Earlier in the week I posted a short piece about what I did this past Saturday, when the “ballistic missile alert” text was sent and then, many minutes later, rescinded.  These last couple of days has allowed me to catch up with students and co-workers.  There are so many different responses to such an interesting and sobering moment!

Michael Brendan Dougherty of the National Review posted a great reflection on the moment from the lens of recent history.  The whole thing is worth reading, but here’s a great quote:

The U.S. post–Cold War holiday from history was destined to end. And it should frighten every sensible person to consider that so many of the events that could have precipitated nuclear conflict during the Cold War were halted by men who personally remembered the last round of great-power conflict, and that all those men are now dead. They’ve been replaced by others whose experience of foreign policy could never be so educative. Similarly, in the Korean peninsula, the men who remember the awful horrors of that war are dying.

In many ways, the modern world is younger, dumber, and more innocent about these things than our grandparents were. We discovered that on Saturday in Hawaii. And now is the time to think it through. If you ever received such a text warning, would you fill your bathtub with water, or with your family members? How many of us turn to resources for advice — YouTube, text — that won’t be available in the event of real disruption?

You can read the whole thing here.