The Lessons that should be learned from Hiroshima

fuckfuck Posts: 4,069
edited August 2008 in A Moving Train
Time for a new discussion...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/06/secondworldwar.warcrimes

what do you guys think about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II?

what do you guys think should be learned from those bombings in relation to today's "problems" (Iran and the Middle East)?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    I think they were tragic and it would have been a tough call to make. It did end the war and prevented the loss of some lives, but not sure it was worth it in the overall scheme of things. I couldn't have authorized the bombings, I know that.

    I'm not smart enough to make much of a correlation to the problems in Iran, etc....at least not in fairly short order on a message board.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • cincybearcatcincybearcat Posts: 16,497
    While an option, I find it scary to be using your biggest gun. Where do you go from there?
    hippiemom = goodness
  • While an option, I find it scary to be using your biggest gun. Where do you go from there?
    Back to sticks and stones, or so goes the quote.
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • _outlaw wrote:
    Time for a new discussion...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/06/secondworldwar.warcrimes

    what do you guys think about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II?

    what do you guys think should be learned from those bombings in relation to today's "problems" (Iran and the Middle East)?

    Dropping those bombs on the Japanese civilians makes what the Germans did in the holocaust look like a tickle party....
    the Minions
  • acsdataacsdata Posts: 40
    I believe the worse thing to do when you find yourself at war is to hold back. That is what typically ends up causing a war to be drawn out and will always end up costing more lives on both sides. This has been true throughout history. Even during the Civil War, Lincoln desperately wanted his generals to wage war in a manner that would end it. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

    The Japanese people were not going to give up anytime soon, and it was evident that they would rather die than surrender in just about every battle they were involved in. My uncle saw not only soldiers, but civilians, including many women holding their children, jump off of cliffs rather than submit to the invading allied forces. That is a commitment to the cause that no words or bullets are ever going to overcome.

    As difficult as the decision must have been, I believe it was the right one. The loss of life and the horrific aftermath is so brutal, but then again, war is hell, and it is literally kill or be killed. With that said, I don't think we have any reason to ever go that far with the Middle East. That area is such a divided mess that is not really any one uniform enemy, but rather clumps of groups here and there. Not all middle eastern people wish "death to America".
  • fuckfuck Posts: 4,069
    I'm just wondering... did any of you even read the article?
  • Solat13Solat13 Posts: 6,996
    Dropping those bombs on the Japanese civilians makes what the Germans did in the holocaust look like a tickle party....

    The Asian Holocaust perpetrated by the Japanese on the civilians of China, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia was much worse than any nuclear bomb.
    - Busted down the pretext
    - 8/28/98
    - 9/2/00
    - 4/28/03, 5/3/03, 7/3/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03
    - 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 10/2/04
    - 9/11/05, 9/12/05, 9/13/05, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05
    - 5/12/06, 5/13/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/23/06, 7/22/06, 7/23/06, 12/2/06, 12/9/06
    - 8/2/07, 8/5/07
    - 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/22/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 7/1/08
    - 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 9/21/09, 9/22/09, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09
    - 5/15/10, 5/17/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10, 10/23/10, 10/24/10
    - 9/11/11, 9/12/11
    - 10/18/13, 10/21/13, 10/22/13, 11/30/13, 12/4/13
  • My first question is this:

    Why lie about the radiation that came from the bombs? Were they worried that if word got out that they poisoned the area that they would face repercussions?


    My second question:

    Why in the hell would they not pursue a surrender, which apparently wasn't unobtainable and out of reach, like all the high school history books make it seem like. Only to try out their new toy?

    My third question:

    Are the nuclear weapons that Israel have allowed under UN regulations? And if so, why? Because they are our ally?


    My fourth question:

    How can we, as a species that is supposed to have an elevated intelligence and understanding of the world around us that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom be so eager to hurt, mangle, rape, torture, and destroy other human beings?
  • CollinCollin Posts: 4,931
    I agree with pretty much everything in the article and have so for quite a while. The bombs were disgusting and unnecessary. It definitely is a war crime and it's shameful, sad, disgusting but not surprising the Western world can't admit this. These things are hard to admit.

    There was a discussion about this topic a while back, too.

    The thing we can learn form this is that war is a disgusting thing and never right, even when one might argue it's necessary, war means killing innocent people and that can't be right, can it?
    THANK YOU, LOSTDAWG!


    naděje umírá poslední
  • Solat13 wrote:
    The Asian Holocaust perpetrated by the Japanese on the civilians of China, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia was much worse than any nuclear bomb.

    I agree with you. Japan's government at the time had a mission to control all of Asia. It doesn't ever get mentioned because of what we ended up doing.

    I don't know if the bomb was right or not but I tend to believe there is a reason that we haven't dropped one sense.
    10/31/2000 (****)
    6/7/2003 (***1/2)
    7/9/2006 (****1/2)
    7/13/2006 (**** )
    4/10/2008 EV Solo (****1/2)
    6/25/2008 MSG II (*****)
    10/1/2009 LA II (****)
    10/6/2009 LA III (***** Cornell!!!)
  • One hell of a science experiment... I like how scads of US doctors immediately descended upon ground zero to continue their science project in a live test scenario but this time with human lab rats.
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")

  • I don't know if the bomb was right or not but I tend to believe there is a reason that we haven't dropped once sense.

    Just a lot of little bombs (some not so little) that have actually exceeded the destructive capability of both bombs combined...

    Then there's the depleted uranium thing...
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • apt Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

    the Japanese tried to explain the first one away as a weather-related catastrophe, some of the reasoning behind the second bombing was to dispel this notion (and to put the rest of the world on notice, obviously)
    hate was just a legend
Sign In or Register to comment.