White Light/Black Rain -- I'm not a documentary kind of girl, but ...
Maybe I cried a little.
Relegated to the tiniest corner of any text found in the United States, the events that occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 are often discussed in terms of "collateral damage" and "necessary evils" (those glorious ready-made phrases of which Orwell is so disdainful).
We (as citizens of the United States and students) have seen pictures (such as this one) countless times. They serve as a slap on the wrist at best -- yes, children; this was a Bad Thing to happen. Sometimes, dangerously, the idea that This is Something which should Not Happen Again is thrown out. Are we lead to question dropping "Little Boy" on Hiroshima? Are we lead to question dropping "Fat Man" on Nagasaki?
Certainly you can determine the answer for yourself.
The point, I believe, I'm honestly trying to make is that that -- that is not the worst; people like to assume it is. Find the smallest amount of damage, photograph it and slap it in a textbook. The true extent of the horror?
Well, that's someone no one really needs to know. It might make people lose some pride in their country.
--
In my opinion, there's a rather decent amount of undue national pride that could do with some losing.
--
In the words of President Truman, the creation of the atomic bomb, of the nuclear weapon, was "a new and revolutionary increase in destruction;" it was a "harnessing of the basic power of the universe." As if this is a good thing. That we have used that kind of scientific genius (for that is what spawned the atomic bomb: genius) in order to figure out new, ingenious ways to destroy ourselves. The thing is that there are so many ways to better use our energies.
--
"The only thing that moved in Hiroshima were the flies circling over the dead."
A series of survivor's accounts. That sort of thing. Pathos doesn't usually work on me, but that -- oh fuck did that ever.
--
And yet we demonize what occurred on September 11, 2001. What al-Quaeda did to the World Trade Centers was, of course, a heinous crime against humanitymassive slaughter of civilians. These people had families; in fact, there were children to died in the attacks. There were almost 3,000 fatalities. Isn't that horrible? Aren't the people responsible [al-Quaeda] aren't they the worst of the worst?
(The death toll immediately after the bombing of Nagasaki numbered anywhere between 60,000 to 80,000. Hiroshima saw casualties at 90,000 at the lowest, 140,000 at the most [citation]. This is discounting the thousands of deaths that occurred at a later, as a result of nuclear radiation.)
Next to that 3,000 is a handful of dust. Yet we view what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as necessary.
Sure, if you'd like you can attempt to justify it. The World Trade Center was comprised entirely of civilians; both Hiroshima and Nagasaki played important military roles. 9/11 was (according to what we know) entirely unprovoked; Japan and the USA were involved in military action against one another. Certainly there is some level of disparity between the two circumstances, but the fact that one is a heinous crime in our eyes, while the other is entirely justifiable -- undiluted hypocrisy; never been more true.
--
The funny thing? White Light/Black Rain wasn't accusing the United States. The purpose of the film was to help discourage any further use of nuclear weaponry. The purpose was to halt this absolute idiocy, this self-destruction. The contempt I feel at the moment, the absolute, vehement disgust with the concept of "America" and the unapologetic pride we have in our actions -- that's all mine. It comes from no outside source.
I am supposed to distill this down into a rhetorical analysis, blow-by-blow, point-by-point. I will, but not today. I can't.
Have you ever felt too ill to be academic? I know this isn't my most coherent work; consider it the spontaneous overflow of emotion.
Relegated to the tiniest corner of any text found in the United States, the events that occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 are often discussed in terms of "collateral damage" and "necessary evils" (those glorious ready-made phrases of which Orwell is so disdainful).
We (as citizens of the United States and students) have seen pictures (such as this one) countless times. They serve as a slap on the wrist at best -- yes, children; this was a Bad Thing to happen. Sometimes, dangerously, the idea that This is Something which should Not Happen Again is thrown out. Are we lead to question dropping "Little Boy" on Hiroshima? Are we lead to question dropping "Fat Man" on Nagasaki?
Certainly you can determine the answer for yourself.
The point, I believe, I'm honestly trying to make is that that -- that is not the worst; people like to assume it is. Find the smallest amount of damage, photograph it and slap it in a textbook. The true extent of the horror?
Well, that's someone no one really needs to know. It might make people lose some pride in their country.
--
In my opinion, there's a rather decent amount of undue national pride that could do with some losing.
--
In the words of President Truman, the creation of the atomic bomb, of the nuclear weapon, was "a new and revolutionary increase in destruction;" it was a "harnessing of the basic power of the universe." As if this is a good thing. That we have used that kind of scientific genius (for that is what spawned the atomic bomb: genius) in order to figure out new, ingenious ways to destroy ourselves. The thing is that there are so many ways to better use our energies.
--
"The only thing that moved in Hiroshima were the flies circling over the dead."
A series of survivor's accounts. That sort of thing. Pathos doesn't usually work on me, but that -- oh fuck did that ever.
--
And yet we demonize what occurred on September 11, 2001. What al-Quaeda did to the World Trade Centers was, of course, a heinous crime against humanitymassive slaughter of civilians. These people had families; in fact, there were children to died in the attacks. There were almost 3,000 fatalities. Isn't that horrible? Aren't the people responsible [al-Quaeda] aren't they the worst of the worst?
(The death toll immediately after the bombing of Nagasaki numbered anywhere between 60,000 to 80,000. Hiroshima saw casualties at 90,000 at the lowest, 140,000 at the most [citation]. This is discounting the thousands of deaths that occurred at a later, as a result of nuclear radiation.)
Next to that 3,000 is a handful of dust. Yet we view what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as necessary.
Sure, if you'd like you can attempt to justify it. The World Trade Center was comprised entirely of civilians; both Hiroshima and Nagasaki played important military roles. 9/11 was (according to what we know) entirely unprovoked; Japan and the USA were involved in military action against one another. Certainly there is some level of disparity between the two circumstances, but the fact that one is a heinous crime in our eyes, while the other is entirely justifiable -- undiluted hypocrisy; never been more true.
--
The funny thing? White Light/Black Rain wasn't accusing the United States. The purpose of the film was to help discourage any further use of nuclear weaponry. The purpose was to halt this absolute idiocy, this self-destruction. The contempt I feel at the moment, the absolute, vehement disgust with the concept of "America" and the unapologetic pride we have in our actions -- that's all mine. It comes from no outside source.
I am supposed to distill this down into a rhetorical analysis, blow-by-blow, point-by-point. I will, but not today. I can't.
Have you ever felt too ill to be academic? I know this isn't my most coherent work; consider it the spontaneous overflow of emotion.