New York City Frightens Viewers With Random PSA About Nuclear Attack
If the last few years haven’t already felt like a dystopian alternate reality, this new PSA from New York City’s Department of Emergency Management will warp your perception of reality even further.
The 90-second instructional contained information on what residents of New York should do in the event of a nuclear attack on the city. With rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the thought behind the video is understandable. The execution and timing, though, were questionable.
However, with no direct declaration of war, it incited fear among residents as people were sent into a flurry of confusion, wondering if the city was under attack.
The video instructed citizens to, firstly, keep away from windows and seek safety in the center of their buildings as a megaton of nuclear bombing wiped the city away. Secondly, locals were also asked to shower—probably to get rid of nuclear waste that people might have come in contact with—but there is no doubt that no one is thinking about staying clean as humanity is wiped away.
The third and final step to surviving a nuclear attack, according to the video, was to follow along for updates from the government.
Some Twitter users pointed out that a nuclear attack would wipe the city off the face of the earth in seconds, leaving them no time to carry out the instructions in the video anyway. Others were asking why it was phrased “when” and not “if,” sparking even more confusion.
— Jon Hutson (@JonHutson) July 12, 2022
This video was probably meant for those living outside the blast zone. However, there was no mention of it in the video leaving people to wonder what the message was really for.
It seems the Department of Emergency Management may need help in maintaining the calm of its people as, in an effort to prepare them, it has inadvertently alarmed residents instead.
[via Bloomberg and New York Magazine, cover image via NYC Emergency Management]
