Dean Forster wrote:
>--- "K.Feete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>wrote:
>
>> All right, we have symbolically
>
>i don't follow you here
Perhaps "noisily" was the word I was looking for....
>
>refrained from using
>> nuclear weapons on
>> numerous occasions. But aren't we sort of the only
>> people who've ever
>> *used* nuclear weapons? Doesn't that sort of muck up
>> our track record?
>>
>
>This always bothers me. People like to forget that it
>was during wartime and play it up (not that you are,
>Kat) like the Japanese were just whistling peacefully
>on their island and WHAM we blow up a couple of their
>cities. I don't see how the method of people-killing
>matters. In fact, dropping the bombs ended the war by
>scaring the snot out of the Japanese command. That
>not only saved hundreds of thousands of American
>lives, but in the net it saved plenty of Japanese too.
> These people were ready, willing, and able to defend
>their island to the last man, woman and child-they
>weren't going to surrender. And they had a nasty bag
>of tricks of their own waiting, of course.
I don't know much about this period, and most of what I *do* know came
out of a Neal Stephenson book, so I can't really reply to the Japanese
willingness to commit atrocities or surrender. I do know that a lot of
people, including Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas McArthur, did not feel it
was necessary to drop an atomic bomb on Japan, and frankly the whole
thing smacks of revenge. (You bombed us- look at *our* bomb, you
bastards!)
However, that's a side point. I do feel that there are a few major
problems to be addressed as far as "it's just a bomb, does it matter what
kind of bomb?" goes.
First, we bombed civilians. This is different than killing people in the
heat of battle, or even than bombing military complexes; it is a
distinctly evil act to kill non-combatants, something that has been
accepted for hundreds of years before it was made into solid law. I
assume there *were* major military installments in these cities, but
still, the majority of those who died were civilians.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, "salting the land" has been
considered something of a no-no since Roman times- and dropping an H-bomb
is major salt. We didn't just destroy those cities in a spectacular and
especially deadly fashion, we killed off the fertility/livability of the
land for a long time, not to mention affecting the survivors.
I've just gone and found the Radiation Effects Research Organization
website (http://www.rerf.or.jp/). According to this site, at least
150,000 people died in the bombings, and 280,000 more were believed to
have been exposed. Many of these- exact numbers seem to be vague- have
since died of cancer or leukemia. Children who were exposed in the womb
show signs of lowered IQ and higher incidences of mental retardation.
This ain't just another bomb, and it ain't a civilized weapon. I know it
was during a war, but all the same, it was a nasty thing to do.
Kat Feete
------------------------
"It is always useful to face an enemy who is
prepared to die for his country. This means that both
you and he have exactly the same aim in mind."
--Terry Pratchett
