Hiroshima and Nagasaki remembered...
For years after I first heard of the horrific carnage that the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had inflicted on innocent civilians, I thought that it was universally understood that a terrible wrong had been committed. Mankind had learned a lesson from this- NEVER AGAIN, as they like to say, over and over. As a child, I remember feeling distraught that something as devastating as the atom bomb loomed over us all, threatening annihilation either directly or through the long lingering death caused by the fallout. It was an evil I believed we all recognized.
It is only in the past 4 years that I have come to realize an exception exists- the American people. Not all, but enough to make their grotesque rumblings heard louder than anyone's. People who justify, excuse, even commend the action. Who claim that there were no innocents in Japan, as everyone was working for the war effort, even children. I wonder how they would have responded to a similar attack on any major American city, engaged as they were in their own war efforts. (Then again- why wonder. Think 911)
I recently discovered that there were some who had contemplated dropping yet another atom bomb, in spite of having witnessed Japan's ordeal. Specifically, General Douglas MacArthur, who had lobbied to bomb North Korea in 1950, once China had joined that war.
http://mondediplo.com/2004/12/08korea .
And the West wonders why North Korea and others appear to believe a bomb of their own might prove a deterrent. Since when is the USA a guardian of peace, alone possessing the moral integrity to resist using this kind of power. Fact is, they're the only ones who have used it against other humans.
In 1999 I went on a cross-country trip to the West Coast with my son. By chance, we found ourselves in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the very anniversary of the dropping of the bomb. Santa Fe isn't far from Los Alamos, where the technology for the bomb was developed. I heard that groups of Japanese were visiting the site to pray for peace and wanted to go and document it, but had no transportation and couldn't convince the people we were staying with that it was important. It's very frustrating at times, being unable to drive... I remember a local Santa Fe resident expressing anger at the Japanese visitors, saying, well, why don’t they come to pray for Pearl Harbour. Why don't we have a holiday for THAT? (Not worth a reply) The following year, Los Alamos was caught in a brush fire and burned down, so that opportunity was missed. What exists there now beyond a Virtual Los Alamos is anyone's guess. On the official Los Alamos website, among other things, they discuss the bombs in terms of firepower but omit to mention the Japanese people who died. The bombs have cute names, beloved of the American military mindset. "Little Boy", Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. "Fat Man", Nagasaki, August 9, 1945.
http://www.lanl.gov
Cute names aside, 140,000 people were killed by "Little Boy" 60 years ago. 70,000 more died 3 days later when "Fat Man" plunged on Nagasaki. It was only by chance that the second bomb killed fewer people, as in essence it was the more powerful weapon. Cloud cover obscured the drop and it fell into a ravine rather than hit the intended target.
Hibahusha is the name given to the people who survived, often only to contract cancer and other forms of radiation sickness years later. They suffered the additional emotional trauma of losing their families, only to be shunned and excluded as potential marriage partners, out of society's fear that they harboured dormant illnesses. (See the remarkable Shohei Imamura film, "Black Rain" http://www.crosscurrents.org/FeleppaSpring2004.htm)
The people who, oddly enough, seemed most interested in the Hibahusha's fate, were the very American scientists who had devised the destruction. "After the war, the Americans provided medical care for those affected. This also enabled scientists to study the effects of radioactive exposure on people." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4745653.stm
Imagine the humiliation of being physically probed by the perpetrators of your collective and personal misery. The survivors provided invaluable data on the effects of radiation poisoning.
Cynics might wonder if this doesn't provide another clue as to why 2 bombs were dropped. Did the repeat bombing end the war, as the Americans claim? Or was Japan ready to concede defeat , their overtures of surrender ignored, when the second bomb devastated Nagasaki. What was its purpose? The two bombs were not identical. They possessed different cores- Hiroshima's, uranium (obtained from Canada), while the one dropped on Nagasaki contained plutonium, leading to suspicions that the bombs were an evil experiment on the effects of atomic weapons on human populations. Prior to this, scientists could only theorize on their creation's possible effects- that is, before the bombing of Japan put an end to all speculation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4133572.stm
Whatever the reasons given, I will never accept that the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan was justifiable. Alongside the Holocaust, it will remain for me as the defining moment when, as a child, my belief in the inherent good in mankind was erased forever. Replacing it was an understanding that our species is an aberration, capable of incomprehensible acts of evil and destruction, which go against all laws of nature and morality.
Knowing this, I nevertheless believe that it is our duty to struggle against it- to encourage the goodness in people- to promote love and acceptance where we can- and when people like the idiots who dropped the atom bombs try to justify their actions- gently but firmly point out that they're FULL OF SHIT.
It is only in the past 4 years that I have come to realize an exception exists- the American people. Not all, but enough to make their grotesque rumblings heard louder than anyone's. People who justify, excuse, even commend the action. Who claim that there were no innocents in Japan, as everyone was working for the war effort, even children. I wonder how they would have responded to a similar attack on any major American city, engaged as they were in their own war efforts. (Then again- why wonder. Think 911)
I recently discovered that there were some who had contemplated dropping yet another atom bomb, in spite of having witnessed Japan's ordeal. Specifically, General Douglas MacArthur, who had lobbied to bomb North Korea in 1950, once China had joined that war.
http://mondediplo.com/2004/12/08korea .
And the West wonders why North Korea and others appear to believe a bomb of their own might prove a deterrent. Since when is the USA a guardian of peace, alone possessing the moral integrity to resist using this kind of power. Fact is, they're the only ones who have used it against other humans.
In 1999 I went on a cross-country trip to the West Coast with my son. By chance, we found ourselves in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the very anniversary of the dropping of the bomb. Santa Fe isn't far from Los Alamos, where the technology for the bomb was developed. I heard that groups of Japanese were visiting the site to pray for peace and wanted to go and document it, but had no transportation and couldn't convince the people we were staying with that it was important. It's very frustrating at times, being unable to drive... I remember a local Santa Fe resident expressing anger at the Japanese visitors, saying, well, why don’t they come to pray for Pearl Harbour. Why don't we have a holiday for THAT? (Not worth a reply) The following year, Los Alamos was caught in a brush fire and burned down, so that opportunity was missed. What exists there now beyond a Virtual Los Alamos is anyone's guess. On the official Los Alamos website, among other things, they discuss the bombs in terms of firepower but omit to mention the Japanese people who died. The bombs have cute names, beloved of the American military mindset. "Little Boy", Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. "Fat Man", Nagasaki, August 9, 1945.
http://www.lanl.gov
Cute names aside, 140,000 people were killed by "Little Boy" 60 years ago. 70,000 more died 3 days later when "Fat Man" plunged on Nagasaki. It was only by chance that the second bomb killed fewer people, as in essence it was the more powerful weapon. Cloud cover obscured the drop and it fell into a ravine rather than hit the intended target.
Hibahusha is the name given to the people who survived, often only to contract cancer and other forms of radiation sickness years later. They suffered the additional emotional trauma of losing their families, only to be shunned and excluded as potential marriage partners, out of society's fear that they harboured dormant illnesses. (See the remarkable Shohei Imamura film, "Black Rain" http://www.crosscurrents.org/FeleppaSpring2004.htm)
The people who, oddly enough, seemed most interested in the Hibahusha's fate, were the very American scientists who had devised the destruction. "After the war, the Americans provided medical care for those affected. This also enabled scientists to study the effects of radioactive exposure on people." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4745653.stm
Imagine the humiliation of being physically probed by the perpetrators of your collective and personal misery. The survivors provided invaluable data on the effects of radiation poisoning.
Cynics might wonder if this doesn't provide another clue as to why 2 bombs were dropped. Did the repeat bombing end the war, as the Americans claim? Or was Japan ready to concede defeat , their overtures of surrender ignored, when the second bomb devastated Nagasaki. What was its purpose? The two bombs were not identical. They possessed different cores- Hiroshima's, uranium (obtained from Canada), while the one dropped on Nagasaki contained plutonium, leading to suspicions that the bombs were an evil experiment on the effects of atomic weapons on human populations. Prior to this, scientists could only theorize on their creation's possible effects- that is, before the bombing of Japan put an end to all speculation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4133572.stm
Whatever the reasons given, I will never accept that the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan was justifiable. Alongside the Holocaust, it will remain for me as the defining moment when, as a child, my belief in the inherent good in mankind was erased forever. Replacing it was an understanding that our species is an aberration, capable of incomprehensible acts of evil and destruction, which go against all laws of nature and morality.
Knowing this, I nevertheless believe that it is our duty to struggle against it- to encourage the goodness in people- to promote love and acceptance where we can- and when people like the idiots who dropped the atom bombs try to justify their actions- gently but firmly point out that they're FULL OF SHIT.
posted by Dawn One at 1:00 pm
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