No real debate on the use of the bomb except in the minds of the later generations of Monday quarterbacks, "do gooders," PCer, and anti-nuc people. But, I really don't want to get into it other than that, especially since my sister from Nashville is hitting town in a couple of hours and the wife is having me vacuum, make the beds, do the laundry, etc Have a good weekend all, and....
Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.the randomthoughts.edublogs.org Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ On Aug 6, 2010, at 9:28 AM, Mike Palij wrote: Some significant historical events, like the flu pandemic of 1918 and the polio outbreak during the 1950s, are not incorporated into a culture's system of remembrance, in the observance of certain rituals on certain dates, and consequently fade from the cultural/social memory unless some effort is made to remind oneself and others of it. One such event is the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 5, 1945, launching the era of nuclear based war. The NY Times typically remembers and provides a link to a copy of the news story it ran on the next day (which is why August 6 serves as a reference point) which can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0806.html#article Examination of this event, the justification for it, its long term consequences, and related issues have been argued about and reviewed from shortly the news of the bombing became public to this very day. Here is one story about the current Japanese reaction to the U.S. sending a representative this year to commemorate the bombing; see: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2010/08/06/us-move-falls-short-for-hiroshima-survivors/ NOTE: given that the above article is in the Wall Street Journal, do not be surprised by the tone or the nature of the comments that follow it. War is a horrible and stupid thing and for all of the nobility which is associated with what the U.S. calls World War II, there were plenty of ugly and painful things, things that those who did them or authorized them or simply looked away are things that we would not want our children to know because their judgment might be the harshest of all, done by both sides. Whether there is sufficient justification for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is open to debate and there is much grist for the mill (ironically, Nagasaki historically was the port that allowed commerce with Europe and other countries and where Catholicism originally took root in Japan until being outlawed in the Tokugawa period; afer WWII it emerged as the Catholic center of Japan). Wikipedia (standard disclaimers apply) has a couple of relevant entries: On the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki For general history about Hiroshima see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima (Fans of Japanese Yakuza movies will remember that various gangster films were set in postwar Hiroshima, perhaps most notably Kinji Fukasaku's "Battles Without Honor and Humanity" aka "The Yakuza Papers" which portray how people tried to survive the postbombing chaos; see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza_Papers ) For general history about Nagasaki, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki Of course, we have come a long way since that fateful day in Hiroshima. There was the Cold War, the building of nuclear arsenals by the major world powers, the policy of "Mutual Assured Destruction", and so on. Today, the major powers are trying to reduce the number of nuclear weapons they have as well as trying to control access to them since the greatest fear today is that a nuclear device will be used by a terrorist group on a high value target like, say, New York City. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: lschm...@valdosta.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13368.9b8fe41d7a9a359029570f1d2ef42440&n=T&l=tips&o=4026 or send a blank email to leave-4026-13368.9b8fe41d7a9a359029570f1d2ef42...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4027 or send a blank email to leave-4027-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
