Generally, the right venue to warn that we face the biggest threat of Armageddon in 60 years wouldn’t seem to be a political fundraiser. But for whatever reason, that’s where President Biden on Thursday night decided to offer some of the scariest comments uttered by a U.S. president in decades.
Speaking at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee event, Biden said that for the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis we have a direct threat of the use of the nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going.”
Biden has certainly shown himself capable of speaking unintentionally — or “getting over his skis,” to borrow a phrase — but he said a version of this warning not once, not twice, but three times.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” he reiterated at another point.
The analysis basically just supposes that the difference between past nuclear standoffs and this one is that Russia has backed itself into a corner and an unhinged autocrat may think there is nothing to lose... and when people don't see any way out, all bets are off.
I am glad to see the level of concern raised a bit here, though the prospect of any sort of nuclear use in Ukraine or elsewhere is so frightening that I have to push contemplating it out of my mind.
I may be naïve, but I still cling to the idea that leaders of great nations still have rational reasons for what they do, even if those reasons are flawed or lead to bad outcomes. I am from a generation that blithely practiced for atomic bombs dropping over Iowa by sitting quietly under my first grade desk at Roosevelt Elementary for 15 minutes.
Hmmm.... not all that different from modern day students huddling in a corner away from the classroom door during active shooter drills.
The big difference, maybe, is that no nukes were detonated over Iowa City, while schools are regularly places where young men gun down children.
From a teaching standpoint, the Post article would prompt me to quickly revisit what "Armageddon" means, and that would mean a side trip to the Bible. Another reminder that some basic familiarity with Bible stories is necessary to understand allusions. I worry that public schools, at least, will avoid any use of the Bible out of fear of offending, well, someone.
The Cuban missile crisis occurred 60 years ago, so that would have to be summarized for modern students (and their parents?).
I would also spend a bit of time on the significance of something being repeated three times. In rhetoric, when a word is mentioned three times, it is a triad. If that word is repeated exactly, even with a slight change in emphasis in enunciation, it is known as a reduplication.
Student don't really need to know the esoteric terms of rhetoric, of course. All they really need to recognize is the power of three: Three mentions. Three examples. Three sources. Three points required to define a line. Three rhetorical appeals (thanks, Aristotle).
Or maybe the best choice is to not use that commentary in a classroom, and possibly alarm young people with worries about Armageddon.
Ignorance is bliss, after all.
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