How much do you know about the Cold War? As a student in the UK, before the second half of this academic year all I knew about it was that it was some sort of struggle involving spies and nuclear weapons but after nearly six months of studying it, I feel much more illuminated on the subject.
There is a huge controversy over why it began and the events during the Cold War are debated back and forth. Whilst I am not going to promote my theory, I was simply wondering how many of us have a detailed knowledge of the issue? Have we simply swallowed the ‘official’ version like the masses on both sides during the Cold War or have we conducted our own research, acknowledged other opinins and then made an informed judgement?
That is education right? To analyse what we are being told in order to see if it is valid or not. The same applies to any other event in history. As the saying goes, ‘history is written by the victors’ and so it is easy to be misled. The question we need to ask ourselves is, how informed are we?
A Worried Student
A WORRIED STUDENT 
A very interesting topic. I grew up during a lot the cold war years, and I believed that communism was a dark and dangerous threat to my country and way of life. And, because information was scarce from one side, and distorted by the other, I had a lack of knowledge. Then, in year 11 at school, I attended a lecture by a scientist who had summered in the Antarctic. Almost “What I did over summer”. I can’t remember much from those many years ago, but I can remember a photo of a smiling man with a stainless steel tooth – a Russian scientist. And the lecturer made the comment that this man, just like us, loved his country and his family, just like “us”. I then realised that no matter where you live, you have a strong bond with your country (home), and it is generally about family. On a personal level, we are all much the same. It is the governments that cause trouble (and also protect us). And yes, education should help us make an informed judgement – we just need the right “facts”.
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Wow, you have beautifully illustrated the point I made.
It’s true, we are all the same and we simply align ourselves with our country believing it be incapable of evil but of course, those in power all are as the things they seek such as economic power are things that humans love to fight over.
Definitely, an unbiased education is vital but was extremely difficult to find during the Cold War and even to this day.
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There was just so much fear, hatred, and misinformation. Many years later I had neighbours from Croatia, and was genuinely surprised that under communism they were able to visit Italy regularly, and their lives were similar to mine. There has always been fear of the unknown, and we still know so little (& wordpress helps me learn a lot about people around the world) 😀
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It must have been scary to live with the constant fear of nuclear attack which was heightened by the media and propaganda.
Wow that’s interesting. Definitely, WordPress is amazing 😀
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At least in New Zealand we were protected from a lot of that. When I was 26 I landed in LA, and remember seeing a Nuclear Fallout Shelter sign for real. Scary, concerned, interesting, “not in New Zealand anymore” is what I felt. It hit home how protected I felt in NZ. (& that was only 1987).
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Whilst I read this thinking now that must have been interesting and exciting, I can see how it increased the fear for people at the time.
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Have you seen Blast from the Past? While it may be lightweight, the opening scenes reflect the fear of the times. The Bay of Pigs. Watched Thunderbirds?(original TV series? Joe 90? Captain Scarlet?Check out the voices – the innocent, the goodies and the buddies. Have you thought of these in terms of propaganda? Like MacDonlds, “get them while they’re young”. Hope you have a great evening. Brett 🙂
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I wish I had joined WordPress and met you earlier in the year! Then I would have watched all these things before my exams but I will still try to watch a few in the one week I have as well after. Not these films and shows in particular but yes the media in general.
Thank you so much and you too! 🙂
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You are quite right about “This is education”. Going along with the propaganda from either side is what is referred to has ‘HAB’, or Habit, Attitude, Belief. Most of us do not know how we get our HAB in reality we inherit them from our parents, teachers, and society in general without any thought. Most of these start when we are too small or intellectually immature to even question them so that by the time we are mature enough they are so ingrained in us that if another person or event happens to make us question it we feel threatened.
People have a tendency to call this, a gut feeling, and everyone knows that the gut knows best. 😉
But it is my belief that the gut does not know best and this feeling is the feeling we get when we try to leave our comfort zone. Our mind, our self, likes its comfort zone and every time we try to leave it will make it just a little bit uncomfortable to do so.
The best thing we can do, if we really want to grow is to continue down the path.
I am not trying to say that everything that makes us feel threatened is good for us just we need to ‘educate’ our self on why we believe what we believe. Is it because, as you say, “To analyse what we are being told in order to see if it is valid”.
Great post. Keep up the good fight.
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much. Smile!
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That is a good point you make. We don’t question things because we feel safe with the version we are told.
Definitely, we must use our own minds to question the things we see around us.
Thank you once again for an insightful comment 🙂
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Interesting post. And very nice to see at least some of the world’s students can think for themselves. I grew up during the Cold War years (60s-70s), I was born the year they built the Wall in Germany. It always seemed a farce to me. Sort of blown out of proportion. My husband grew up in California in the 50s when the Cold War was really hot. They used to have nuclear bomb drills, all hiding under their desks as if that would save them from the A-Bomb! People built fall-out shelters in their backyards in case of nuclear disaster. I suppose you also learned of the Doomsday Clock? I definitely remember that. That seemed scary to me. I was also enlisted in the military toward the end of the Cold War (1980). My job was to spy on the Communists. It felt even more silly as an 18-yo to believe the propaganda the military and the government was still pushing on us. It was merely ‘fear-mongering’ just like George Bush did when he started his war against “Terrorists” and we began receiving color coded warnings of the current level of danger.
You ask some provocative questions. I’ll have to drop in again.
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So you grew up right in the middle of all the drama. Haha yes I cannot believe Governments were giving such ridiculous advice! In the UK, videos were played detailing how to build a shelter in your own house out of doors and bags of clothes.
Yes the clock must have been frightening after the people had already been filled up with all the other forms of propaganda. Certainly, the people in power know what they want but dress it up in different clothing to get it.
Thanks for dropping by and sharing such interesting comments 😀
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🙂
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I lived through it and worried that my then boyfriend would have to go to war and die. He didn’t, but by my Lord’s design, I met and married a protected Vietnam veteran, instead. We were all scared, built shelters in the ground, practiced where to go in the event of a nuclear bombing, etc. It wasn’t like living in London during WWII, I know.
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That really must have been an intense experience. Reading about these things only give so much understanding but actually living the event is entirely different.
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