the initiative in each stage, followed by Russia matching, you could see that arms control WORLD WIDE could be achieved by unilateral U.S. disarming of nuclear weapons systems. I will flesh out this topic in my next post, so subscribe and it will be ready in a few days.
It has to be recognized now in retrospect, that the "Soviet Threat" was a fabricated warmongering.
The Soviet Union NEVER had the intention to attack the West. It was the West who relentlessly pictured the Soviet Union as an "Evil Enemy wanting to attack the West".
The Brutal attack against the USSR, killing close to 30 Million (!!!!!!) humans, forced the USSR to defensively counter-act and push back German Brutality back to Berlin.
In 1952 the USSR offered to withdraw from East Europe, with certain conditions. The USA rejected that offer (as they have already placed their aggressive weapons into West Europe).
So the USSR did not withdraw in fear of a potential Western attack.
The proof of that Soviet initiative was the Agreement to withdraw from Austria, based on an Agreement with the Allied Forces signed in 1955, called the Austrian State Treaty.
Of course ... propaganda can turn things around and make "Black look White".
It is so very sad!
The USA continues this "Reverse Projection of Threat" to this day.
Scott. Your example is indeed highly motivational and a rallying point for all who seek global peace and security. I respect your courage, perseverance and integrity.
Carry on dear Friend.
And God Bless
Another case when Soviets played responsibly, while being provoked.
I am immensely grateful to you, Scott (If I may address you by your first name. And even if I may NOT, ain't shit you can do about it ANYWAY! 😡🤬😊🧡🌷) for your decades-long attempt to save our [probably unworthy] asses. I'm in my mid-'70s, and have come to the conclusion that we are still in what I call "The Barbaric Age."
In fact, I am 100% convinced, that, in the future, on the first day of a history class, at a high school, in the year 4275 CE, the period of human history from homosapiens to the year 2955 CE will be called, "The Barbaric Age" in the history books of the future. Of course, as you can see, this year--the year 2026--is WITHIN "The Barbaric Age." Nuclear weapons??!! With the capability of wiping out ALL LIFE ON EARTH--plant, insect, animal, and human?! I mean, what the FUCK??!!
In short, we're STILL fucking barbarians. And, again, BELIEVE ME, in the future this year that we are living in now will be a year of "The Barbaric Age."
For ME (to be honest), as a so-called "African-American," although I might LIKE to give Pappa (Pope) John Paul II some creds, AIN'T HAPPENING. Sorry [No I ain't]. I don't know how he can escape carrying, on his shoulders, the legacy of Pappa (Pope) Nicholas V, who, in TWO Papal Bulls,
DUM DIVERSAS
https://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2011/02/dum-diversas-english-translation.html
and
ROMANUS PONTIFEX
https://www.papalencyclicals.net/nichol05/romanus-pontifex.htm
gave his official "blessings" on, and approval of, THE SLAVE TRADE. When you tell me that you're "The Representative of God on Earth," then, at the SAME TIME, take a group of people--Africans--some 7,700 miles away from their homes; have their TONGUES cut out of their months, pickled, put in jars, and placed on your mantels for souvenirs as punishment for their speaking their native languages--then NOT ONLY are you NOT the "Representative of God on Earth," you ALSO are not "The Representative of Satan on Earth," because even SATAN wouldn't do some extremely horrifying shit like that.
The Papacy--at least as I recall--is actually on record of APOLOGIZING to the Jews for the hundreds of years of persecution they suffered under Pappa. But that Papacy ain't apologized ONE IOTA for what they did in enslaving the ancestors of Black folks of the diaspora. Well, for ME, such an "apology" wouldn't mean shit anyway.
Needless to say, I left Christianity on April 5th, 1968 [the day after Doc King got whacked] after having spent 14 years--from nursery school through high school--within the Catholic system. Imagine how I felt when, in 1968, I first learned that Pappa Nicholas had written TWO Papal Bull[shits] giving the Portugese his official CATHOLIC/CHRISTIAN approval to enslave my people.
"Travel through the earth and see what was the end of those who treated the Prophets as liars." (Qur'an).
Yeah....That's right. How much longer COULD Western "civilization" have been expected to last, hum? You don't committ unspeakable, HORRENDOUS crimes, for some 500 years (for the Church of Rome, even MUCH longer) and then have the brazen audacity to think that there ain't no payback comeing. Western "civilization" AIN'T CHANGED. It's still murdering its way all over the fucking planet, with a PEDOPHILE in charge--our "Pedophile-in-Chief," Donald J. Trump.
I don't want to die with my FACE melted. Yet, on the other hand, how much MORE are human beings expected to take when even the West's RELIGION is DEAD? (Was it EVER alive??)
Well, nevertheless, GOOD LUCK, my man, on your efforts!! (I LOVE your story about how you helped "the brothers" in prison, after establishing yourself in basketball. May Almighty Allah Bless you and keep you, forever and EVEN forever. Ameen. And I mean that!! YOU are GOLD!!!!!)
Obviously, I just had to get this shit off my chest. Sorry [No I ain't.]
One more thing, however unbelievable this may sound. I am a FOUNDING FATHERS PATRIOT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. But in the sense that they told the European Monarchies, "You motherf***ers BEST keep yo asses in Europe!!" And they told Pappa, "You'd BEST keep yo ass behind the walls of the Vatican!!!"
Although Washington & Jeffreson had slaves, the Founding Fathers, within only 89 years (1776-1865) destroyed an institution--slavery--that had been on this planet for ELEVEN-THOUSAND (11,000). years. Now, THAT'S some remarkable shit!!
Anyway, I just wanted to get that straight. I ain't against my country. I'm against the ASSHOLE MOTHERFUCKERS THAT HAVE HIJACKED WHO THE FOUNDING FATHERS PAVED THE WAY FOR US TO BE!! (I wish, in fact, that you could assemble some of your Special Forces friends and FIX this shit!!!)
I dare say all us kids who lived through the cold war, duck & cover, Cuban Missiles, CONALRAD, Fallout shelters, pics of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, wanted nuke treaties and experienced a day or a childhood with moments like yours. Today the memory of that or of general war has faded and it makes us dangerous.
Agree with most of your statement however “All” us kids who lived thru those tenuous years do not agree with the idea of Peace Treaties Alas, Washington! Otherwise there’d be much more informed educated public which did not fall prey to MAGA nonsense/lies.
Not MAGA. It is Neocon. And when a society has not endured real war it loses its fear or war.
Not MAGA only nor Neocon only. It's just plain apple-pie American. Have a look at history -- no "informed educated public" at any time.
Thank you for your work, Mr. Ritter!
“Alas, Babylon” and “On the Beach.”
A great and sobering story- how do we even begin a new chapter of arms control when trust and verify is an essential component. How can Russia trust anything that comes from our government?
"They say you cant trust people. Sure you can. You can trust them to do what they've always done."
Thank you Scott. An illuminating and personal yet universal story of fear of nuclear annihilation.
I remember growing up in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis and seeing for the first time army vehicles on the streets and it hitting me personally that this actually could be the end of the world. Many years later I learned about the "man who saved the world" on 27 October 1962, Vasily Arkhipov. And that Soviet missiles in Cuba were in partial response to U.S. missiles being stationed in Turkey.
Was für ein guter Autor.
Gruß aus Deutschland.
Dem stimme ich voll zu!
It must have been in the 1950th, when I became an active member of an environmental organisation in Switzerland, and someone gave us a speech about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We had seen a lot of pictures from Germany or even gone there.
But the destruction of the Japanese cities and the number of dead was staggering. That's a lot of my friends, and I became opposed to nuclear weapons, and then later against nuclear power plants too.
It is absolutely necessary that there is a control system, and even more important, a reduction and then a total ban on all nuclear weapons.
We also need a stop to building new nuclear reactors. The main reason is that no nuclear reactor ever built made a cent of profit, if the cost for the safekeeping of the highly radioactive waste for the next 100 000 years is put into the equation.
Also, the high possibility of accidents with the release of radioactive materials.
They have a 2nd purpose I suspect, of being used to destroy the area if the citizens want their govt back.
Mr Ritter, you do write very well. This essay seriously moved me. As a European fella slightly older than yourself I remember those games we had to play in West Germany during the 1970's when stationed there. One of my jobs? To plot nuclear detonations and estimate yield and wind speed/direction on the battlefield. It's something you don't ever forget.
My favorite book growing up
Thank you for this essay, Scott. But I must point out that "arms control" is an ultimate expression of Russophobia - if you understood the progress of arms build-up, every time the U.S. taking the initiative in each stage, followed by Russia matching, you could see that arms control WORLD WIDE could be achieved by unilateral U.S. disarming of nuclear weapons systems. I will flesh out this topic in my next post, so subscribe and it will be ready in a few days.
It has to be recognized now in retrospect, that the "Soviet Threat" was a fabricated warmongering.
The Soviet Union NEVER had the intention to attack the West. It was the West who relentlessly pictured the Soviet Union as an "Evil Enemy wanting to attack the West".
The Brutal attack against the USSR, killing close to 30 Million (!!!!!!) humans, forced the USSR to defensively counter-act and push back German Brutality back to Berlin.
In 1952 the USSR offered to withdraw from East Europe, with certain conditions. The USA rejected that offer (as they have already placed their aggressive weapons into West Europe).
So the USSR did not withdraw in fear of a potential Western attack.
The proof of that Soviet initiative was the Agreement to withdraw from Austria, based on an Agreement with the Allied Forces signed in 1955, called the Austrian State Treaty.
Of course ... propaganda can turn things around and make "Black look White".
It is so very sad!
The USA continues this "Reverse Projection of Threat" to this day.
DECEITFUL BRUTAL IGNORANCE!
Now it's "Alas, Trump".
😀 😃