undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmissedthecue4y ago0 comments

But that is my point. Most people got the latest war news from the government sanctioned newsreels playing in the movie theaters. Any photos of the war were approved by the government before they were run in printed media. Letters home were famously read individually to cross out unacceptable content under the pretext of protecting frontline strategies.

The government had a very strong stranglehold on what information the population received. Today that is not the case, and there are very good reasons for it, but in the event that world war three occurred, it would put the West at a severe disadvantage.

World War Three is a dramatic thought, but it isn't even happening and the West is already feeling the pain of this situation. Destabilizing election and covid misinformation being spewed by China and Russia are prime examples.

0 comments

axguscbklp4y ago

Got it, thanks for explaining so clearly. The way I see it, because of nuclear weapons, no other country can actually conquer the US, so I much prefer free speech to any sort of propaganda initiatives meant to strengthen the US against other countries. We are already basically almost completely protected from other countries by our nuclear weapons. We do not need censorship and propaganda to add any sort of meaningful further protection.

baybal24y ago

> We are already basically almost completely protected from other countries by our nuclear weapons.

US nuclear weapon stockpile will only be enough to neutralise just one military superpower.

A country with resources, and economy to survive the first strike, can realistically rebuild, and come back with vengeance.

I always retold my own variation on the Einstein's quote on WW3 as "WW3 will be started with nuclear weapons, but will be ended with trench warfare"

beerandt4y ago

>US nuclear weapon stockpile will only be enough to neutralise just one military superpower

Well that's not true. And it's especially not true with the new ICBM fuses and bomber launched stand-off missiles. The newly equipped icbms are an approx. 3x multiplier compared to having the same number of weapons a decade ago.

Which frees up weapons to be shifted either to new targets, or from strategic use to potential tactical use, with the new lower adjustable yields.

So even WW3 trench warfare has a good chance of still being nuclear warfare.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse