James Giago Davies. Photo from Native Sun News
A thundering herd of 10,000 T-Rexes
That ought to get you plenty scared
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Columnist
nsweekly.com Back when he was in high school, Mario Gonzalez, the noted Oglala tribal attorney and Black Hills claim litigator, spent some time helping to put in Minute Man missile silos. I realized, when talking with him the other day, I had completely forgotten how many nukes were holed up all over Lakota country. Even though those silos are mostly all empty of missiles today, it’s only because we don’t need them like we once did. We have so many newer, better nuke options the power they had to destroy our civilization became obsolete. Mostly, people have forgotten how the ominous threat of nuclear destruction loomed over our society; we certainly don’t dread the prospect of nuclear war like we did when Mario was a teenager. A half century back the threat was real and frightening, not just some plot for an apocalyptic themed video game or movie, civil defense earnestly discussed that possibility with concerned citizens, buildings had fall-out shelter signs clearly displayed, and school children were instructed on what to do in the event of a nuclear exchange. Eventually the megaton firepower became so overwhelming the term “mutually assured destruction” replaced civil defense instruction, it was as if the powers that be sighed resignedly on our behalf, and said, “If both sides cut loose we all die, so no sense trying to plan for survival, or for the aftermath.” A nuclear winter became something for science fiction books, and those who own and operate our Democracy, found other threats to keep us alarmed and committed to investing massive amounts of taxpayer monies to protect our homeland. Fresh bogeymen were needed, preferably with a halfway decent shelf life. Not Adolf Hitler level shelf life, people still fear this fascist, megalomaniacal nutcase, 70 years after he burnt himself to a crisp. The image of his evil is so deeply embedded into our collective psyche; even our pets probably hate Hitler. I scribbled a toothbrush mustache and a shock of dangling dark hair on a picture of planet earth one time and even it looked like Hitler.
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: A thundering herd of 10,000 T-Rexes (James Giago Davies can be reached at skindiesel@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
Join the Conversation
