On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, on Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9th, we dropped the Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki. In a moment, we turned the cities into twin hells, ashen infernos where suffering ruled and basic morality could no longer exist. Soldiers that had been looking up at the sky found their eyes melted and children on their way to school were charred beyond recognition. Black rain fell on the cities, and the people that drank it began to decay from the inside out. Nothing made sense anymore.
This is what we call humanity.
We have no love for strangers. This is a world where killing over 200,000 people is simply declared a victory.
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were undeniably tragic, and the weapons used were certainly revolutionary. The rationale behind the bombings, however, was simply a logical continuation of Allies' undeniable abandonment of ethics in search of victory. Soldiers and civilians were seen simply as variations on the same enemy. They were not people, they were Japs.
Eight countries are known to have tested the bomb: China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Russia (as the USSR), the UK, France. The only one that has ever used it as a weapon? The US.
And, of course, the sheer ability to kill tens of thousands of people isn't good enough for us, we want to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Want an idea of how powerful our weapons have become? The Hiroshima bomb's blast measured 20 kilotons. The blast of one H-Bomb measured 15 megatons -- 15,000 kilotons, 750 times more powerful than the Hiroshima blast.
That was in 1954. In 1961, the USSR tested a 50 megaton bomb. That's 2,500 times more powerful.
Weapons are developed for only one reason: so they can be used. The question is not if there will be another nuclear attack, but when, and not if hundreds of thousands of people will die, but how many hundreds of thousands.
How can this be accepted, even celebrated? The very idea of the bomb is absolutely horrific, but that horror lies not in its existence, but the mentality that would ever allow it to be used.
Why was 9/11 so tragic? Well, because civilians, ordinary people -- men, women, and children -- died. 2,819, to be exact.
As many as 140,000 died in the Hiroshima blast. Another 80,000 in the Nagasaki one. Children, fathers, mothers, teachers, neighbors, grocers, and bakers. All civilians, and over 78 times more of them than on 9/11.
What separates these acts? What makes one a victory and the other a tragedy? We were at war with Japan, yes. But how can you sat that terrorists do not consider themselves at war with us?
We say the power of the atomic bomb lives in its ability as a deterrent, that other nations will not attack us as long as we have the capability to kill every one of their citizens several times over.
The only way that this could possibly work is if other nations genuinely believe that we are willing to do so. And as long as they do, we legitimize their efforts to do the same.
The face of our enemies has changed, we are no longer fighting nations but insurgents. Insurgents that are throwing our strategy right back at us: maybe, if they can get us to believe that every one of our people is constantly at risk, could meet death at every second of every day at their hands, maybe we will finally give in.
If we consider the civilians of enemy nations enemies, we should not be surprised when our enemies do the same for our civilians.
Our future's bright, but that glow is atomic.
"Through the release of atomic energy, out generation has brought into the world the most revolutionary force since prehistoric man's discovery of fire. This basic power of the universe cannot be fitted into the outmoded concept of narrow nationalisms. For there is no secret and there is no defense; there is no possibility of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of the peoples of the world."
"We scientists recognize our inescapable responsibility to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of the simple facts of atomic energy and its implications for society. In this lies our only security and out only hope -- we believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not death."
-Albert Einstein
Author's Note: Sources:
Radiation Effects Research Foundation -- http://www.rerf.or.jp/general/qa_e/qa1.html
Time Magazine -- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820831,00.html?promoid=googlep
New York Magazine -- http://nymag.com/news/articles/wtc/1year/numbers.htm
Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo
