Days that Shook the World
Published by Allison August 6th, 2005 in Annoy Me, Psychology, Personality, & Mental Health, PoliticsI just watched most of a documentary on the History Channel called “Days that Shook the World.” As you’d expect, this episode focused on the bombing of Hiroshima.
I’ve never spent much time thinking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those cities were just names in a history book, and the dates were just another annoying fact to memorize for a test, assuming we ever made it that far in the history books before school let out for the summer. With today’s 60th anniversary of our destruction of Hiroshima, there is news everywhere talking about nuclear weapons. Along with that news, I find myself starting to really comprehend what it is that we did. Brandon got my thinking started this morning, and I’ve continued to hear more as the day has progressed.
What we did was completely criminal, in my opinion. I read somewhere today, “If the Germans had succeeded with developing a nuclear weapon and bombed us, the leaders would have been tried at Nuremberg and executed as war criminals.” Yet the scientists and decision-makers here were hailed as heroes. I’m disgusted. And numb.
Yes, I understand the rationale behind the bombing. I also disagree with it. From what I understand (which, honestly, isn’t much) about the history of the Manhattan Project, it began because we had intelligence that the German military was working on a similar project. Sound familiar?
Ah, yes…that makes good psychological sense. Our enemy is evil — so we’d better ensure that we’re just as evil as they are, so they don’t beat us out on the road to villany. People have made so much about how 9/11 was a date that changed the world, and how evil Al-Queda and Osama bin Ladin are to have attacked us. The media made many comparisons of the WTC attack to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — the attacks even resulted in similar numbers of casualties, albeit more civilians at the WTC.
In one day, the US military killed about 30 times as many people, primarily civilians. Yes, these civilians were active in Japan’s war machine. But we’re not even talking Rosie the Rivetter here, joyfully working in service of her country. We’re talking about women and children *forced* into labor to support the war machine. Oh, yes…very evil people, folks.
How is it that we pretend to stand on such moral high ground? If I thought that the attitude of our country’s leaders today were any different, I might take heart. But look at today’s news. Hawks prevail. Western Skies today also discussed nuclear weaponry, but from a different angle. (Link to show mp3 download) Apparently, uranium mining is about to become active in Western Colorado again — because the price for yellowcake uranium has tripled. You read that right. Yellowcake uranium. Here, in my home state, we’re about to resume production of the very substance that our government used as part of its excuse for invading Iraq. Ah, but it’s okay for us — we *swear* it’s for energy production.
Why should I believe that? Iran claims the same, but US leadership says that they don’t believe it. Seems to me that suspicious people are usually the ones who are actually up to something themselves.
It’s late, and this has degraded into a mini-rant…now I need to fill my mind with something a little more positive before I head to bed.
Added: I just visited badchristian again just to see what sorts of comments people have left over the course of the day, and the arguments from the pro-bomb folks were so…predictable. It breaks my heart. How can we have unleashed this terror on the world? “Someone would have done it anyway” is not a valid excuse — I don’t care what “someone” does — I care what my country, the country that I want to love, does. There are times like these that I really think I’d be happier living in Canada. Or France. Or somewhere with a little less testosterone-driven aggression to take out on the rest of the world. What, exactly, are we trying to prove?
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I can’t claim to be an expert, but do suggest you explore the history of WWII. By the time we dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, Japan already had been defeated militarily. Almost nothing was left of the once mighty Imperial Navy, and Japan’s air force had been all but totally destroyed. Against only token opposition, American war planes ranged at will over the country, and US bombers rained down devastation on her cities, steadily reducing them to rubble. Why then did the United States choose to drop the bombs?
While you may not care to understand, nor wish to see it the way many people do, especially those who where alive on December 7, 1941, dropping those bombs did much for the world. First, it showed the world what future wars that extended beyond their own borders would be like. Secondly, it assured that war would never range across the world and diplomacy would again be the first solution to settle differences. Thirdly, it pretty much put an end to expansion by agression and war for economic gain.
Is war horrible? Definitely. Is it necessary? Rarely. Was the US justified in dropping those bombs? Keep in mind that Japan attacked the US without provocation not for ideological differences, but for economic and strategic necessity. The same reasons why one could argue the bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Mighty presumptuous about how open- or closed-minded I am, aren’t you? If you read more than a few posts on my blog, I think you’ll find that an openness to learning — for life — is very important to me. I haven’t cornered the market on “right”, nor do I ever expect to do so.
“But, but, he did it FIRST!” is no excuse for bad behavior, whether in a six-year-old or in a sovereign nation. Great, so we had the same rationale as Japan for attacking. That doesn’t make it right or justified.
It’s possible (likely, even) that you and I won’t see eye-to-eye on the wisdom (or lack) of deploying WMD. That’s okay — you have a right to your opinion, as I do to mine.
Thanks for the comments!
Mea culpa… I didn’t mean to imply that you wouldn’t understand or refuse to… slip of the keys… I just meant that many people disagree with the reasoning and that’s understandable.
I don’t think the reason “because they did it first” is acceptable either. I think the first three reasons I stated above are better, if not at least reasonable. Then again, reasonable men/women don’t promote war as a viable alternative to diplomacy.
Me? I somewhere between might makes right and give peace a chance I guess. But as far as the Atom Bombs are concerned, they served a purpose that hopefully they’ll never have to serve again.
My father, who was an expert at WW2 (having a library with more than 300 volumes on the subject) and a Canadian (which gave some distant perspective on the American’s use of the Bomb) always felt it was moderately justified. His assertions, backed up by many experts, is that the Japanese Army still had over 1,000,000 men who would staunchly defend the island against attacks at the time of the bombing. Also remember, this is the country that showed their absolute disdain for the rest of the world by attacking us without any provocation whatsoever. And, they killed 350,000 women and children in Nanking, raping at will (see “The Rape of Nanking” by Iris Chang). They were an army known for fighting to the death against unsuperable odds and for living in shame from their ancestors if they did not. The U. S. Army’s estimate at the time was that the loss of American life over the next year of fighting would be upwards of 400,000 men to end the war in Japan. If they did not end it, there would have been more Nankings. For every Hiroshima that we are “vilified” for, there is a Nanking that Japan has never acknowledged or apologized for. When history really is revealed, we see the energy behind the statement, “War is Hell”. But it is a difficult question: End the war with drastic means and loss of life, or prolong the war and see massive loss of life.