“we were aware of the threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, few of us believed that we were threatened with death anywhere near the amount we have scared you about death from secondhand smoke, global warming and heterosexual AIDS, to mention just a few of the exaggerated death scares we have inflicted on you.”
Ironically, 1 of the great fears “you” propogated WAS the “nuclear holocaust” sure to happen. I personally was raised in an environment with no fear about such things, but my younger cousin was scared about it in the ‘80s, mostly due to the preaching in schools.
"you" I presume you meant the author.
If you as in me :>), in the 50s I ducked under desks and walked to the basement shelters like all school kids did.
Just a observation, we're talking elementary school, I remember taking it seriously, but fear, not really. Just bad guys out there. Teachers would probably teach it very differently today.