North Korea’s launching of a long range missile today doesn’t scare me. Actually, I believe North Korea has bad motives and will one day likely launch a nuclear weapon against somebody in the world — maybe even the US. Detonation of a nuclear weapon would be a terrible thing and many will die. However, it just doesn’t scare me and let me explain why.
I see the moral equivalent of detonating a nuclear weapon to what happens all over the world every day. In the US, thousands upon thousands are victimized every day. People die and few care. They die because health care is unavailable. It might be something as simple as an untreated infection or a minor surgery that is not performed. The lack of health care kills people and this has been the way for decades. A few are just now starting to care, not because of the human beings that are dying; rather, they are starting to care because businesses cannot afford it and are suffering — they are caring out of simple greed.
It isn’t just health care either. Unemployment kills people every day. In America, you are nothing with a job and the means to support yourself and your family. Lose your job and you will likely lose you health care, home, dignity, and even your family. It is no different than a hurricane ripping your life apart. Or, no worse than a nuclear bomb being detonated in your city.
Also, it is very complicated to detonate a really large nuclear payloads — it involves multiple bombs being detonated in a precise arrangement in order to have a complete detonate of the nuclear matter which is difficult to acquire. In fact, even large payloads don’t destroy much more than smaller payloads. This seems paradoxical. A larger payload might kill people in the kill zone quicker but does not greatly expand the kill zone. This was the reason that Reagan agreed in the 1980s to reduce the size of payloads because studies indicated that smaller payloads would suffice. Thus, countries like North Korea will detonate small payloads that will kill people in a relatively small area. Plus, any detonation would result in immediate retaliation.
Yet, how many people are equivalently killed through job loses, little or no health care, inadequate housing, poor schools, or general oppression of disadvantaged groups. Millions suffer every day, year in and year out. There is little or no retaliation. If you are part of the privileged you may not even realize how people are suffering, because unemployment numbers are nothing more than figures released once a month. Lack of health care, poor schools, or starvation are only things that the privileged read about.
America needs to understand that it isn’t North Korea that we need to fear — or any other terrorist regime — it is the lack of empathy in Washington DC. If a nuclear weapon hits a city lots of people will die, most quickly. The suffering that comes from job losses, poor health care, and many other things is an awful death as well. It is politicians whose corruption and greed hurts and kills people as effectively as a nuclear bomb. The only real difference is that people will notice when a nuclear bomb is detonated.
America is doomed.
