Goat Girl on Nuclear Weapons

I was fascinated by how things we couldn’t even see could be so powerful. Although my knowledge on the science has faded, the subject is still relevant and my curiosity towards it grows.

History has never been my strong point; everyone knows the names ‘Hiroshima’ and ‘Nagasaki’, but I’d never completely grasped the catastrophic effects these events had. After watching the BBC documentary I started to understand. The things that struck me most were what the world was like to people in the short moments after the bomb had dropped. Hiroshima was trapped under a huge black cloud; people had gone from a bright morning to complete darkness in a matter of moments - not to mention being surrounded by fire. If I was there I would be convinced Armageddon was upon us. It would have looked something like this (taken from a video speculating about Armageddon).

Sometime after people started to feel rain coming down upon them, but this rain was black and thick. People were so thirsty they started to drink it, not realising how harmful it would be to them due to its radioactive nature.

The worst was not over yet, thousands of people got extremely ill, but doctors couldn’t work out what was wrong with them. They had necrosis and their insides were slowly rotting. The bomb had destroyed their white blood cells meaning their bodies could not fight off infection. Even the Americans did not expect an aftermath as tragic and brutal as this.

However, they did know that this bomb would be extremely powerful. Hence only a few people knowing the exact nature of the mission. I do not believe the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war, it was used as more of an experiment into nuclear weaponry (boys and their toys).

Over 70 years later, a nuclear weapon hasn’t since been used but governments are still funding them, with top countries being Russia and the US. There are nine countries that possess nuclear weapons, and even more that host or rely on other countries’ weapons for protection. The amount spent yearly is extortionate, when this money could be going towards things actually needed (like the NHS). We are told that it is necessary for our safety, but I feel having them is more toxic than not. It creates an air of paranoia, who’s gonna hit who first.

Last year, we tested one of the UK’s four nuclear submarines. Politicians preach that this form of protection is completely reliable, however this test failed - it started heading in the wrong direction. How can we trust this won’t happen if it were to be used in a real wartime situation? Also, the test fail was kept hidden from the public and MPs, with the vote on whether to go ahead with the next generation of Trident being held the next month.

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would never use nuclear weapons and hopes one day for a nuclear free world. While Theresa May has unreservedly said ‘yes’ she would press the button, giving no regard to the deaths it would cause and no thought of the different variables applicable in a situation like that. It baffles me that this is considered a reasonable stance to take, whereas having ethical reservations - as Corbyn does, is seen as dangerous.

Trident has 266 times as much destructive power than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima had. That kind of power should not be put into human hands. It’s such a shame because it’s such an interesting concept; to be able to provoke that amount of power. I can see why people within authority get all excited about it, the same reason I am so intrigued by it. I hope one day a bomb goes off powerful enough to destroy all human life, get it over and done with.