From the documentary, Hiroshima. I had mixed feelings about posting this obvious piece of dramatized propaganda which manages to promote the message that the Americans were total a-holes for using the A-bomb on Japan. The BBC is behind it.
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Lets see, it is a film that dramatically illustrates the consequences of dropping an Abomb on a city full of people.
It gives a voice to people who where there and went thru it.
First hand accounts
Witness statements.
In the short clip posted I did not see any easily disproved facts or exaggerations. So how is this propaganda?
If you are going to wield this sort of weapon, why not have an understanding of what it does to people?
I did see this documentary in full at the time it was originally aired, quite a few months ago so my memory of it may be imprecise, I do remember it discussed the reasoning , for and against, behind dropping the bomb. I can say that I do not remember coming away from it with a definitive “they never should have drop it” perspective,
It did discuss why drop 2 bombs a bit but counter pointed that against the fanatic militaristic determination of the Japanese that had to be overcome, I do know the point was made about how many Allied soldiers lives would have been saved by the use of atomic weapons to force capitulation.
I believe it did suggest that, with the value of hindsight, people may have used the bombs differently, but any historical documentary can make that point easily about just about anything.
I enjoyed the documentary thought it laid out both sides, challenged viewers to form their own opinions, “dramatized propaganda”? I think not.
I don’t see why this is anti-American….. there is no doubt about, vaporising a city is an asshole thing to do, but then so is using conquered people as sex slaves (like the Japanese did to the Chinese and other peoples). War sucks. Its not anti-American, its anti-asshole!
did u watch another video John?
there is NO meantioning of “bad” USA in there what so ever.
only describes how bomb works
reviews for the doc on amazon all seem to highlight the balance of the thing
http://tinyurl.com/2kgkoc
[Please use TinyUrl.com for overly long URLs. – ed.]
One cannot use modern nuclear attitudes for 1945, it is just wrong to do so. The Atomic Bomb in 1945 was just a very big bomb. No one fully knew or understood the horrors of fallout, no one had not yet lived under the threat of Nuclear War and the destruction of life as we know it. (Duck and Cover)
The Japanese have proven their “fight to the end” attitudes to a war weary US military. Kamikaze, Iwo Jima – months of fighting for a little island. Surrender was not in the Japanese vocabulary.
Okinawa, the US military witnessed how the Japanese civilian population were prepared to fight to the death – and to commit suicide including killing their children. .
Conservative figures from BOTH sides estimated the invasion of Japan to take years – with appalling loss of life on both sides.
One must not forget the utterly appalling atrocities to humanity that the Japanese lavished with great enthusiasm to the Chinese, Koreans, and POWs. Japanese soldiers having beheading contests which were reported on back in Japan. Smiling Japanese solders being photographed lining up mothers with children in their arms so that they could run both of them through with one thrust of their sword – and laughing afterwards.
Japan during WW2 had proven itself to be a nation not to be trifled with and as such received what was thought of at the time to be warranted.
I am saddened and angered on how often Japan is portrayed as the innocent victim to a the ‘ruthless’ nuclear bombing.
I would like equal time for all the comfort women, Chinese, Koreans and POWs who were murdered, torchered and raped often as sport by the Japanese on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
No, Japan was not the innocent victim they were the perpetrator of greater horrors.
Cheers
On another note…the YouTube still from the movie looks a bit phallic…
I thought I would trump Angel on that one.
Cheers
Some years ago, the Smithsonian was going to install an Enola Gay exhibit explaining how “wrong” it was to A-Bomb Japan. WW2 Vets complained about how wrong this deconstruction moral relativism was, and the Smithsonian backed down. With ANY notion that this piece is propaganda, maybe the effort would succeed this time?
“Everybody knows” more people died in the (conventional) bombing raids of Dresden and Tokyo. Fire bombing–lay a line of bombs down in an open box pattern, let the fires burn for awhile, then lay a line of bombs to close the box——air gets sucked right out of the lungs in a firestorm exceeding the violence and destruction of Hiroshima. And yet Japan took no notice of such things and was preparing school children to fight to the death.
How much worse is it to die by rusty sword, firestorm, or fireball?
The A-Bomb saved more Japanese lives than American.
John, why are you so anti-British?
I understand your need to keep the blog controversial but it does seem like you have issues!
I have posted several times about the anti-British nature of many posts on your Blog (many by you, some by your contributors).
I watched this when it was first shown and I thought it a good dramatised documentary and it certainly didn’t change my view that it was the right thing to do at the time… For every life lost, ten were saved by its use.
“The BBC is behind it”. Yes, another piece of fair, balanced and accurate reporting from those Commie pinko subversive truth-tellers. Damn them! Why can’t they pussyfoot around the issues like the American media? Or better still slant everything they touch to the agenda of their political masters like Fox?
I’ve seen the whole program a few weeks ago on the UK History channel, and, as those above have said, it clearly states the justification for using the bombs. Take another look John.
This is not anti American – at all. It is just a documentary on the effects of the atom bomb. We could criticise on the tone of the the film as being over dramatic, but it is still not anti American.
I doubt john watched it… Only the title of the youtube video was anti-american. The video seemed to only show the horrors of the A-bomb
there was no need to drop 2 atomic bombs on the japanese.
it was done as a live test to see what it did in real application and as show of force.
“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.”
Tomas Mann
Why everything should be pro-American and why everyone who disagrees with its “values” is branded an “a-hole”?
# 8 Geez, the real questions is: how anyone with any common sense NOT be anti-Bush?
12-ky–you drop one A-Bomb on the Japanese and say surrender unconditionally in 24 hrs. How many days do you wait while there is active fighting/dying in Okinawa, China, and elsewhere?
And why?
I’m sure if they’d dropped the bomb in some desolate area in Japan it would have had the same effect on the Japanese government. It was a terrible waste of innocent lives. Twice.
As far as I am aware USA is the only nation to have used nukes on this scale. They have then spent the last 60 years shitting themselves that another country could be as stupid as they are.
I usually agree with the stuff on this blog but “The BBC is behind it”?
#12 “there was no need to drop 2 atomic bombs on the japanese”
As Bobbo already pointed out the fire bombing of Toyko caused more loss of life yet the Japanese refused to surrender.
Still even after two cities laid waste by atomic bombs the Japanese war lords would not capitulate – better for Japan to perish than suffer the dishonour of defeat. Not until Emperor Hirohito’s intervention which shocked the nation did Japan accept surrender.
I am always amazed that these things are debated as if they are beliefs.
What has happened has happened and is documented. It is political intervention either way that distorts historical fact.
Cheers
glad to see so many posts confused as i was about the supposed “anti-USA” slant of this documentary. It showed the horrors of war and the extreme of horrors of the only nuclear attack that humanity can learn from.
Much better than the “great us with flowers” nonsense that makes us believe war is a jolly picnic.
A blog claiming Brits are dissing America?
Oh thats right, Dvorak with his Google Ads is behind it.
Ok now for the religious slant which DU is becoming known for…(I best be careful I cannot get two Mulligans)
As I pointed out historical facts are being distorted by self interest factions and in this lies the danger that these distortions displace the truth.
Back about 2000 years or so the Jewish uprising of 66-67AD against Rome so completely crushed the Jews that stories of Jesus were distorted so as to favour Rome and that it was the Jews who condemned Jesus. And here we are today…
I’ll leave it at that and see where it goes…(Bobbo?)
Cheers
its time for more films like this and “the day after” to be made and shown again
I haven’t watched this yet. But, the U.S. were total assholes for dropping the bomb. We are still the only country in the world that has dropped nuclear weapons on live human beings. Thankfully, we’ve been setting a better example since then. However, our record is highly tarnished by this devastating act.
#12 – ky,
Don’t forget that we also had to test two differently made bombs.
#5 – TIHZ_HO,
One cannot use modern nuclear attitudes for 1945, it is just wrong to do so. The Atomic Bomb in 1945 was just a very big bomb. No one fully knew or understood the horrors of fallout, no one had not yet lived under the threat of Nuclear War and the destruction of life as we know it. (Duck and Cover)
By the second bomb, they knew. As for Japan being innocent victims, no they certainly weren’t. But, they picked a valid military target in Pearl Harbor, something they did not do when fighting against China.
Graeme Allon (#8): There isn’t anything wrong with a bit of anti-British (or probably more to the point, anti-English as the Gaelic British seems to respected on your side of the pond). Without lingering hatred for what the English have done in the past, where would be? A small little island with 63+ million people in the north of Europe without much consequence compared to our geographical vastness of our renegade cousins and the 250+ million people! So go, be as anti-British as you like. Its good for our character. Why do you think British actors are always so quick to accept the never end roles that make people with an English accent the villain? 😀
I wonder if we ever get any wiser in spotting how we’re manipulated by propaganda every day of our life. You think we’re free of it in the western world today?
When looking back, we can’t seem to understand how our grandparents (I’m German) could fall for the 3rd Reich propaganda, but I bet you, had we lived in those days, we would very probably have trotted along the same path.
If you’re American, you’ve just had a great two-day propaganda show again. The question can only be: how much of it are you willing to believe without a doubt?
War is always ugly, much uglyer than those who want to fight the war want us to believe.
pj
20–only because of your invitation will I give my first and only attempt at understanding your vague analogy?
Following your construction: Japan started a war because of the USA oil embargo, like the Jews revolted over Roman domination ((was it requirement to acknowledge Rome as the supreme power–or just taxes?)). Japan lost the uprising so the nature of their hero/champion got tarnished in the telling of the tale by the victors? Can’t make that work. What was the Japanese hero? Their indominitable will to fight to the death bushido style was subverted by the power of the A-Bomb? Some truth to that but its not the point of this post??? Here, the post does not “favor” the victor, the GOUSA. ((My Rant gets repeated in the following–I apologize as it becomes tangential)) Many bleeding hearts want to criticize Truman for dropping the big one, once or twice. There is little valid argument against dropping the first bomb. Maybe an isolated area could have been chosen- – – but why???? WW2–people dying. Japan lost the war but were still killing innocent people all over Asia. Why give them a “break” at all?
Again==more JAPANESE lives were saved by the A-Bomb than American lives. Emotions from a vacuum is all anti-A-Bomb to End WW2 is.
Tihz==You’ll have to give some guidance here. Not a mulligan, but the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, == don’t know if thats on my side or yours?
#23 Then the US and Britain were arseholes for conducting all the fire bombing which were conceived to kill as many people as possible.
That is what war is to let the other dumb bastard die for his/her country.
MS you are thinking about this with modern thinking – period
Cheers
I’m encouraged ‘the usual suspects’ haven’t popped up to suggest it would be a grand idea to do the same thing to Iran or North Korea.
Perhaps we’re not as far down the evolutionary ladder as we sometimes fear ourselves to be.
It occurred to me to hope Mr. Bush either watches – or has watched – this or similar documentaries but I’m pessimistic it would affect him in any positive manner, more’s the pity.
I also thought the U.S. military men interviewed for this documentary came across as most honorable human beings.
#15 Well they dropped it on a city and it didn’t have enough effect to stop the war without a drop on a second city.
#26 Bobbo – just having some fun is all! Between the time when I made my comment I got busy as hell and I need to prepare for a business trip in the early morning. Sorry I can’t offer any more…damn!
Jesus was crucified, a Roman punishment but the Jews took the blame – so Rome was happy about that. If in fact if it were the Jews who were the blame Rome needn’t had been involved as Jesus would have just been stoned.
Jesus as the rightful heir to the throne was a threat to the puppet King in Judea set up by Rome. Messiah means ‘Anointed one’ which means the King. It is correct to refer to King David as the Messiah and as well ‘Christ’ which comes from the Greek “Christos” meaning King Therefore it is correct to call King David – David the Christ. So… Uncle Dave the Christ?
The connection I was making is on how history got distorted to the point where the distortion has completely displaced the actual events.
There are over 80 gospels but only four were chosen for inclusion in what is called the Bible. Where it gets interesting is the discovery of earlier versions of the Biblical gospels differences with modern versions are apparent.
Actually the modern versions of the four gospels contradict each other which gives evidence of tampering. The last words of Jesus “My God why have you forsaken me” and “In your hands I commend my spirit” and “Hey Peter, I can see your house from up here”…(The Python Authorised Bible)
Cheers
I am 54 years old. My father (19 at the time) had faught in the battle of the bulge and was in California staging for an invasion of Japan.at the time the bomb was dropped.
He would not be here me and my 3 siblings would not be here.