The Bomb
Aug 6th was the anniversary of the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. You all know the story. It brought hell to Japan at exactly 8:15am. See here.
Every year Japan honors the victims with a minute of silence. In addition, schools use the anniversary to teach of the event. My oldest boy is in 5th grade, and it seems like that is when they first teach of it. His teacher told the class about the event, then showed a video of a atomic bomb explosion, then showed photos of the victims.
I don't know exactly what photos she showed the class, but evidently they were some of the more gruesome ones. My son was horrified and shocked. He told me their skin was melting off and their body parts were coming off. We've all seen photos of the aftermath. I can imagine some of the ones his teacher may have shown.
I do fully agree with teaching about the event. It's important. It reminds us of the horrors of war and why we should do absolutely everything in our power to avoid ever making war or supporting war. But I'm not sure 5th grade is the right time to show graphic photos of the victims. My son had nightmares and couldn't sleep for a few days afterward.
The inevitable questions came.
Those of you who have been reading me for the past 6 years on Hive and those who have interacted with me probably know my stance on war. I am a pacifist and am against war. I am realistic and acknowledge that a defensive war might be unavoidable in some cases, but beyond those cases, there is never a good reason for war. Never. American Civil War General Sherman famously said "War is hell", and I couldn't agree more. Innocents on both sides suffer in a war. The only winners are the rich bastards who start the damn things and hide away, directing them from afar, convincing by words or force the young and poor to do the fighting for them. Everyone else loses.
As Goering said after he was arrested at the end of the second world war:
Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.
With this lens, I look at all wars of the past as tragic and I do not pick winners or losers, good guys or bad guys. Japan did a lot of bad, evil stuff in the Pacific War. Please no comments about Nanjing or Unit 731; I know what they did in China. I assure you, I know in detail, very probably even more detail than you. It was barbaric and inexcusable. That said, sins and war crimes were not limited to the Japanese side. America also did a lot of inexcusable stuff as well. Beyond the war crimes that every side did, there were the inevitable rapes and pillaging that the all the armies did. Yes, the Allies did as well, in Italy, Germany, and Japan, though the history books often leave that part out, at least the Western history books. Armies are armies after all, and those crimes are something of a tradition stretching back to the beginnings of mankind. There was so much raping in Japan that the Japanese government started drafting girls to work as "comfort women" to appease the Americans. War brings out the worst in everyone. War is Hell.
Every army of every country on earth has done bad things in war at some point in their history. I am not here to say this side or that side is at fault. ALL sides are at fault. War is at fault.
That's my position. War is Hell. There are enough sins on every side in a conflict to go around.
I've been using Sherman's "War is hell" quote in this article, but perhaps an even better quote from from Hawkeye in MASH:
War isn't Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them—little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.
So it goes.
So my son comes to me, crying, terrified about what he has seen, and he says "Is America the bad guys? Why did they drop an atomic bomb on Japan?"
Why indeed. How do you answer that question to a ten-year-old? Every reason leads back to something else and there are so many factors in play that even a semester university course isn't long enough to cover it all. A huge number of books have been written on it.
Should I simplify it? If I tell him "Because Japan bombed America first" that will just lead to another why question. Because Japan invaded China and the US stopped the oil flowing into Japan. Why? We could follow those why questions back to 1853 when the US forced Japan to open for trade and Japan embarked on their rapid modernization to avoid being carved up like China. That may make a convenient place to start teaching of the rise of the military in Japan in a university class, but we could follow roots of the out-of-control military back even beyond that. Not to mention why was China being carved up. Why did the US force Japan to open the country? Why was the West colonizing the world? Why was Japan closed in the first place? Why Why Why. Whys are endless if we allow it. History isn't neat, after all, but more resembles a giant spider-web with everything linked to everything else. As we get older we learn that the truth is complicated and we content ourselves at one why at a time, but kids can keep going forever if you let them. (And my son has many times...)
Should I just fall back on blind nationalism for either side? "Yes, America was evil for dropping the bomb." or "Japan was doing very bad things so America had to stop them regardless of the cost." Beyond the fact that both of these extreme answers would probably lead to more whys as above, I don't believe in either one and I can't tell my son what I don't believe in.
Of course I can't give a detailed answer, because I think that would fly over his head. He's only ten, after all.
I ended up telling him that dropping the bomb was bad because it killed many many many innocent people, but that doesn't mean America was the bad guys. This is the kind of thing that happens in war and that is why we should never glorify it and never support it. War encourages even good people to act in bad ways. It doesn't matter if America was right or wrong, nor does it matter if Japan was right or wrong. Innocent people died as a result. Innocent people always die as a result of war. You saw the photos in your class. War is always wrong.
He seemed to understand that answer. He asked a few more things about how an atomic bomb works and I tried to answer as best I could. But then he moved on and we talked about something else. The nightmares gradually faded and he moved on. I'm sure in the years to come they will teach more and more of. Nagasaki. The firebombing of Tokyo. I look forward to talking about these things with him, but I do hope he isn't so affected next time. Waking up in the middle of the night to a kid suddenly screaming and crying is not a fun experience...
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
Wow, I mean, I get that people have to learn, and I learned stuff back in school, but 10 seems a bit young for graphic detail and images of what happened, I don't think I'd like to look at the pictures at my age now.
I think you answered his question well and helped him process it. It's a tought one to answer really, especially to a kid who can't really comprehend all of the small details of what happened and why.
Thanks!
I definitely don't want to look at photos now. The older I get, the more horrifying that stuff is to me.
My wife says it's normal to learn about it at that age and they usually look at photos, so I guess that's just how things are here. Still seems too young to me, but I guess the idea is to shock them and imprint the horrors of war on their mind. Most of the Japanese population are pacifists so maybe it works.
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Yeah, that's just not right. Maybe in high school that is okay, but not at the elementary level. You should go to the next school board meeting and publicly voice your concerns. I'd also call the superintendent directly and talk to him or her. That's what people would do here. They'd probably post about it on Facebook too and get a big group of people to show up. I'm kidding of course but am kind of serious too. People do that for much lessor issues in the US.
haha yeah I'm sure Americans would throw a fit. I'm sure some who are here do, and they are likely ignored. My wife tells me that all schools in the country follow this schedule and do the same thing. I guess the idea is to shock them and imprint the horrors of war on their mind. Most of the Japanese population are pacifists so maybe it works.
I do remember learning about the event in elementary school in the States. I remember my teacher saying their their skin was peeling off and I remember being told that their shadows burned into the ground. But needless to say we weren't shown any photos.
Wow, that is still quite intense! I don't remember too much about any of that from grade school.
I feel the same about war @dbooster and thinking back on discussions (and arguments) I've had about it I wish I could have put it so succinct, might have saved a lot of yelling 😬
As for that pictures your son saw I'd say that too much at this point. I'm sure the teacher could have gotten their point across with some less graphic images.
On the plus side, kids shocked by seeing the photos will likely be more horrified about the idea of war, which would be a good thing.
The fact that the United States was looking at invading Japan and losing phenomenal amounts of our men after the brutality of the Pacific theater absolutely forced this.
Over a million human beings would have been lost.
That was very much the revisionist argument that came out after general knowledge of what the bomb did to the people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki came to light. At the time, it was not a significant argument, except perhaps for LeMay who wanted to bomb the entire country and kill everyone and who admitted that had the US lost he would have been considered a war criminal. Both MacArthur and Ike were against using the atom bomb, both feeling that Japan was already defeated and that they were not necessary. Historians remain divided, but there tends to be more consensus around the idea that Truman chose to use the bomb primarily both as a warning against Stalin and as a way of ending the war before he could invade Japan, thus avoiding a situation like the one that was already developing in Germany.
Up until we seen Russia steal the recipe to make nuclear weapons.
Personally it wasn't a bad decision. We had already lost a huge amount of men during the war for the Pacific. And then completely lost China. In fact we should have only allowed the nationalists to get heavy weapons and that they fight the Japanese in the last battle for the one that they didn't take part in...
It's interesting you mention the comfort women. Many Australian women were pressed into service by the Japanese to umm, service the Japanese soldiers, and there's an interesting book about it by Jan Ruff O'Herne.
Anyway, because war history is my thing I know a lot on the topic and have visited many sites, battlefields, cemeteries and memorials, around the world. To me it's interesting and I feel more Australian for it, especially walking on the battlefields my countrymen have fought and died on...including the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea where Australia repelled the invading Japanese forces against ten-to-one odds then, with the help of the US kicked their asses back to Japan...but here's the thing...My sister in law (full Japanese educated there) knows almost nothing about the war and Japan's involvement other than the fact two atomic bombs were dropped on the country and that they attacked Pearl Harbor. I find that...weird.
Anyway, as you say, war isn't anything to glorify or celebrate...anyone who has been in one will testify to that...and it certainly touches many lives, sometimes people one would least expect.
It's a shame they jumped the gun with the images with your son, I feel it's just a little too early.
I didn't know about the Australian comfort women, but that's not surprising. They seemed to do that to every other country they invaded. I'll have to look for that book. I only specified the comfort women for Americans in my post because I think that one is less well known since GHQ suppressed knowledge about it immediately following the war and the existence didn't could out till later.
Your sister-in-law's education is fairly normal. Teachers in Japan tend to be very liberal, even more so than the general population which is already pretty liberal, but the government is very conservative. I suppose that is the same in many places. It's certainly true in the US as well. In Japan it's a little stronger because many in the government are related to those who got Japan into the war. The former prime minister, Abe Shinzo, was the grandson of the ruthless war criminal Kishi Abe who ruled Manchukuo during the war. I'm sure you know the history of how the US reinstated many (like Abe) of those people as the goal changed to one of preparing Japan to stand against the USSR. End result was their families remained in control of Japan to the modern day, which is why, for example, with the exception of the occasional rogue official who apologies for the war (and are punished for doing so), they avoid commenting on anything war related and even go as far as visiting Yasukuni to appease the rightwing nuts who still want to invade China.
Long story short, the gov then is always trying to make it as difficult as possible for teachers to actually teach anything about the war other than the anniversaries of the atomic bombs. For years they were trying to control textbooks to eliminate any mention of the war. Teachers have successfully sued to get more liberal history textbooks. Another tactic is that officials have crammed so much required history in history class, that there simply isn't any time for modern history (modern being post 1853. The US forcing open the country is often one of the last things taught). If they do make it through to WWII then it is a very general overview that doesn't give many details beyond the fact that Japan invaded China and then lost the war. Some teachers do manage to get in some of the bigger abuses of the military government against the Japanese people, but Japan's sins overseas are glossed over.
Teachers are still always trying to cover the war and get anti-war lectures in, but it is a struggle. The end result is in general students don't often learn of the full picture until they get to university and then they are shocked to see how bad the military government of war Japan really was.
Anyway, so don't think badly of the Japanese teachers. They are trying their best. But the government doesn't make it easy for them to teach the truth.
Governments the world over are exactly the same, meaning they are all made up of human beings and when human beings defer to their natural tendencies like greed and hubris the results are always going to be the same, or similar, as they have been in the past.
It doesn't matter if it's the US government, the Khmer Rouge, ISIS, Idi Amin's regime, Caligula, Muammar al-Qaddafi's Dictatorship, the government of Margaret Thatcher or Barak Obama...or the nutbag who my country has to call Prime Minister, all are human beings and all have their faults and failings and agendas, mostly based around greed, hubris, insecurity, power and money.
It's not just governments though, the same happens in corporations, businesses, sporting clubs, schoolyards, between neighbours and anywhere else human beings gather...It's a human thing. I guess what I'm saying is that, while I'm critical of governments, I'm also critical of humans in general as every one of them possesses the propensity to act in ways that negatively affect others...and actively, willingly give in to it.
All of the answers for the present and future are laid out across history...and yet human beings fail to learn and apply them.