“An Ordinary Insanity” highlights the danger of public complacency, participants discussed the need to raise awareness through art, music, and nonprofit organizations.
The Chicago Area Peace Action hosted a showing of the feature film “An Ordinary Insanity” on Aug. 9, 2026, at the Evanston Public Library’s Community Room to commemorate the more than 200,000 people who lost their lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 81 years ago. The event also hoped to rekindle a passion for peace within the Chicago community. The screening was followed by an acknowledgement of recent setbacks in nuclear disarmament efforts and a roundtable discussion aimed at raising public consciousness about the risks posed by nuclear weapons. Approximately two dozen people attended the roundtable discussion, with around half a dozen actively contributing to the conversation while others listened. The event concluded with a walking meditation led by Jack Lawlor, leader of the Chicago chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, to Evanston’s Arrington Lagoon.
This 29-minute documentary, directed by Judith Ehrlich, follows the late whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg as he gave urgent warnings against the use of nuclear weapons as a defense analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense, drafting nuclear war operational plans. Ellsberg found the United States’ first-strike position, the “launch on warning” system of the intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the sole authority of the U.S. President to launch a nuclear strike incredibly dangerous, leaving the world vulnerable to a nuclear winter. Ellsberg illustrated these dangers through the 1979 NORAD computer incident, a terrifying Cold War false alarm that occurred at 3 a.m., when a training simulation of a Soviet strike almost led to a real, full-scale retaliatory strike against the Soviets. This was one of many false alarms that placed the U.S. in a precarious position with its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), giving the president mere minutes to decide the fate of humanity.
Additionally, the film draws on Bob Woodward’s reporting that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew deeply alarmed by President Donald Trump’s erratic behavior after the 2020 election and took unprecedented actions to safeguard the U.S. nuclear command. I found the zero recall and hair-trigger nature of ICBMs particularly alarming, and I believe these policies are important to fight against when it comes to funding and legislation.
As shown in the film, rather than addressing these vulnerabilities, the U.S. government committed to spending 1.7 trillion dollars in the next 30 years to replace all three legs of the nuclear triad, including modernizing its ICBM arsenal. Defense industry groups have argued that this was a prerequisite for maintaining global nuclear deterrence against the expansion of foreign nuclear capabilities. This film underscores how silence can be a form of evil, closing with Ellsberg’s history of continued activism, including over 80 arrests, saying “I choose to act as if we still have a chance.” His background and experience inspire me to organize a campus panel on nuclear command-and-control risks.
The community roundtable identified several recent setbacks in nuclear disarmament: the erosion of the treaty framework that had driven major reductions in nuclear arsenals, the expiration of the New START treaty, the development of hypersonic missiles, the resumption of atmospheric weapons testing reminiscent of the 1960s, the militarization of outer space, the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, and a new arms race fueled by eroding trust among allies. These setbacks demonstrate the regression in nuclear disarmament in the last few years, with less time to react to the missiles and fewer constraints between nuclear powers.
Because “An Ordinary Insanity” highlights the danger of public complacency, participants discussed the need to raise awareness through art, music, and nonprofit organizations. They also highlighted the importance of staying informed through reliable journalism, building alliances, and supporting resolutions such as Back from the Brink. The discussion also focused on reigniting empathy among younger generations by identifying organizations that could act as connections between Chicago Area Peace Action and younger generations. Other ideas to spark community engagement included using film and media more effectively, connecting nuclear risk to other pressing issues like AI and data centers, and exploring how grassroots efforts can contribute to international peace diplomacy.
As one of the only young people in this group discussion, I found myself interested in how to engage my peers in efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons, especially the dangerous system surrounding deadly ICBMs. For many of the retired and elderly people around me, keeping this passion alive was deeply important, and the conversation centered on how to sustain that urgency 81 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event also made me more mindful about the importance of watching films in a community instead of alone and highlighted the power of discussion. I was also interested in hearing how members of Chicago Area Peace Action wanted to connect with grassroots leaders in other countries and share perspectives across borders.
Lastly, the event concluded with a mindfulness practice, readings and accounts from individuals who experienced the Nagasaki bombing, and Buddha’s discourse on loving-kindness, and then a mindfulness walk. The readings and accounts grounded the discussion in the actual experiences of the people in Nagasaki, including a doctor and a mother. Hearing a mother apologize after leaving her daughter behind in the fire of nuclear bombing was incredibly moving, emphasizing the devastating consequences for families on the ground. After participating in the slow, mindfulness meditation and walk, I was able to process the harsh reality of the actions the U.S. government carried out. Taking in our scenery, calming our minds, and slowing our walks, it felt as if the group was united in our steps – from our footsteps on the ground to the next steps toward advocacy.