Sunday, February 14, 2016

Bob Higgs on 'Dr. Strangelove'

Higgs writes on his Facebook page:
Elizabeth just watched “Dr. Strangelove” while preparing our dinner. As my friends know, I hold this film in esteem above all others. Yes, it’s hilarious, but its supreme merit is that despite its seemingly over-the-top characters and story, it is actually a truer-than-true representation of politico-military elites, their thinking, and their actions in the nuclear age over a period of several decades (and perhaps still). The truth is that these people, insofar as we may judge by their words and their actions, were utterly insane, and the world was extremely fortunate to have averted an all-out nuclear war between the USSR and the USA. This good fortune was on many occasions a very close thing.

2 comments:

  1. "This good fortune was on many occasions a very close thing."

    But humanity is far from being out of the woods. It feels to me that we're closer now to nuclear war than during the Cold War. It also feels to me that the demons in power are more insane now than they were then too.

    And nukes are just one means to mass human suffering and death. With newer technologies emerging (nanotech, synthetic life, AI, robotics) I can only imagine that in some deep, shadowy lab somewhere in the bowels of the Military-Industrial Complex, some PhD'd POS is working on the "humane, politically correct and environmentally-friendly" solution to the Malthusian "over-population" problem... for fun and profit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Always good to have Higgs on my side. "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" is my favorite movie. Another Kubrick anti-war movie I highly recommend is "Paths of Glory" starring Kirk Douglas and his chin dimple.

    ReplyDelete