DEATHSCOPE wrote...
Sorry, the first point really got to me.
The Japanese were not in danger of being wiped out to the last man, woman, and child. With enough casualties, they would surrender. The races of the galaxy were not so fortunate. They cannot surrender. It was either fight or die. Sacrifice one race, save the rest.
I'm going to make a leap here and guess you are referring to the decision to use atomic weapons on Japan during WW2.
First off, that's sort of a muddy issue, since there were some who absolutely would fight to their last breath against the invaders. If you had any idea of the superiority complex their propaganda gave them back then, you would know this.
Secondly, while there were of course, some Japanese who would surrender, and further some who didn't want to fight at all, they weren't going to be given a choice. Their government was pretty adamant that their strategy would net them victory or let them die with honor. (The unfortunate truth being that if they cost us enough lives, the Allies may very well have accepted a ceasefire. Don't believe me, that's the entire reason the British allowed the Colonies to rebel, it simply cost too much to keep them when troops were needed elsewhere.)
Thirdly, if the Japanese were so eager to surrender, I rather think they would have done it when we hit them the first time with a city destroying, god-fire weapons and proved once and for all that we were not BLUFFING, when we said we could wipe them off the map without a problem.
Instead, they kept refusing for three whole days.... until we hit them again. At that point it was pretty clear, that fighting us was pointless and stupid. THEN Japan surrendered.
Now lets take this analogy and flip it on its head.
Was winning the war this way worth it?
At the point in which we dropped the bomb, Japan's empire was pretty much done, even if we never invaded, their resource poor country, now deprived of many of its young men were pretty much screwed anyway.
It wasn't going to be a threat for many, many years.
Albert Einstein laid the foundation for the atomic bomb. His science unveiled the possibility of such weapons, and his direct appeal to Roosevelt implemented their creation.
Albert Einstein said this 'I made one great mistake in my life—when I signed the letter to
President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was
some justification—the danger that the Germans would make them.'
For Einstein, the cost of winning the war with Japan (and I mean WINNING, not signing a treaty, an armistice, or a cessation of hostilities) was far too high.
There are some acts so great and terrible they scar the very souls of all those involved. Some acts that we can never undo, never atone for, never repair. Acts that go beyond any conflict, acts that damn the very soul.
So if the choice is between doing what is morally and objectively wrong but keeps you alive, or doing what is right and dying with honor and freedom.... well, I like to think I'd pick the later.
Retour en haut
[quote pyramid removed. User banned]
