A view of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the bomb being dropped.
225,000 men, women, and children dead. Some still defend the US attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as being "necessary."
Yesterday was the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. According to the jumbled "official story" there was no choice but to drop the bomb. If it weren't for that bomb you'd be speaking German right now! is still the favorite line of many statists in the USA, and even around the world. Some in Japan even seem to believe it was a sad "necessity."
Regardless of the fact that there were many, many direct overtures of surrender and willingness to negotiate coming from the high ranking officials in the Japanese government prior to the bombings, individuals brainwashed by statist indoctrination and nationalistic programming still wish to somehow "justify" this mass murder. I would highly encourage anyone to research this topic (see hyperlink above).
All this notwithstanding, though, whether or not the Japanese government was planning to surrender is irrelevant when coming to a verdict on the morality of these acts of aggression. They were wrong. They were unethical. They were murder. The end.
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was pre-meditated mass murder, regardless of the Japanese government's stance on surrender at the time.
You see, a government's supposed evil plans never justify the taking of innocent life. This is where the collectivists and nationalists who support blanket military action against any and all individuals living within a given geographical region have it dead wrong.
When innocent people are killed, and innocent lives are taken in events such as those that transpired 72 years ago in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is not just "collateral damage." It is....innocent lives being taken. And claims that all this was for the "greater good" are nonsensical. Why? Well, how can good come from evil? If taking innocent life is always wrong, how, then, can it ever be "right"? Performatively, the religious nationalists who make these "arguments" always contradict themselves, anyway.
Most Americans arguing for this "greater good" would not be willing to die for the "greater good" should it consist of some other country bombing them if the USA allied itself with some new, evil world power.
It was worth it for peace, they say. I say Great. The US is right now indiscriminately drone bombing villages in the Middle East. When someone from their country comes to the US to murder you, please step out and willingly die. It is worth it for peace, after all.
I would like to dedicate this post to all those who lost their lives in these bombings, as well as the firebombings that occurred in other cities, such as the one in Tokyo which was the deadliest single air raid in all of history.
RIP. There is a better way.
Thousands upon thousands of lives destroyed in seconds, with the push of a button from the air.
Tokyo after the infamous firebombing known as "Operation Meetinghouse," the deadliest bombing in history, still largely ignored and often forgotten.
This is the cancer called nationalism.
These individuals are to blame?
There is no apology that can erase this. Google "Voluntaryism," and come to your senses.
Peace.
~KafkA
(All images public domain, Wikipedia.)
Graham Smith is a voluntaryist activist and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
Couldn't possibly agree more with this article as this is a belief I have always held as well. It is so sad to me that when Americans commit atrocities like this they are a "necessary part of war". Ask ANY American how they feel about 9/11 though? We can ALL agree that it was a tragedy. But what we did to Japan is not even comparable and so many just shrug it off as not being a big deal. If some other country hit us they way we hit Japan, it would be considered unforgiveable. I just wish more people could see life through the perspective of others sometimes. So sad.
I remember that my father used to say that the atomic bombs were necessary 'because the Japanese would never stop'. I also remember that I thought it was a strange and scary thing to hear that there are people who actually think it's OK to murder so many innocent people out of fear of...of what really? My father was originally from Amsterdam, lived through the WWII and has seen many of his friends being deported to death camps. I remember the tears that came when he was telling us stories about friends that were taken and never seen again. I could never understand how the lives of these friends were more precious than the lives of those who died in Japan. I probably never will. Thank you for this post. RIP to all those lives that were lost during this horrible event in history.
You raise a really interesting point I think about tribalism and the potential detriments of the "in group/out group" mentality found in all animals, including humans.
I am so sorry to hear about your dad's friends. I am really struck by your willingness to see things so clearly, though. Why were "those people" different?
Thanks for your comment.
Thank you! Things like that have been keeping me occupied from the moment I started searching for truth. In my opinion all life is precious and killing is and can never be the answer. I can't even begin to imagine how the men on both sides of any war would feel after they follow orders like that. Of course some (like the Japanese and Germans) are usually pictured as evil, but I think we all know there would have been pure evil on either side and good just as well. I can't imagine that all of the Gestapo members were evil, just like I know that not all allied soldiers were good. Most of them were following orders, desertion or failing to follow those orders were punishable by death. I think any war brings a lot of young men and women with high expectations and false ideas. I think most are disillusioned by what they end up having to do, or not. Which brings me to a question: what if all those who are 'just following orders' would turn around and say they aren't doing it anymore?
That would be a beautiful day!
I couldn't agree more!
Upvoted and also resteemed :)
Thanks, @behappy.
Statism, the most dangerous and destructive religion ever devised by man ...
Truly sad.
Humankind is a strange animal with a strange behaviour. Lets not forget that people are totally blind of the mass genocide is going on with the children of the world. A shameful number of 25000 innocent children dying daily because of starvation and not many seem to care.
And today the enemy are the Muslims, so its okay to bombard muslim weddings...
The best sign I have ever seen regarding this stated:
Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity.
It used to be the Russians. Now it's Muslims and the Koreans. Media is manipulating a lot in this, and they get their orders from higher posts.
Thank You Graham for including the photographs, as they say, a photo is worth a 1,000 words.
And I totally agree... There IS a better way.
Have a Good Week !!
The US knew the Japanese were prepared for surrender, this was all about show of force and the efficacy of modern weapons. The innocents that perished in Japan via Atomic weapons, were essentially props. That horror has kept regimes quiet for almost 80 years. Terrible way to seize power.
May those innocent souls Rest In Peace. Yes it is one of the bloodiest day in human's history. But Kudos to all people of Japan ,regardless of such an incident they are one of the most developed nation now!!
Collectivism requires extreme nationalism to maintain centralized power. How else to keep the poulation in line with the party message? Propoganda of constant consistent messaging is necessary to legitimize the centralized top down heirarchy we all virtually live under. And it goes beyond just messages. The state promises food through welfare and education, the state promises housing and protection, all the while the state lives to perpetuate itself, disregarding any violation of human rights. The state seeks dependency and loyalty, loyalty comes by covering up their misdeeds. Was it truly necessary, well given that the state itself said so, doesn't make it true. The state has every reason to lie. Maybe they really just wanted to test the bomb on something more than 1 million square miles of desert, isn't it more scientific to bomb an existing urban center? The real truth may be something completely sinister, cold and calculated.
Collectivism does not need contralized power
It also does not need a party.
That is also true for voluntarism, or how will you make people like it without propaganda?
That also is not true. It is a way and often done, but not necessary. You can have loyalty by being honest, too.
Collectivism is centralized power by definition, an yes it is a party or a group. If you are virtuous you won't need propoganda puff pieces to gloat about yourself, misdeeds by collectivist nationalist govt. go hand in hand, we have over 100 years of data now, there's no argumemt.
Collectivism is emphasis on the group.
Nothing for that requires centralized power or a party.
So because betamax was obvious better it won against VHS?
Because the fights against dictators are virtuous they always succeed?
And so on...
How does that work? Collectivism is a governmental philosophy, you have to have a powerful government that taxes everyone into oblivion to fund "collectivism" and it has to keep people in line by telling them good stories about how collectivism "benefits" everyone. Collectivism in the current format of the definition and how it operates today, globally is centralized organization and planning, backed up by a powerful governing body which imposes its will upon people through force and coersion. Truth.
No
No
NO
For easyness, may I quote Wikipedia here?
I admit the english article is not the best one, but nowhere you will found that collectivism needs a state.
For example a cloister is a perfect example for a collectivist society.
Explain how collectivism works without government.
Say no to war
Too bad that a lot of people say yes to war and bring it to me.
So sad.
I just dont like watching the movie "Pearl Harbour" cos i try to imagine how those disintegrated will feel in their graves....
Nice post @kafkanarchy84 i don't have words about this post simply this execution was against humanity.
These bombings were all horrifying.
Because you are open minded and you live in Japan rather than America, I'm going to bring up another theory that I only learned about last year.
At first I was a bit perplexed by it, but the more I looked into it, the more it checked out. And that is the theory that Nagasaki and Hiroshima were destroyed using regular bombs, similar to the ones used on Dresden and Tokyo.
And where does this lead? - straight to the idea that atomic bombs are a con-job, and they don't exist at all. The evidence for this is really solid.
I did a post on this 11 months ago but it wasn't very popular :)
https://steemit.com/life/@sift666/atomic-bombs-are-a-complete-con-job-they-don-t-even-exist
Here is a photo of Dresden
thanks for sharing... makes you worry what will happen as the US is pushing for more wars around the world... have you heard Lidsey Greyhams latest comments:
The thing that gets me is how one sided and convenient this justification is. If you try to use the same logic forpeople who we are supposed to see as "enemies" , despite having been continuously provoked, you'll be considered traitorous. If we really believed in
There must a a line drawn tho, we should not put the american goverment and the american people in the same pot. The general population like all people are decent human beings while the american goverment , in my opinion, is the biggest terrorist organisation in the history of humankind.
Well, not all Germans were Nazis, but still the German people in the majority did nothing to stop them
or even enabled them to commit their terrible atrocities. Same held true for the Japanese people.
Both people paid a terrible price for their failure to resist a terrible government.
Now the American people, they also do nothing against their governments bombing
and invading other countries almost constantly since the end of world war 2.
They are also some kind of codependant enablers.
Will there also be a terrible price to pay?
How are normal, everyday individuals supposed to stop a massive army? You are saying they are part responsible for being bombed?
I do not think that all individuals residing on the geographical landmass know as the "United States" are guilty. The men who actually dropped the bombs and killed people are directly responsible.
I wouldnt say that the people who dropped the bomb are directly responsible because they were just puppets following an order. The ones who gave the order are directly responsible and the ones who actually dropped the bombs share a parte of that responsability.
They could have refused to follow the order. They are morally culpable. Those giving the order share the blame, perhaps, but direct responsibility is clearly on the actual murderer.
Well like in the case of ISIS, the ones commiting the attacks are obviously gulty of the murder, but the leaders who brainwashes them to believe that what they do is in the name of good are the real dangerous evilminds. In the case of WWII the pilots were brainwashed into believing that what they do is in the name of good.... ''ending the war''.
Yes, I agree they were brainwashed. 100%. That is why I think the battle that is truly to be won is a philosophical one, waking people up to the nature of the cult of nationalism/statism, which is truly evil, and indeed, sub-human.
The thing that amazes me at this comunity is the fact that you have someone that you can have meaningfull, intelligent conversations. I really appreciate the talk and i will follow you.
Right now we're remembering 129,000 Japanese civilians who were killed, many while they slept.
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Very sad incidents, which effects the world, but Japanese people suffered greatly. War and violence never solve any problems, but nonviolence is the greatest shord from which every war can be win. Thanks for sharing such a real fact of the great Asian country. Happy steeming.
Powerful post. I'm now following, please follow back.
Really beautiful .. thanks information .. hope we can cooperate .. follow me @ kingsteem .. maybe we can be a good friend
Good points made here that I agree with - HOWEVER;
Most historians estimate that a US invasion of mainland Japan would have resulted in over one million deaths and 2/3rds of those Japanese. That would be more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
The results of the Okinawa Invasion with all the civilian suicides tends to lead credence.
Speculation does not justify murder.
The "greater good" argument is not only extremely tenuous (strategically, the country was already defeated, and leaders had been asking for surrender for months prior (see links above)) but this "greater good" argument is, more importantly, nonsensical and morally illegitimate.Taking the life of an innocent human being is never moral, ethical, or legitimate. It is nonsense to assert that taking innocent lives is ever a "necessity" for just society, as taking innocent lives is, has been, and always will be, categorically unjust.
Greetings, my friend, your post is very good. I like it a lot. It's a pleasure to vote for you and follow you. I would love to have a helping hand for you. See you later and keep it up
Https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@srmit/how-to-surprise-her-love-on-her-beautiful-birthday-love
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@srmit/i-am-a-lovely-kitty
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@eyda/hello-steemians-love-i-m-sasha-love
This is my post could you help me?
Many thanks @srmit