Hiroshima + Nagasaki

[pacigoth13]

I'm writing this because I feel sad and melancholy every single year at this time, because I know what took place 60 years ago on August 6th and 9th respectively. So I want to say a few things and make a few stands...

 

1. All war is hell, all war is sin.

2. The very existence (let alone usage) of atomic bombs is a slap in God's face - it is also a bigger threat to the idea of creationism and/or intelligent design than anything Darwin related.

3. Anyone who would justify atomic bombs for any reason believes in and worships a different god than I do.

4. By being the first nation to use nuclear weapons, the USA set a precedent it should not have set. The bombs targetted civilians, an act that we happen to define as "terrorism". In 1945, the USA lost its to combat "terrorism". The plank is still in our own eye...

5. George Bush is an evil person and is himself a "terrorist". Bush is in favour of the a-bomb and the h-bomb. Furthermore, he wishes to develop Bunker Blasters, a newer form using nuclear technology. It is complete ignorance and stupidity to underestimate the threat that such "weapons of mass destruction" still pose.

6. We owe apologies not only to the people who have suffered in all wars and all acts of mass violence - but also to the land. This includes not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also New Mexico and the Nevada test site, and Chernobyl and the list goes on. We can only hope and pray that the earth can forgive us.

7. Following Jesus means following ways that lead to peace and opposing wars like the war in Iraq. Flower power to the people - ban the army. Make love not war. Listen to music that exists for the ideological purpose of educating people about war and violence so that peace may sought - both old hippie antiwar songs from the 60s and 70s but also modern bands that are relevant to current issues, like Funkervogt, an awesome German antiwar protest movement.

 

Live, love, be, believe

paxigoth

[des]

Agreed on just about everything.

A couple observations. I didn't see much news coverage (US) on this event. BBC World News had extended coverage.

 

I know someone who actually celebrates the event. He believes that the bomb saved countless (American) lives. One of the people BBC interviewed stated, "if it saved one (American) life, it was justifiable." I find such discussion just unspeakable. This guy I know actually had a framed picture of an A-Bomb on his wall! In NM there is a big Atomic museum in Los Alamos. There are the two bombs (or at least copies), explanations of nuclear energy, pictures of the benefits of nuclear energy. I was just appalled. No where was any mention made of the thousands of lives lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or all the destruction and chaos, etc. No mention of anything re: Chernobyl or Three Mile Island (described sometimes as a "success"-- because thru sheer luck it didn't melt down).

I said to one fo the docents, something to that effect, and apparently she had heard it before. (No, it was not my idea to go to this.) I know he (and the museum) are not alone in this (maybe the framed picture of the A-Bomb) but ultimately I think they suffer from lack of a moral imagination. When I look at a picture of an A-bomb, I see melted eye balls, hideous burns, and deformed babies. Apparently-- gosh I don't know what they see.

 

BTW, my only problem is defining Bush and an evil person. I think he is guided by fear and other very smart and agenda driven people who are manipulating him. They have used 9/11 as an excuse for any behavior, however deplorable. I think he is misusing Christianity, by talkign in terms that conservatives identify with, but really the US is not in deed or in reality a "Christian nation".

 

 

 

--des

Edited August 7, 2005 by des

[steve]

Because of the recent anniversary of the use of atomic weapons many on the post (this one and others) have mentioned the need to halt nuclear proliferation and then to disarm. We have seen the destruction that is produced from these weapons and the need to keep them from the hands of irresponsible and hostile regimes.

 

I agree with this need, but I am not sure that we realize the amount of trouble this will cause. First of all we have to remember that the Bomb does exist. That will never change. We can’t go back to a time before it happened, just like we cant go back to a time before we had the motorcar. Even if we got rid of all the automobiles that are on the planet now and banned the creation of new cars, we still would not be able to erase the memory of when we did have them. It would only be a matter of time before they would be created and used again. I think that is true not just for the motorcar, but also for the Bomb. We cannot pretend that they don’t exist.

 

Because we can’t do this we will have to figure a way to keep these from being created as best we can. I am not sure how to do this but I know that with all the smart people in this world we could figure something out. We have to be vigilant and keep watch over those governments and organizations that wish to obtain these weapons. This has to be prevented.

 

But, just like we are unlikely to give up our weapons because the Chinese, Koreans, Israelis, and numerous other countries have them or might have them, they will not give up theirs. We can’t attack and invade every nation that has weapons like this and force them to give them up. If we did that we would be in a war with Iraq now, and then Iran, Korea, China, you get the picture.

 

I really don’t see any other rout than to do what we are doing, and maybe add to that some other good ideas. I don’t think we can just say, ‘Okay, we give up ours so you give up yours.’

 

Does anyone have an idea about this?

[des]

I agree with you Steve that I think it is a VERY dicey problem.

 

But what I really wanted to say was this. I saw this program on Book TV today (CSPAN2) where this guy was talking about the development of the A-bomb. And they were doing a test in Alamorgodo NM, the first test that they ever did and there were actually some scientists that believed that there was a chance, however thin, that this blast would hit the atmosphere and burn it up and that would be the end of life as we know it on earth. There were mathematical calculations to that effect. So as they were waiting for the test, these scientists were coolly calculating the possibility-- gee, I wonder if this will be hot enough to burn up the atmosphere. I found this just incredible. Someone asked a question to this effect, that they really went into this not knowing this. And the guy answered that they were MORE worried about it not working at all.

 

YIKES.

 

--des

[peacemover]

I resonate with much of the spirit of this thread as well. I do not believe dropping those bombs was necessary. The Hiroshima bomb alone killed upwards of 200,000 people on its own- the overwhelming majority of them being innocent civilians.

 

That sort of a vicious attack- even against a nation that attacked our forces so viciously at Pearl Harbor and throughout the South Pacific in WWII amounts to state-sanctioned terrorism or at the least is very close to it, even against an agressor that started a war with our nation.

 

I think it is out of bounds and inappropriate to call our current president a terrorist, however. Yes, he has sanctioned our forces in Iraq to unleash one of the most deadly, unilateral attacks on a nation in recent human history. The estimated Iraqi death toll probably rises into the tens of thousands if not over a hundred thousand total.

 

The main difference in my mind is that Hussein, while he may not have had WMDs, was a despot who had murdered tens of thousands of his own people and basically committed genocide against the Kurds and against other Muslims and anyone not of his origin who stood in his way.

 

The problem there is that once you take out a ruler like Hussein who controlled that nation with an iron fist, there is a vacuum of power that these insurgents have taken advantage of, and will continue to exploit until the American troop body count gets high enough to raise public outrage to the point that it forces the president to pull out.

 

 

Let's get back to Hiroshima, though...

 

It was the greatest human tragedy perpetrated by our government, and opened the door to mass development of nuclear weapons that otherwise may not have occurred so rapidly and voluminously.

 

Nuclear disarmament and international inspections need to be a top priority for our nation and the international community.

 

There has been a good bit of coverage about the anniversary on National Public Radio in recent weeks.

 

Peace,

 

John

[peacemover]

By the way, there was an interesting article about Robert Oppenheimer- one of the scientists who developed the atomic bomb, in Science and Theology News:

 

Atoms and Ethics

 

 

Peace,

 

John

Edited August 8, 2005 by peacemover

[peacemover]

There was also a poignant article in the Washington Post about a group of Japanese and American WWII veterans that gathered to remember the occasion, share stories and get to know one another:

 

Sixty Years After A-Bomb, Old Foes Meet Over a Deep Divide

[peacemover]

Sorry if me posting all these links is getting annoying, but these articles just seemed to offer uniqiue perspectives into this topic that I wanted to share. Here is one written by a young Japanese American man recounting his family's memories of the time immediately following Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan:

 

An Anniversary to Forget