Image from the US Navy Office of Information via Google Images
An article by Geoffrey York in last Saturday's Globe and Mail described a present day backlash against the anti-nuke peace movement, including displays of disrespect for the aging Hiroshima survivors still active as spokespeople. According to the article, "when the survivors joined a peace march in Washington, they were jeered at by passersby who shouted 'Go Home!' and 'Remember Pearl Harbour!" York also makes the point that the "concept of 'ground zero' as the epicentre of the first nuclear blast has been appropriated by New York. Ms Takeoka, an outspoken survivor of Hiroshima is quoted:Most of those with direct memories of the atomic bomb will pass away in the near future. ... It's a big challenge for us, we are asking the younger generation to carry on our stories. ... People are more interested in the anti-terrorism campaign. The focus has shifted away from nuclear weapons. Of course the war on terrorism is important, but nothing can compare to the horror of a nuclear bomb. ... I feel very sad about the world. I have a feeling that ultimately some country will use nuclear weapons again.
I listen to NPR quite often on the drive home. One night last week was an interview with Iris Chang about the rape of Nanking. Another night was a group of historians discussing the defeat and surrender of Japan, and the role that the A-bomb played.
War is perhaps the most depraved of all human activities, whether the soldier is spattered with the blood of his victim or the soldier is in a clean lab coat thousands of miles away from the charred flesh of his victims.
At times, this depraved activity may be necessary for self-defense. I'm sure the Jews of Warsaw, the Armenians of Turkey, or the Dutch troops protecting Srebrenica could have used a lot more fire power, but the threshold for unleashing war is generally entirely too low.
This is a particular problem in the US. The citizens of this empire are broadly ignorant of the US history of using military to invade and occupy countries which have committed no acts of aggression against the US. These citizens are also broadly ignorant of the consequences of military action upon civilian populations. They don't even feel the costs of empire in taxation.
A population this isolated from the history and consequences of war, with fire power previously unknown in the history of the world, and with the willingness to elect an ignorant, vindictive, aggressive man to the presidency is extremely dangerous to the entire planet.
Here is a link to a somewhat contentious commentary published yesterday in the Guardian titled:
The birth of mere terror .
many many thanks to L.M. for lending us De Groot's A Bomb: A Life. My household is currently organised around who's turn it is to read the book. I can't quote directly right now because I am online, which means GVB is reading it. I'm only a few chapters in, but one of the reasons I'm so appreciative already is the perspective, similiar to the Guardian article you linke to above, on the pre-existing acceptance of bomb-induced civilian casualties that insidiously accrued over the course of the war. (The Fog of War is also good for the horrors of fire-bombing, which had pretty much decimated Japan already before Hiroshima). Another piece of context I like is the pre-existing belief that a technological advance in weaponry would act as a deterrent, bringing an end to war, a notion that was current well before the invention of atomic weapons of mass destruction. "Mass destruction" being a relative term, I guess.
I also had no idea just how massive an undertaking the Los Alamos project was: resources equal to the spending on the automobile industry. It's really no wonder people got all weird about government secrecy and space aliens buried in the desert.
I agree with you Mark. The manic irrationality of Bush politics, combined with the US arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, is a bad bad bad combination. It's a good time to show some respect for hardcore peaceniks.
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Image from the US Navy Office of Information via Google Images
An article by Geoffrey York in last Saturday's Globe and Mail described a present day backlash against the anti-nuke peace movement, including displays of disrespect for the aging Hiroshima survivors still active as spokespeople. According to the article, "when the survivors joined a peace march in Washington, they were jeered at by passersby who shouted 'Go Home!' and 'Remember Pearl Harbour!" York also makes the point that the "concept of 'ground zero' as the epicentre of the first nuclear blast has been appropriated by New York. Ms Takeoka, an outspoken survivor of Hiroshima is quoted:
- sally mckay 8-06-2005 8:09 am
I listen to NPR quite often on the drive home. One night last week was an interview with Iris Chang about the rape of Nanking. Another night was a group of historians discussing the defeat and surrender of Japan, and the role that the A-bomb played.
War is perhaps the most depraved of all human activities, whether the soldier is spattered with the blood of his victim or the soldier is in a clean lab coat thousands of miles away from the charred flesh of his victims.
At times, this depraved activity may be necessary for self-defense. I'm sure the Jews of Warsaw, the Armenians of Turkey, or the Dutch troops protecting Srebrenica could have used a lot more fire power, but the threshold for unleashing war is generally entirely too low.
This is a particular problem in the US. The citizens of this empire are broadly ignorant of the US history of using military to invade and occupy countries which have committed no acts of aggression against the US. These citizens are also broadly ignorant of the consequences of military action upon civilian populations. They don't even feel the costs of empire in taxation.
A population this isolated from the history and consequences of war, with fire power previously unknown in the history of the world, and with the willingness to elect an ignorant, vindictive, aggressive man to the presidency is extremely dangerous to the entire planet.
- mark 8-06-2005 9:30 pm
Here is a link to a somewhat contentious commentary published yesterday in the Guardian titled:
The birth of mere terror .
- L.M. 8-07-2005 12:20 am
many many thanks to L.M. for lending us De Groot's A Bomb: A Life. My household is currently organised around who's turn it is to read the book. I can't quote directly right now because I am online, which means GVB is reading it. I'm only a few chapters in, but one of the reasons I'm so appreciative already is the perspective, similiar to the Guardian article you linke to above, on the pre-existing acceptance of bomb-induced civilian casualties that insidiously accrued over the course of the war. (The Fog of War is also good for the horrors of fire-bombing, which had pretty much decimated Japan already before Hiroshima). Another piece of context I like is the pre-existing belief that a technological advance in weaponry would act as a deterrent, bringing an end to war, a notion that was current well before the invention of atomic weapons of mass destruction. "Mass destruction" being a relative term, I guess.
I also had no idea just how massive an undertaking the Los Alamos project was: resources equal to the spending on the automobile industry. It's really no wonder people got all weird about government secrecy and space aliens buried in the desert.
- sally mckay 8-08-2005 5:41 am
I agree with you Mark. The manic irrationality of Bush politics, combined with the US arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, is a bad bad bad combination. It's a good time to show some respect for hardcore peaceniks.
- sally mckay 8-08-2005 6:04 am