The A-Bomb
I'm T.A.-ing for a class on U.S. political policy post-1945, so we've spent the last agonizing weeks talking about the A-bomb. I say agonizing because how many lectures do you really need on the A-bomb? We've now had seven, plus readings for two weeks. Interesting fact that though there was very little opposition to the use of the A-bomb,. conservatives were the ones who overwhelmingly were horrified that it was used. Statistics cited by the prof:
Loss of life
In WWII, Americans 1:100,000; Japanese 1:1000
In Iraq war, Iraqis 1:500, Americans 1:100,000
I can't vouch for the accuracy of these statistics though, like most historians, he should be very concerned with facts being correct. He might have a weird interpretation of those facts but the facts themselves shouldn't be in dispute.
Loss of life
In WWII, Americans 1:100,000; Japanese 1:1000
In Iraq war, Iraqis 1:500, Americans 1:100,000
I can't vouch for the accuracy of these statistics though, like most historians, he should be very concerned with facts being correct. He might have a weird interpretation of those facts but the facts themselves shouldn't be in dispute.
posted by Jessica Somewhere in the States at 7:40 AM
3 Comments:
I don't know, lying is something politicians have done for centuries.
I understand that the body count for Hiroshima is between 110,000-340,000 and that is the best estimate out there. With such a high discrepancy in possible numbers, presumably one would like to think we have a better system these days.
But who knows?
That's a morbid thought.
Speaking of Tehran, I just finished an interesting book called Lipstick Jihad, written by a young Iranian woman who grew up in California, the daughter of two exiles from the 79 Revolution. She has a lot of interesting to say about the psychology of exile, as well as the pre-U.S.-Iraq-war culture of young people resisting the religious government imposed on Iran after the Revolution.
Well, while I am convinced that certain countries need a change, I'm not at all convinced that that change needs or should come through western-minded individuals. I'm not at all sure that western-style values and political systems are the solution to problems in societies like Iran or Zimbabwe. In fact, I'm pretty sure our ideals AREN'T the solution--they work for us but each country needs to come up with its own internal solution. So... that also means I can't proffer an alternative. I have a hunch that a) without being an expert on the country's history & culture and b) without actually living there for at least several years, I don't have the right to suggest a possible solution.
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