Cold War Essays on Societal Breakdown

Not only did many of the influential Cold War writers seek to drum out their message of pending doom and inevitable self-destruction, but Hollywood also found it profitable to crank out film after film with apocalyptic themes. It can be said that this time period fostered much of the foundation that we see in box office hits that bring in millions and millions of dollars.

Spin-offs of the mutual annihilation themes include invasions from aliens, computers and machines taking over the world, creations of science that turn on us and destroy all of mankind, and so on. Billions of dollars have exchanged hands over the years as a result of these early pioneers seeking to persuade the masses to always be vigilant and wary of the invisible enemy who might be ready to pounce

We have seen that those in positions of power will have the inherent tendency to hunt for and seek out ways of expanding that power base, and magnifying fear has always proven a very effective strategy to accomplish this objective.

During the Cold War, our citizens were bombarded with the message of fear and a constant threat of nuclear annihilation. Those in military decision making capacities took advantage of that fear and increased the military budget of government spending to become the highest military budget in the entire world.