Our class was given assigned reading for this project during spring break. I’m sure you can imagine the audible groaning and complaints that ensued. Well, maybe not in a literal sense, but I imagine that I wasn’t the only one who internally sighed. While I do love reading, I also do love having free time.
We were to finish reading Hiroshima by John Hersey, which akin to this blog post, I ended up completing last minute. Hersey’s work provided me with an unfamiliar reading experience, as it was peculiar in its form of being a non-fictional work written with the same sort of narration and storytelling that would normally be seen in fictional works. At first, I wasn’t particularly fond of the book because I had felt as though it was romanticizing the stories of real people into a horrific tale. It didn’t feel right to be hearing the stories of these people reframed through the voice of another. However, that was before I did my research on the book. I eventually came to understand that the individuals described within the book were interviewed by Hersey, and that Hiroshima had a unique and lasting impact during its time – and still has relevancy today.
I sometimes find myself thinking about how desensitized we are today, specifically because of what is portrayed in the media. There’s violence, shootings, and graphic imagery – in both fictional works (such as horror movies) and the news. Earlier this year, I spent quite some time going down the true crime podcast rabbit hole. Eventually, I had to stop consuming that sort of content so regularly because of how it began to affect me.
An ordinary Tuesday. I could be sitting in the living room in the evenings, with the news on the television as background noise. And there could be a news story broadcasted about a teenager who committed suicide. Or, a volcano somewhere on the other side of the world that killed thousands of people. Or war, or the pandemic, or climate change, or politics, or artificial intelligence. All in between short clips of advertisements trying to sell you dish soap, or a vacuum cleaner. Another person dying on the news is just as regular of an occurrence as the hundredth paper towel commercial. That’s the world we live in.
After reading and taking notes on Hiroshima, I’ve spent time thinking about how this uber-connected world we know today – the only reality I’ve ever known – was not necessarily the reality nor experience of those in 1946, when the book was published. In the media today, I often see content that’s trying to sway you one way or another on an issue:
Buy this, wait nono, buy that. Do this, but you probably really shouldn’t do that. Think this, and also don’t think that. Oh – and also, here’s another dead kid.
During the time of Hiroshima’s publication, it played a revolutionary and unique role as an article of its time that portrayed the perspectives that it did to an American or western audience. As we are wrapping up this project and moving onto our next one on the Holocaust, I have been spending quite some time pondering storytelling. The power of storytelling. Hiroshima did an effective job in honouring the stories of atomic bomb survivors and as a result, perspectives entirely shifted. Black specks of ink littered across a page having the power to shift paradigms and change views. The power to incite fear, doubt, and change.
We studied fear as a central theme during this project through lectures, research, and documentaries. Fear of the unknown. Fear that is irrational. Fear as a motivator. Fear as a form of self preservation. Fear as a means to control. It’s everywhere. It’s like the news is constantly on the television in the background, but you’re not in control of the remote this time. You can’t turn it off because it’s all around you. Fear of nuclear weapons is a real thing. Fear of COVID-19, especially during 2020, was and is still relevant today. Fear of climate change. I mentioned that I had a phase earlier this year when I was into true crime podcasts. I had to stop because I started feeling uncomfortable walking alone in public.
One of the most remarkable takeaways from this project was how they used to have a nuclear bomb test site in Nevada and it became entertainment. Atomic tourism was a thing, where people would travel to see the explosions. Nuclear weapons have the power to end humanity and yet it was made into a spectacle. I guess that’s the thing. For some individuals, it doesn’t matter if it kills. It matters if it sells.
People weaponize fear for all sorts of reasons; political campaigns, to sell products, to create change, to inform, to misinform. It wouldn’t be particularly difficult to make a list of things that are messed up regarding society or the world today. Fear can’t be escaped because it has defined so much of humanity’s history up to this point and even now, which we have come to understand as we learned about the Cold War. I find that it’s much easier to be attuned to negative emotions, thoughts, and fears than it is to focus on positive ones so as to distract oneself. Franklin D. Roosevelt is famously known for the quote: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” I think the best way to handle fear is to embrace and understand it, and only then can it be conquered.
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