Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of the date the United States government/military dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than one hundred thousand people were killed in these bombings. The vast majority of those killed in the bombings were civilians, including women and children. Read that again: we dropped nuclear bombs on targets that included many innocent women and children.
In Hiroshima alone, “Some 70,000–80,000 people, of whom 20,000 were soldiers, or around 30% of the population of Hiroshima, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 injured.” [Wikipedia]
In 1995, The Smithsonian Museum was unable to open an exhibit that intended to portray the events evenly, not merely discussing the men who flew the bomber and how it ended WWII, but actually presenting artifacts and images of the victims, many of whom were children, and non-military men and women. Some people did not want the whole story, the entire narrative, to be told. Think about that.
I’d just like to remind you all that there are certain narratives that we like to hold onto as Americans for sentimental or patriotic or other reasons that severely and detrimentally ignore or deny uncomfortable truths. Many Americans seem to have a selective memory one might say.
Most people are comfortable with the common narrative: “America stopped Hitler by dropping “the bomb,”” and most are more than happy to let the story end there. But such ignorance (voluntary or not) does a tremendous damage to the truth, and does not properly inform our current historical context as to how, when, or why certain military actions ought to be conducted, or not.
There are many such narratives alive and well in this country. Narratives that shield us from uncomfortable truths. Inform yourself, my friends. Uncomfortable or not, truth is truth.
Let’s not forget the all-too-true maxim: “history is written by the victors.”
(caption: Nagasaki before and after the bomb.)
“…and no one’s sure how all of this [war] got started, but we’re gonna make ‘em G**-damned certain how it’s gonna end…”
~ Bright Eyes “Road to Joy”
Lord have mercy.
“I tremble in fear for my country when I reflect that God is just…” ~ Thomas Jefferson