Could the Fallout franchise be taken as a warning against thermonuclear war?

So I was watching The Atomic Cafe earlier today. I love old propaganda films mostly because some of them are so full of it that I have to avoid drinking anything while watching them because I might spit it all over everywhere in a fit of laughter. Kind of like the other day when I was eating soup and a MittvMitt.com commercial came on for the DNC. I almost spit soup all over my apartment and then proceeded to laugh my ass off.

Anyway that's besides the point right now. While watching The Atomic Cafe I started to think about how the Fallout franchise "mirrors" it. The Atomic Cafe holds the mirror of truth up to the United States. It shows us how utterly ridiculous we acted at the beginning of the Atomic Age. Part of the reason why I love studying the Atomic Age is because of how ridiculous our reaction to it was. We acted like complete morons in the face of catastrophe and I often feel like we're still acting like this. Especially during the 90s when we were so happy about the Cold War being over that we began to severely under fund our local, state, and federal civil defense and emergency management agencies. (Any pre-9/11 airport goers remember how lax security was?) We're still doing it too! My boyfriend works in emergency management and I have to say for the kinds of hours they pull and the nature of the work that they carry out and the BULLSHIT that they have to deal with, they should probably be paid more than anyone.

Boyfriend: "I really hate how stupid people are when it comes to their own safety. We tell them NOT to do something and then after a natural or man-made disaster they act like it's our fault. Then we have to clean it up! WE TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT! WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT?! But of course it's our fault." -_-

Me *thoughtful*: "So basically you're everyone's mom?"

Boyfriend: 

Me:

So I would like to take a moment to think about the Fallout franchise from the viewpoint of an emergency manager, of which I am not. I am a historian/librarian/information scientist, NOT an emergency manager, but when you spend most of your time with one, you start thinking about the world from their view point. So I'm starting to look at my favorite video game from a different view point. 

Some lessons and warnings:

1. Don't piss off the Chinese/Russians/Any country with enough nukes to seriously hurt us.

2. Do not worship false idols (sounds like the Commandments huh?). By false idols, I mean the atom. From what I can tell in the world of Fallout, before the Great War, the people "worshiped" the atom and even idolized it. Well look at where that got them. And then the Children of Atom do it again! WTH?!

3. Be prepared.

4. Don't take clean water for granted.

5. If you want everything to look like crap, drop a bomb on it, and refuse to clean it up even 200 years later. (Just because everything has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb doesn't mean that you can't tidy up once in a while! Moira gets this! Even though she's a pain in the ass...)

6. Atoms should be used for peaceful purposes. And I am NOT a stupid hippie. Hippies suck.