Achei esse trecho de um texto da cracked interessante e até esperançoso, ainda que possivelmente tenha algo de exagero:
Relations between the U.S. and the USSR were so tense that we boycotted the 1980 Olympics just because they were in Moscow. Carter even stopped talking to the Soviets and Ronald Reagan totally labeled the USSR an "evil empire." And he didn't use air quotes to show he was just messing with them. The whole freakin' country shut down to watch a crappy made for TV movie about the after effects of a nuclear holocaust like it was the Super Bowl.
So when 10-year-old Samantha Smith wrote a letter to the head Soviet Yuri Andropov asking him if "he was going to vote to have a war or not," it was the kind of meaningless gesture you expect from innocent little kids. We're talking about a letter to Darth Vader himself here.
But then he wrote back.
It wasn't just a crude drawing of himself pooping on an American flag, either. Andropov responded thoughtfully and kindly, and the rest of the U.S. discovered that people in the Soviet Union were actually people people, not hybrid Cthulhu/humans (or cthumans as we used to say back in the day).
So How Powerful Was This Kid, Exactly?
Samantha generated publicity for her letter like a miniature P.T. Barnum. Of course, it was just a letter. Probably took her 10 minutes. It's not like she climbed aboard a plane and flew right into the heart of the Soviet Union to sit down face to face with the guy Jimmy Carter wouldn't even speak to on the pho-
Oh, wait. She did just that. Samantha spent two weeks as Darth Vader's personal guest.
"They're just like us!" she exclaimed during a press conference in Moscow, the 10-year-old sitting happily in the heart of the Evil Empire itself. And just like that, the Cold War thawed ever so slightly.
Partly because of Andropov's response (which some scholars think was actually penned by one Mikhail Gorbachev) and partly because Samantha returned from her trip with pictures and anecdotes of a country full of jes' folks, the whole act of citizen diplomacy sort of broke the spell of mutual hatred between the U.S. and the USSR. Things snowballed from there. Andropov died, and Gorbachev took over with a friendlier attitude than his predecessors.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18492_5-shockingly-powerful-kids-who-make-you-look-like-coward.html#ixzz0sCEq2xrH
Por outro lado, parece que aqueles interessados no conflito aprenderam a lição, e começaram a cooptar as crianças para sua causa. Crianças israelenses colocando mensagens engraçadinhas nos mísseis:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=13453Do outro lado, como esperado, não é melhor:
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Tópico: As crianças e conflitos políticos e religiosos entre paises (Lida 1064 vezes)