Were the atomic bombs so bad?

[Thallidomaniac]

Those targets were chosen because they were virgin. The major cities had already been fire bombed into ash.

I was making the assumption that should the US chose to drop the atom bombs on those cities instead of just fire bombing them. I'm not sure how much more damage that would have done, or if those two were done together to try to prevent anything from growing there again, akin to what the Romans did to Carthage back in ancient times by destroying that city and covering it in salt to prevent anything from growing there again. (although that didn't happen because modern day Tunis exists there)

[kenn9530]

You're disgusting.

by that definition your saying its better to kill 110 thousand of your own country men rather than one of the opposing faction, in war there is going to be deaths no matter what, if the atomic bombs didn't get dropped and kill around 135 thousand ppl then there would be more than 10 times that from a prolonged war on both sides.

While it is not ideal to kill anyone the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[pateuvasiliu]

This is one of the most disgusting things I have ever read on MMOC.

You should be ashamed of yourself: You racist, jingoist, schwein.

Take your flaming elsewhere. There's no racism, I was speaking from the point of view of the americans.

[Speaknoevil]

No. this is how war works

Instead of continuing in your mantra, why don't you elaborate?

Explain to me why their lives were worth less, because that is what he said.

Take your flaming elsewhere. There's no racism, I was speaking from the point of view of the americans.

Flaming? No. You said their lives were worth less, explain why.

[Seratha]

The ignorance in this thread is astounding (and also disgusting).

The top brass in the U.S. military agreed that the bombs were not necessary for the Japanese to surrender, and that using the bombs had absolutely no real strategic value to ending the war. The Japanese would have surrendered (and did) when Russia invaded Manchuria.

The bombs were dropped because the U.S. was vehemently racist against the Japanese, and because Truman wanted to show off his new toy to the Russians. He figured that using the bombs would deter Russia from expanding communism while also preventing Russia from entering the war against Japan and getting a piece of the inevitable peace treaty.

Using the atomic bomb was horrible. It was unnecessary. Japan would have surrendered (and again, did surrender) when Russia entered the war and the U.S. knew it just as well as the Japanese did. The bomb was used to prevent Communist expansion and because of racist ideologies.

If you truly believe that the atomic bombs were used for any sort of "noble" purpose like "saving lives", then you need to reexamine your history and your conscious.

[pateuvasiliu]

You're disgusting.

That's how war works, son. If it rustles your jimmies don't enter threads based around it.

- - - Updated - - -

Instead of continuing in your mantra, why don't you elaborate?

Explain to me why their lives were worth less, because that is what he said.

Because when you're at war you try to make your opponent surrender, not kill your own troops.

Is it such a hard concept to grasp?

[Landin55]

Instead of continuing in your mantra, why don't you elaborate?

Explain to me why their lives were worth less, because that is what he said.

I did.....Its how the fucking military works...its how you win a war. By killing the other guys and making sure your guys don't die.....Its pretty damn simple in the long run lol.

[NuLogic]

War is war. Japan gave poisoned food and dropped plague infested fleas on Chinese civilians including children. They didn't care about civilian casualties and no one really did either.

[pateuvasiliu]

.its how you win a war. By killing the other guys and making sure your guys don't die.

How dare you suggest that people use brutal tactics in war?

We should obviously all hug each other into submission so Speanoevil can keep living in her pink castle unperturbed.

[Finear]

Instead of continuing in your mantra, why don't you elaborate?

Explain to me why their lives were worth less, because that is what he said.

because they are my enemy and trying to kill me ?

[goldwarmachine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJZ6nwxD38

It sucked. 2nd bomb should never have happened, but yeah, who's to blame? All of us who keep trying to get power over one another.

[Thallidomaniac]

War is war. Japan gave poisoned food and dropped plague infested fleas on Chinese civilians including children. They didn't care about civilian casualties and no one really did either.

The atrocities commited in Korea by Japan were also deplorable, but no one cares about that as much because Korea has been pretty much the punching bag of China and Japan since ancient times in a way. And because people have to associate all of Korea with the crazy North.

[Speaknoevil]

Because when you're at war you try to make your opponent surrender, not kill your own troops. Is it such a hard concept to grasp?

I did.....Its how the fucking military works...its how you win a war. By killing the other guys and making sure your guys don't die.....Its pretty damn simple in the long run lol.

You are children on a playground drawing lines in the sand.

Life is life, and your beliefs are evil by definition.

because they are my enemy and trying to kill me ?

The people that were murdered were victims of circumstance, they were not anyone's enemy.

[pateuvasiliu]

It sucked. 2nd bomb should never have happened

Didn't they wait 3 days?

Plenty time for a surrender, but the japanese wanted to fight to the last man.

You are children on a playground drawing lines in the sand.

I'm not the one yelling '' You are evil for thinking pragmatically during wartime '', sis.

[PickleballAce]

This is basically the "OMG NO FLYING TIL 6.1" or "LFR IS TEH SUCK" thread subject of General Off-Topic.

[NuLogic]

The atrocities commited in Korea by Japan were also deplorable, but no one cares about that as much because Korea has been pretty much the punching bag of China and Japan since ancient times in a way. And because people have to associate all of Korea with the crazy North.

But those Korean comfort women where necessary for Japanese morale lol! Japan, china and korea hate each other more than any one who hates the U.S.

[Raptor With a Saber]

Not at all, they could've been used a number of times since then to end wars early and prevent more deaths. I support nuking anything to end wars early.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

um yeah just about 99% of the people killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilians not military just people trying to live their lives probably without any malice towards the US how would we feel if NY and LA were nuked? pretty bad i would assume... having served both in the military and nypd i can say 2 wrongs never make a right

Both Axis and Allies had been bombing civilian populations throughout the war, killing millions. The only difference is that this time it was one plane with one bomb instead of hundreds of planes with thousands of bombs.
If you are going to cite this as your argument you need to address the entire concept of city bombing for the entire war by all parties and not restrict it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, the reason those cities were on the list of potential targets is that they were still relatively intact, many other cities (such as Tokyo) were not considered viable targets because substantial percentages of the cities had already been effectively destroyed by earlier bombing campaigns.

[Deleted]

So killing 110 000 japanese civilians who are not guilty of anything other than living in the country at war with the U.S. is a better strategy than fighting it's trained soldiers who mostly know that they may be getting in to?
Just counting lives, then we would settle almost every war with massive weapons and killing mostly civilians because these acts scare off enemies.
Would you like a country who your country fights to bomb your city killing your friends and family "for the greater good"?

[Mifuyne]

Yes, yes they were.
You might aswell just kill everyone with mustard gas and make sure people that do survive cannot procreate.
A Atomic bomb is a terrible, nasty bomb.