"What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has not been deterrence....."

[Faryn Balyncd]

"What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has not been deterrence, in the sense of fear of specific weapons, so much as it's been memory. The memory of what happened at Hiroshima."

John Hersey

http://fromthevaultradio.org/home/2006/07/

:kick:

[Ken Burch]

1. Indeed.

Those who say we owe peace to "The Bomb" give the human race no credit for displaying sanity. It's rare, but we do show SOME now and again.

[The Magistrate]

2. Quite True, Sir

It had a sobering effect that was something awful all around.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Maybe the USSR's atheism also helped.

Could you imagine a theocracy folding graciously like the USSR did? Yeah, me neither.

[FarCenter]

4. Doubtfull

I don't think that the memory of Hiroshima would have kept LeMay from bombing another city.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Or any assortment of Soviet political and military leaders. nt

[Captain Hilts]

5. You cannot measure deterrence. nt

[anigbrowl]

7. What's the difference?

If people didn't have (collective) memories of how awful a nuclear strike can be (even a relatively small one compared to what's become possible since then), they wouldn't feel deterred by the risk of being on the receiving end. Deterrence is nothing more than the awareness that there can be no real winners in a nuclear exchange due to the scale of destruction involved.

The quote in the OP seems to be based on the idea that some kind of higher morality than that of basic self-interest is involved. I see no justification for this.

[timeforpeace]

8. Distinction without a difference. Don't award this guy a Pulitzer just yet.

[daleo]

9. I think it's because the people who would order the missile launches

Know that they would be among the first to die.