Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] August 6, 1945

Bawolski@aol.com Bawolski@aol.com
Fri, 9 Aug 2002 01:16:17 EDT


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In a message dated 8/8/2002 7:02:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
bcurran@columbus.rr.com writes:


> Mike, if somebody else did a wrong thing, surely that doesn't justify
> another wrong?
> 
> I've never been able to figure out the logic of counting human lives.
> We don't, say, kill one person because five people who are tissue
> matches to her are going to die if they don't get transplants.  A
> military historian would say that the rules of war are different from
> the rules of society, but still, somehow it just never made sense to me.
> - Beth
> 


I don't believe the United States was wrong to use the bomb.  Using it saved
hundreds of thousands of American lives who would have died in an invasion
of Japan (which also would have killed a lot more Japanese than the two
atomic bombs did).  Maybe the logic in counting human lives is counting
the ones you can keep from dying.  Anyway, my whole point is that there
are a lot of people who are quick to condemn the United States for using it,
but why do I never hear these same people talk about the millions
of civilians the Japanese killed (more than 10 million!) during their 
invasions and
conquests of China and southeast Asia?  Before villifying the United States 
and
making Japan the victims, let's consider the whole situation.  

Mike

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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2>In a message dated 8/8/2002 7:02:27 PM Pacific Daylight Time, bcurran@columbus.rr.com writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Mike, if somebody else did a wrong thing, surely that doesn't justify<BR>
another wrong?<BR>
<BR>
I've never been able to figure out the logic of counting human lives.<BR>
We don't, say, kill one person because five people who are tissue<BR>
matches to her are going to die if they don't get transplants.&nbsp; A<BR>
military historian would say that the rules of war are different from<BR>
the rules of society, but still, somehow it just never made sense to me.<BR>
- Beth<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
I don't believe the United States was wrong to use the bomb.&nbsp; Using it saved<BR>
hundreds of thousands of American lives who would have died in an invasion<BR>
of Japan (which also would have killed a lot more Japanese than the two<BR>
atomic bombs did).&nbsp; Maybe the logic in counting human lives is counting<BR>
the ones you can keep from dying.&nbsp; Anyway, my whole point is that there<BR>
are a lot of people who are quick to condemn the United States for using it,<BR>
but why do I never hear these same people talk about the millions<BR>
of civilians the Japanese killed (more than 10 million!) during their invasions and<BR>
conquests of China and southeast Asia?&nbsp; Before villifying the United States and<BR>
making Japan the victims, let's consider the whole situation.&nbsp; <BR>
<BR>
Mike</FONT></HTML>

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