Comparing Army Data to Population

During our Iran simulation, we looked at a chart displaying a list of countries by number of active troops. I remember thinking, "Woah, China has 2,255,000 active troops! That's almost twice as many as the USA has!" However, when I read the data more closely I realized that China's population of 1,338,156,900 must be taken into consideration. The USA's population is 306,394,000. I found out these populations statistics using another chart displaying a list of countries by population. I believe that one cannot look at the first chart alone, they have to take the population data given by the second chart into consideration. Initally, readers like me will think China is crazy for having so many troops, but once they see it in proportion to the entire population, the number is not so massive. Comparing these two charts, I found out another very interesting fact. India's population is 1,163,060,000, significantly bigger than the USA's 306,394,000. However, the USA has more troops than India! I found this statistic to be quite interesting, and revealed that the USA is more engaged in war than India is. The US Army also engages in more recruiting than the Indian Army. Data can be a very useful visual argument, but it is important to consider factors influencing the data, like population.

Cuban Missile Crisis Cartoon

Recently, we read two articles about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. While I was doing some background research on these two events, a political cartoon caught my attention. This cartoon was drawn for the Washington Post on November 1, 1962 shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was drawn by a famous political cartoonist named Herblock (short for Herbert Block), who won three Pulitzer prizes. This cartoon depicts John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev trying to contain nuclear war, which is in the form of an angry beast trying to escape. Kennedy and Khrushchev are the protagonists, working together to stop the evils of nuclear war. The caption "lets get a lock for this thing" tells readers that neither the US nor the Soviet Union wanted to face the devastating consequences of nuclear war. Both men are sweating as they try to lock the box, implying that nuclear war is hard to "lock away," because nuclear weapons are becoming more present as science improves.
While this cartoon may be specifically about the Cuban Missile Crisis, I believe it sends a very important message that is applicable to all wars. Once the beast of nuclear war is unleashed, it is powerful and hard to contain.