Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site watdaisy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!watdaisy!saquigley From: saquigley@watdaisy.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: addendum to my flame - (nf) Message-ID: <6464@watdaisy.UUCP> Date: Sat, 28-Jan-84 18:10:13 EST Article-I.D.: watdaisy.6464 Posted: Sat Jan 28 18:10:13 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Feb-84 10:19:52 EST References: <5114@uiucdcs.UUCP> Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 48 Nagasaki was bombed THREE days after Hiroshima. Even though the Japanese bragged that they didn't believe the US had any more bombs, this seems to me to be a bit expedient (to say the least). I cannot believe that three days was long enough to give them at least time to think, realise the extent of the damage, or convince them by other means that the US did have more bombs. I know that the US was at war with Japan, but what did they have to loose by waiting a bit longer to give Japan a chance to recover its wits? As far as feeling guilt is concerned, I don't believe each person should feel guilt over something they are not responsible for, but they should feel guilt that as a nation, they were capable of doing such a thing, or if not guilt, then maybe wonder what it was about the collective spirit of their nation that lead its leaders to commit such a crime as Nagasaki. Such soul-searching has been going on in Germany since WW2 with the result that post WW2 german children were brought up in a less disciplined environment. This has had the (good-bad?) results that west german youths as a whole are more rebellious, and much more suspicious of authority than many youngsters in other countries. What happened in the American case was somewhat different. A bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing some 80,000 people (originally). The motives behind this slaughter have not really been analysed. I suspect that that bomb was dropped both as a desire to show the world who was the most powerful, and also out of scientific curiosity to see what it would do. When you consider the eagerness of American scientists to go over to Japan to study the effects of the bombs right after the war, this hypothesis makes some sense. What I was flaming about in my original article is the fact that there has not been any movement in America to go to the root of the question of why that second bomb was dropped. Would it uncover some dark area of the collective American psyche? I suspect so, I suspect also that the only thing that would be uncovered is how widespread the belief of american superiority not only as a nation, but as a race is, something which is very ugly, but is also very common elsewhere in the world. As was pointed out by someone else, the problem is that the US is a much more powerful nation, so what they do there affects the rest of the world much more. What I find very scarry is that instead of guilt, or whatever, americans are collectively (again I am talking about the mood of the country, not about individuals) very righteous about having dropped this bomb and do find the idea of dropping others acceptable (e.g "nuke the ayatolah" sentiment). Maybe people separately do realise the enormity of such sentiments, but their mere expression makes them more acceptable and induce a sort of collective numbing about the whole issue, a terrain ripe for lunatics to play on. Does this clarify my opinions? Sophie Quigley ..!watmath!watdaisy!saquigley