HIROSHIMA, LEST WE FORGET! A Thoughtful and Emotional Response

HIROSHIMA, LEST WE FORGET

A Thoughtful and Emotional Response

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© August 7, 2008

“Examine what is said, not him who speaks.”

Arabian Proverb


A WRITER WRITES:

Jim,

That is an evocative piece from beginning to end. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I have to tell you, my immediate reaction to any perceived criticism of the atom bombing of Japan in 1945 is quite visceral. My blood began to boil as I started reading your missive. There are some truths the defense of which I take as a defense of all I hold dear: the sanctity of our Constitution, the righteousness of the Union in the Civil War, the treason of the Confederacy, its leaders, and its entire population in the same, the need for Good nations to act swiftly and decisively to protect the weak from genocide, as in the Balkans in the 90's or Darfur today, and the bombing of Japan in 1945 among them. The fact that there are those among us who question my positions triggers the fight part of my fight-or-flight animal response in a way that rarely happens in other situations. After all, I am an adult, and in most other cases I can control my baser emotions, such as rage or jealousy.

I have taught English to hundreds of adult Japanese students, and the fact that they look upon themselves as innocent victims in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki appalls me. To this day, the Japanese are not taught of the horrors of the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the Korean Comfort Women, or any of the many other atrocities perpetrated by their citizen-soldiers. Indeed, they are taught in school that the US was the aggressor in WWII because we cut them off from oil and rubber imports, and their nation would have crumbled had they not "defended" themselves. This travesty is akin to German Holocaust denial, but on an intentional cultural-wide scale.

The bombing of Japan is all the more important to me because of my own father's experience. He turned 18 in November 1944, and signed up for service that same day. He went through basic training to head off to Europe, but had an operation that kept him stateside. His buddies sent him letters from the front. When he had finally recovered, he was redirected to prepare for the invasion of Japan instead. He knew very well that he likely would have been among those estimated hundreds of thousands or one million American servicemen expected to die in the case of an invasion of the Japanese home islands. In all probability, I write this email only because Truman ordered bombs dropped on Japan.

...But it has always bothered me that we chose cities rather than military targets. I haven't got an answer for why that was okay. And so, as I read your piece, I ordered myself to simmer down and let your words sink in. They didn't change my mind about how we ended the war, but they did reinforce my belief that we erred morally in choosing civilian targets.

I look forward to reading your novel. I'll buy it soon. Your talent as a novelist seems even better than your impressive talent as a business writer.

Regards,

T.C.

DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

Thank you for a thoughtful and candid reply to this evocative essay. Its intention was the same as Norman Cousins book, MODERN MAN IS OBSOLETE (Viking 1945). The thinking of the 1940s and 1950s, with which we have been locked stepping is irrelevant, and even disastrous.

On this small planet, where water, not oil, will be the call to arms, community, not conflict is the planet’s only salvation. Manuscripts of mine that have addressed this issue have never found a publisher. We can live without oil. We cannot live without water.

The atrocities of the Empire of Japan in China (Rape of Nanking), in the Philippines (Bataan Death March) and Korea, which you list, all happened as well as the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941.

What your Japanese students told you, however, was true. Japan was in a state of panic, a burgeoning population with no natural resources, being cut off from these resources by the United States and others, provided theater for the radical war mongering voices.

Japanese historians today admit it was a war Japan could not win, but felt it had to launch. As one put it, “We have awakened the tiger.”

Killing for whatever reason is not natural to man. It is why men at war suffer mightily adjusting to peace. Yet, in war, man is not only given permission to kill, but wins accolades for the killing.

You wonder why a nonmilitary target was chosen for the atomic bomb. It was meant to send a message, and did.

Hate and ignorance are the supple soil for fanaticism.

For this to work, the target must be dehumanized and demonized. I remember a slogan on the side of bread trucks during WWII, “The only good Jap is a dead Jap.” Sixty-three years later, Japan is an ally and an important trading partner. Go figure.

You are a passionate and compassionate man, and do a lot of good. I know this to be a fact. People of passion have strong opinions. The important thing about one’s opinions is to understand their nature, and whether they serve one or not. My service to you is that I have reintroduced you to yours.

Be always well,

Jim

PS Iris Chang, then 29, won the National Book Award for nonfiction with “The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II” (Basic Books 1997). I saw her on the "PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer" being interviewed after she had won that prestigious award.

I was devastated learning later that this quiet bright modest young lady with so much talent committed suicide. If you haven’t read her book, I recommend you do so, a book which must have been very painful to research and write.

Another book, a novel by Gerald Seymour titled “The Walking Dead” (Overbrook Press 2007) deals with suicide bombers from the perspective of the whole insanity from recruitment to incineration.

We live in a time of madness with a 1940s mindset. Meanwhile, we distract ourselves with electronic toys.