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Original poster

Channel 4 Will Putin go nuclear? Irresponsible?

71 replies

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 19/03/2022 19:37

This has terrified my 15 year old daughter and totally made me feel sick.

Speculating on something like this is beyond words imo. I think it’s just sensationalist irresponsible programming. It’s just building in a disgusting g war situation and making it worse. And it was on before the watershed.

OP posts:
CPL593H · 19/03/2022 21:59

I don't see why you're outraged by what sounds like a reasonable and balanced programme on the subject most of us have at least thought about over the last few weeks (well, the people I know have, anyway) Unfortunately Putin's behaviour has made people think about things we naively thought we'd put behind us.

Surely a 15 year old is old enough to be informed about this and if they are not, the title "What if Putin Goes Nuclear?" was hardly hiding the content.

ohfourfoxache · 19/03/2022 22:05

In the nicest possible way, you didn’t have to watch it

I was a child in the 80’s - I haven’t got a clue about any of this. But I’d rather know, be able to prepare, and be watchful rather than burying my head in the sand. Full respect if you’re the opposite, but we’re all different

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 19/03/2022 22:47

I've just watched it and it was very reasonable and balanced. As a teenager during the 80s, I lived with the knowledge that we might have been attacked and what the likely consequences would have been. It was part of life.

Cocomarine · 19/03/2022 23:36

Don’t be so bloody ridiculous.
You could have not let her watch it, or stopped her watching it.
Or maybe you can accept that being terrified is part of life sometimes, and she can learn to deal with it?
It was an interesting programme and not sensationalist at all.
You ought to have an inkling what your child can cope with. This one’s on you.

Sweetchocolatecandy · 20/03/2022 00:12

Speculating about an issue that could become a reality seems perfectly reasonable to me. I haven’t watched the programme but you have made me want to watch it now as I don’t believe that shying away from issues of war or living in denial is the answer.

Nightdancer · 20/03/2022 00:57

My initial reaction was scaremongering and I told my partner to turn it over. I think we ended up watching Drew and his program about finding antiques Smile

Jamboree01 · 20/03/2022 01:04

We had to watch the film ‘Threads’ in school in the early 90s. Terrifying. We couldn’t turn it off in class obviously. I agree with above posters, watch something else.

It used to be the case that we had something to be fearful of every decade. Now we have to be fearful of a different apparently oncoming apocalypse every three months or so.

Westfacing · 20/03/2022 01:10

I thought it was interesting and informative, and a reminder to get a decent torch and battery radio.

Anything nuclear is alarming but we can't pretend that the potential for Putin to use them doesn't exist. Who'd have thought he would invade Ukraine on such a massive scale - many experts thought he was just sabre-rattling.

Jamboree01 · 20/03/2022 01:13

@Westfacing

I thought it was interesting and informative, and a reminder to get a decent torch and battery radio.

Anything nuclear is alarming but we can't pretend that the potential for Putin to use them doesn't exist. Who'd have thought he would invade Ukraine on such a massive scale - many experts thought he was just sabre-rattling.

There is so much more than what is being told. He is not going to go nuclear.
Susu49 · 20/03/2022 01:16

Irresponsible?

No.

People are worried and are speculating. They're talking to friends and on message boards about this What If.

News/mainstream channels have a responsibility to examine the issues of the day, that's literally why they exist.

Did you feel this way about the many coronavirus programmes?

Neither your or your daughter had to watch it.

She's hearing all about the nuclear war fears, btw. Better that she hears an educated debate about it than general fear mongering.

AlexaShutUp · 20/03/2022 01:16

I just can't get my head around why you would watch a programme with that title if you and/or your child are particularly sensitive or prone to anxiety etc. Surely it's abundantly clear that the subject matter will have the potential to be disturbing. The watershed is irrelevant when it's essentially an extension of what's being discussed in the news... you don't get a sanitised version of the news before 9pm in which nobody dies.Confused

Of course the question of whether Putin will use nuclear weapons is going to be a frightening one, but under the circumstances, it's an entirely reasonable question to ask. We are in a very worrying situation right now. Some people prefer not to even consider the possibility of something so awful, and would rather get on with their lives without thinking about it as there isn't much that they can do to prevent it. That's a perfectly valid approach. Others want to stay informed, understand the risks and think about what, if anything, they can do to prepare themselves for what might lie ahead. That's also a perfectly valid approach. The question is, if you are in the first category, why would you choose to watch a programme that is so clearly aimed at the second category? And why would you then complain about it when it obviously wasn't aimed at you in any case?

BanjoKnickers · 20/03/2022 01:17

Surely a hoax post. Person watching a documentary called "What if Putin Goes Nuclear" with her daughter is outraged that it is about the possibility of Putin going nuclear. And that her daughter saw it Hmm

Hawkins001 · 20/03/2022 01:30

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

This has terrified my 15 year old daughter and totally made me feel sick.

Speculating on something like this is beyond words imo. I think it’s just sensationalist irresponsible programming. It’s just building in a disgusting g war situation and making it worse. And it was on before the watershed.

With all due respect, what's the point of putting our heads in the sand so to speak, and just pretending , "no nukes" etc, as long as people are educated in the current situation at the moment, rather than being more interested in the latest pop songs ect, then hopefully that may help give perspectives to people
Jamboree01 · 20/03/2022 01:41

Pre covid, every second year we were told that North Korea was going to go nuclear on the world.

In fact, just getting on with your existence on this planet, in the kindest way, is probably the best thing to do.

I grew up in the north of Ireland, survived the Cold War, two gulf wars, the constant ‘threat’ of various nuclear wars…

One very elderly man told me that there will never be another war as we know war to be, it will be a psychological one. He was right.

sashh · 20/03/2022 02:59

Your 15 year old must have led a sheltered life. She will be an adult soon and your job as a parent is to help her get there.

This is something people have been worried about since day 1 of the invasion.

Actually Trump withdrawing from the INF worried some of us.

Jamboree01 · 20/03/2022 03:34

You must have lived a sheltered life to not realise that this has been a repeated cycle for over 100 years. There are some things you cannot blame Trump for.

NATO is going to war with Putin. That was always the intent. There are only two vast oil resources left- do you know where they are?

Tonya345 · 20/03/2022 04:01

One very elderly man told me that there will never be another war as we know war to be, it will be a psychological one. He was right

Cities being bombed and people fleeing isn't exactly psychological, it seems pretty much like a normal war to me.

Roselilly36 · 20/03/2022 06:48

Why did you watch it, and allow your 15 year old DD too if it causes her distress?

Usingit · 20/03/2022 06:53

OP just watched it so she could be outraged, complain and post about it, what an idiot.

raspberryjamchicken · 20/03/2022 06:58

It really was very clear from the title what it was about. I watched and didn't find it sensationalist.

balalake · 20/03/2022 06:58

If it had been an item in a news broadcast, valid to complain, but as a documentary with it being clear in the title, I think you could avoid it if you wished.

ItsSnowJokes · 20/03/2022 07:09

You are being unreasonable and a bit of a twat. The clue was in the name.......

It wasn't called Putin's fairy tales was it? It was like Ronseal did exactly what it said on the tin.

Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 20/03/2022 07:12

I mean, surely the titles a giveaway. I didn't watch it nor did I actually see anything about it, but from the title I'd figure out what it's about. This is down to you as a mother allowing your daughter to watch something that scared her. Not the programme content.

2022sucksalready · 20/03/2022 07:44

Really? It was actually a well balanced piece. Good thing you weren’t a child in the 80s, we were made to watch “When the wind blows”, written and drawn by the guy who did The snowman/snow dog, it is totally terrifying. Best you don’t watch it.

dayswithaY · 20/03/2022 08:00

I watched and I'm glad I did, I knew there was a possibility I might be scared stiff afterwards - the clue is in the title, but I watched it anyway.

I thought the experts talking in the bunker made sense. It would be helpful for the government to issue some basic safety advice as all we know is leftover outdated bits of info from the 1980s. For instance, he said you do stand a good chance of survival and I didn't know that.

I imagine that after all the public health info we had with COVID the government will just stay quiet on this one, not wanting to scare people but jeez, knowledge is power isn't it?