[Xmca-l] Re: Hiroshima and us

[HENRY SHONERD]

Mike, Rafi and Francine:

Thank you. This from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/world/asia/witnesses-to-hiroshima-atomic-bomb-pass-their-stories-to-a-new-generation.html?emc=edit_th_20150806&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=63154245 <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/world/asia/witnesses-to-hiroshima-atomic-bomb-pass-their-stories-to-a-new-generation.html?emc=edit_th_20150806&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=63154245>

The article profiles the commemoration of the victims of Hiroshima, but there are two “background” issues mentioned that are worth thinking on:
1)  the efforts at remilitarization of Japan under the leadership of prime minister Shinzo Abe, something that must give pause in light of the the “Asian holocaust”, and
2) the fact that the memory of Hiroshima is fading even among Japanese.
Shinzo Abe is probably counting on voters knowing even less about the rape of Nanking and the rest of what Japan did before Hiroshima.   

This CHAT is a constant reminder that we forget our history at our peril, especially the history that puts us in a bad light.  

Henry

  
> On Aug 6, 2015, at 10:30 AM, Rafi Santo <rsanto@indiana.edu> wrote:
> 
> It's hard to know which of the two instances being discussed here is more
> disturbing in terms of what they say about organized societies. The
> dropping of the atomic bomb(s) highlights the willingness of humans to
> engage in specific decisions to engage in an act that they know will result
> in instantly decimating 10s of thousands of people in a fell swoop. The
> asian holocaust highlights the willingness to engage in ongoing campaigns
> of destruction of human life, actions which are too often both obscure in
> moment as well as not nearly as highlighted in the historical record (at
> least in case of the Asian Holocaust).
> 
> While not entirely parallel, the bombing of the World Trade Center one on
> hand and resultant contemporary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and attendant
> loss of life) come to mind in that the events have similar qualities in
> terms of the meanings that are linked to them.
> 
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 12:10 PM, larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Please post this on XMCA:
>> 
>> Message from Francine:
>> 
>> Reflecting on the bye gone days before an atomic bomb (or incendiary
>> bombing) could kill
>> 70,000 people at one day - yes it did take the Japanese in WWII six weeks
>> to kill  300,000 Chinese in 1937 in the Rape of Nanking, weeks to kill
>> 100,000 civilian Philippine civilians in 1945 in the Rape of Manila and
>> 100,000 civilian in 1942 in the Rape of Singapore. Total estimate of
>> civilians and prisoners of war killed by the Japanese in WWII is from 3
>> million to 10 million people (it is called the Asian Holocaust). This
>> figure does not include those soldiers killed in combat fighting the
>> Japanese Army.
>> 
>> This does not diminish the tragic suffering and loss of life in Hiroshima,
>> Nagasaki, and Tokyo.
>> 
>> When entire cities are 'raped' for weeks not destroyed in one day is the
>> suffering any less?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 08:16:39 -0400
>>> From: mcole@ucsd.edu
>>> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>> Subject: [Xmca-l]  Hiroshima and us
>>> 
>>> 70 years ago 70,000 people evaporated in Hiroshima, a few days after
>> about
>>> as many were killed by Dresden-style fire bombing in Tokyo and just
>> before
>>> like numbers were killed in Nagasaki.
>>> 
>>> It seems worthwhile pausing for a minute to think about those bye gone
>> days
>>> when we humans were not as skilled at mass extinction as we are now.
>>> Mike
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> 
>>> Both environment and species change in the course of time, and thus
>>> ecological niches are not stable and given forever (Polotova & Storch,
>>> Ecological Niche, 2008)
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Rafi Santo
> Project Lead
> Hive Research Lab
> hiveresearchlab.org
> A project of Indiana University and New York University
> 
> Indiana University - Learning Sciences