Nuclear weapons

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 12

Nuclear weapons

Sir—l am indebted to Sandra M. Legge for her prompt reply to my letter, and for her dissertation on the effects of a nuclear holocaust. I had rather suspected the sort of consequences she details, but I am obliged to point out that whether I am turned to charcoal, or slow, roasted by radiation is to me rather academic. It is the cause of this alarming change in the state of my health that gives rise to my concern. “Ground zero,” “ecosystem” and other jargonistic terms of the modern trendy debater serve only in my view to cloud the' central issue. And the issue is the essentially nihilistic mentality of people who can make or possess these hideous devices. As was true of the long bow, gunpowder, and the machinegun, the nuclear arsenal, since it exists, will be .used, unless the hearts and minds of men undergo radical change. This is surely more likely to be accomplished by personal example (Mother Theresa?), rather than precept or debate, which quickly becomes a sophisticated kind of gamesmanship. — Yours, etc.,

J. V. PIERSON. June 2, 1982.