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Footnote: Ancient And Modern History
We mourn Pompeii's death
beneath Vesuvius' spray;
then congratulate
ourselves for building the bomb,
that complex thing that blasted
Hiroshima from this earth.
Kyakuchuu
We mourn Pompeii's death
beneath Vesuvius' spray;
then congratulate
ourselves for building the bomb,
that complex thing that blasted
Hiroshima from this earth.
Kyakuchuu
We deem death as just or
We deem death as just or injust by our(specifically, the ruling classes) control over it. That which we cannot control utterly frightens those who hold all other keys to life and death. Meanwhile, things such as the a-bomb frighten the rest of us, when we don't put an odd faith in the humanity of groups of suited men. Men who have used them selectively and autonomously to kill others.
A very good, thought-provoking write, by my view.
Thank you so much for that
Thank you so much for that comment. Although my (adopted) father's life was spared by the bombing---he would have been in the first platoon of the first battalion of the first invaionsary wave; and was already considered a casualty, as were all the other Marines on the Nevada (their death certificates had already been made out)---I think there is a distinct moral dilemma to the issue, and I have come to believe that the second bomb, on Nagasaki, was deployed not out of military neccesity but, as a documentary I saw recently suggests, out of an experimental curiosity as to its effect.
Starward
You're quite welcome. It's
You're quite welcome.
It's a powerful thing to wrap one's head around - that any group of persons could weild such power that they could pre-order death certificates. We all ought to dwell on the greater, longerlasting meaning of that act.
In terms of the bombs, there is no doubt, either, in my mind that the second bomb was a message to the rest of humanity, not to Japan. It shaped the next 50 years, probably like no other single act ever had before. Though, sadly, we have seen some moments since that have been utilized to wildly reshape our world amidst the shock.
That is very-well thought
That is very-well thought out. I like the way you articulate your ideas.
Starward