Doc Dutch (12-07-2020)
We dropped two A-bombs on Japan instead of invading the home islands. Was this just war or racism?
Doc Dutch (12-07-2020)
War. I'm sorry that we did it and killed so many civilians, but the loss of life from an invasion would have been even worse. I think it is a tribute to humanity, and to organizations like NATO, the UN, etc. that we haven't used a nuclear weapon in 75 years despite the proliferation of the devices.
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
AProudLefty (12-07-2020), Cypress (12-07-2020), Eagle_Eye (12-07-2020), evince (12-07-2020), Guno צְבִי (12-07-2020), Mott the Hoople (12-14-2020), signalmankenneth (12-12-2020)
Don't you have anything better to do than ask to be humiliated -- again?
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"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
CharacterAssassin (12-08-2020)
Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.
I wasn't quite in my mom's tummy when those two bombs were dropped.
Just missed it by a tiny bit.
And my not having gone through what the world was going through then, Truman's decision is not one upon which I can easily make judgement.
We're the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war and everybody knows it.
We were fighting Europeans and Asians, and we dropped the bombs on the Asians.
Everybody knows that as well.
Whether it was racist or not is something that may be argued forever.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson, 1775
Religion....is the opiate of the people. Karl Marx, 1848
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose. Kris Kristofferson, 1969
I believe it was barbaric. The Japanese army was defeated. It was not necessary to kill innocent citizens.
anonymoose (12-07-2020), AProudLefty (12-07-2020), christiefan915 (12-07-2020), Cypress (12-07-2020), signalmankenneth (12-12-2020), ThatOwlWoman (12-07-2020)
We did horrendous damage and horrific casualty counts in Germany as well. Over 25,000 killed in the Dresden fire bombings, and almost that many in Hamburg. I think the decision to use the devices on Japan was not based on racism as much as it was practicality. Japan was the hold-out; Germany had been crushed months before, and Italy wasn't much of a player either.
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
Doc Dutch (12-07-2020)
Americans in general were racist towards Japanese.
I think the bombing was immoral and inhumane.
But without the luxury of hindsight, it can be plausibly also be claimed to have been strategically warranted.
It is possible to believe all these things at the same time, without them being mutually exclusive..
There was little stomach to invade the Japanese home islands. Few Americans realize that the Soviet Army, fresh off their destruction of the Japanese Kwangtung Army in Manchuria, had battle plans to invade and occupy the northern Japanese home island of Hokkaido. That is one reason Truman was keen to coerce Japan into immediate surrender and compel them to submit to American military occupation.
There is no question in my mind that the Soviets would have set up a communist client state in a "People's Republic of Hokkaido", and giving the USSR a key strategic foothold in the north Pacific.
The Japanese were warned in the Pottsdam statement to either surrender or face utter destruction. That was obviously veiled language for a nuclear attack. In an ideal world, I wish the veiled threat we made could have been made more tangible to the Japanese before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima
anonymoose (12-07-2020), AProudLefty (12-07-2020), christiefan915 (12-07-2020), signalmankenneth (12-12-2020), ThatOwlWoman (12-07-2020)
My dad was a bit player as a scientist working on the Manhattan Project. I asked him years later if he felt guilty about that. He said maybe a bit, but it was war and the thinking was that if we didn't do it the war would have dragged on much longer. Then he asked me why I thought that he gave me John Hersey's Hiroshima when I was eight years old.
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
Would you have preferred the allies lose a another million souls defeating a nation that started a global war and engaged in criminal atrocities?
I am always amazed that individuals educated in the west are even remotely stupid enough to question the morality of saving lives and ending a war we didn't start.
"When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
A lie doesn't become the truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it is accepted by a majority.
Author: Booker T. Washington
"When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
A lie doesn't become the truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it is accepted by a majority.
Author: Booker T. Washington
christiefan915 (12-07-2020)
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