Difference between revisions of "Debate:Was the United States right to drop atomic bombs so quickly on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?"

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
(nessecary! no question.)
m (cat)
 
(16 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:
  
 
Hey its either 200000 of them or 2 million marines? i chose them. not because i am american, but because 2 million lives is a whole lot!!! i may sound savage but i think it was nessecary. --[[User:Will N.|Will N.]] 20:16, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 
Hey its either 200000 of them or 2 million marines? i chose them. not because i am american, but because 2 million lives is a whole lot!!! i may sound savage but i think it was nessecary. --[[User:Will N.|Will N.]] 20:16, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 +
:Amen. It wasn't ethical or moral to drop the bombs, but it was most certainly the lesser of two evils. And honestly, it was war; you're supposed to use your advantageous weapons.--<font color="#0000CC" face="Comic Sans MS">[[User:Hojimachong|'''Hojimachong''']]</font><sup><font color="00FFAA">[[User_Talk:Hojimachong|talk]]</font></sup> 20:18, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 +
 +
also all is fair in love and war. if we could end it then its our duty to end it. And if ending it saved 1,800,000 then go for it. --[[User:Will N.|Will N.]] 20:28, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 +
 +
:Estimated US casualties for Operation OLYMPIC & CORONET were 250,000 along with 1,000,000 Japanese civilian casualties. [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_arguments_for_and_against_the_atomic_bombings_of_Japan_being_justified] --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 16:18, 23 May 2007 (EDT)
 +
 +
Sadly, I disagree with the earlier statements. Sure, it would have killed 2 million marines had we invaded them but uh... we didn't have to invade them. By 1945 Japan's navy and airforce were destroyed, they had no other means of attacking us. Remember everyone, a single death is a trajedy, a million deaths is a statistic. If we had to used a bomb we could have dropped one on the less-populated countrysides to show japan our power instead of killing hundreds of thousands of inocent lives. In love and war, inocent lives should not be involved. --[[User:FDRismyhero.]] 11:07 June 29
 +
 +
In historical retrospect, it was perhaps the lesser of three evils. There's no guarantee that the generals and the people would have surrendered, in the short and long runs - consider the belief of the people of Nazi Germany that they had only lost the first World War because their government betrayed them by surrendering. The atomic bombings made sure Japan went down, and stayed down. A land invasion in Japan may have cost more civilian lives as well as costing the Allies a great deal in manpower. The "third" evil I mentioned was that at one point, I believe they had planned on destroying as many as five major cities, but mercifully decided that only two were necessary. --[[User:JonathanDrain|JonathanDrain]] 10:33, 31 July 2007 (EDT)
 +
 +
Mokugatsu! Ring a bell? The US was waiting on a reply to a demand of surrender when they dropped the bomb. (Mokugatsu was misinterpreted as "treat with contempt" when it was in fact "answer pending" (not a direct translation)).
 +
:Suppose you pull up evidence for "mokugatsu", including the actual translation of this word, as well as the actual evidence this word was used on a message intended to be "answer pending".  Your statement is certainly not ringing any bells here.  [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 13:00, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
 +
 +
::The contributor above almost used the correct word. It should be ''Mokusatsu'' (黙殺), which does mean  "to withhold comment" or in even better terms "to kill with silence" - often used in business parlance <ref>http://www.apmforum.com/columns/boye36.htm</ref>. However, it also means "to treat with silent contempt.", but is very different from rejection (''hiketsu'' 否決) (The word comes from ''moku'' = silence and ''satsu'' = kill.). Unfortunately, it comes down to interpretation and context and in this case it was taken to mean that the terms of the Potsdam Declaration had been rejected, rather than they were being considered. <ref>http://www.jstor.org/pss/3635822</ref>. I am sure [[user:RJJensen]] will be able to provide more clarity on this than I can, but those are the basics, with some English documents I found to support.
 +
 +
::Personally, I would rather the bombs had not been dropped, or at worst one dropped offshore would have made quite an impact on an already demoralised population. Dropping both was overkill. Anybody still in favour of atomic weapons should spend a 6<sup>th</sup> August at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. --[[User:JessicaT|KotomiT]]<sup>[[User talk:JessicaT|''Hajimemashi<!---->te!'']]</sup> 13:42, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
 +
 +
Besides American GI lives, just think of all the Japanese lives that were saved. We lost 4000 GI's the first week of Iwo Jima. An invasion of mainland Japan would have killed 100 times more than two atomic bombs. I would have favored nuc strikes in China for the interference in Korea. It was a problem left for another generation- ours. Now both countries are America's enemy and both coutries have nuc weapons. -- [[Image:50 star flag.png|14px]] [[User:Jpatt|jp]] 14:45, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
 +
:Do you really consider China to be an enemy, or more of a rival? --[[User:DinsdaleP|DinsdaleP]] 17:20, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
 +
 +
===="Quickly"====
 +
What exactly was so "quick" about the U.S. dropping the first bomb on Hiroshima?  Look up statistics on U.S. losses in the Pacific and tell me how "quick" it was.  [[User:JLauttamus|Jeffrey W. Lauttamus]][[User_talk:JLauttamus|<sub>Discussion</sub>]] 13:05, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
  
 
== It was to keep the Soviet Union out of Japan ==
 
== It was to keep the Soviet Union out of Japan ==
  
 
The allies had agreed to a partitioning of Germany after the victory over Hitler.  The United States, however, had conducted the Pacific War practically alone and we did not intend to share the fruits of victory with the Soviet Union after a protracted sea-land invasion of the home islands by both countries.  Therefore, Harry Truman undertook to force Japan to capitulate before the USSR could mobilize by knocking out two Japanese cities with the nuclear bombs.  The detonations also had a dampening effect on further Soviet aggression until 1949 when they obtained their own atomic devices. [[User:Teresita|Teresita]] 20:11, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 
The allies had agreed to a partitioning of Germany after the victory over Hitler.  The United States, however, had conducted the Pacific War practically alone and we did not intend to share the fruits of victory with the Soviet Union after a protracted sea-land invasion of the home islands by both countries.  Therefore, Harry Truman undertook to force Japan to capitulate before the USSR could mobilize by knocking out two Japanese cities with the nuclear bombs.  The detonations also had a dampening effect on further Soviet aggression until 1949 when they obtained their own atomic devices. [[User:Teresita|Teresita]] 20:11, 11 April 2007 (EDT)
 +
 +
== No ==
 +
i think that we were right to drop the first atomic bomb, but that we should have waited a little longer than a few days for them to surrender, mabey a week or a few weeks for them to decide, but after that dropped another one (although they weren't relatively that bad compared to all of the firebombings in japan)-[[User:Greenmeanie|Greenmeanie]] 00:24, 16 May 2008 (EDT)
 +
 +
==References==
 +
{{Reflist}}
 +
[[Category:Conservapedia Debates]]

Latest revision as of 19:13, January 4, 2009

It saved lives!

Operation Downfall was the allied plan to invade the Imperial Japanese mainland. Operation Olympic on November 1, 1945 and then Operation Coronet on March 1, 1946. Allied bombing raids would've continued into 1946 and by the end of hostilities there would've been massive civilian casualties. The Second World War would have ended with a much greater toll in human lives then it did. Droping two atomic bombs on two cities that would've been destroyed by conventional means expedited an end to that conflict. Waiting any longer would have resulted in implementing Operation Downfall. Waiting would have meant continued warfare and loss of lives.--Roopilots6 19:42, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Hey its either 200000 of them or 2 million marines? i chose them. not because i am american, but because 2 million lives is a whole lot!!! i may sound savage but i think it was nessecary. --Will N. 20:16, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Amen. It wasn't ethical or moral to drop the bombs, but it was most certainly the lesser of two evils. And honestly, it was war; you're supposed to use your advantageous weapons.--Hojimachongtalk 20:18, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

also all is fair in love and war. if we could end it then its our duty to end it. And if ending it saved 1,800,000 then go for it. --Will N. 20:28, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Estimated US casualties for Operation OLYMPIC & CORONET were 250,000 along with 1,000,000 Japanese civilian casualties. [1] --Ed Poor 16:18, 23 May 2007 (EDT)

Sadly, I disagree with the earlier statements. Sure, it would have killed 2 million marines had we invaded them but uh... we didn't have to invade them. By 1945 Japan's navy and airforce were destroyed, they had no other means of attacking us. Remember everyone, a single death is a trajedy, a million deaths is a statistic. If we had to used a bomb we could have dropped one on the less-populated countrysides to show japan our power instead of killing hundreds of thousands of inocent lives. In love and war, inocent lives should not be involved. --User:FDRismyhero. 11:07 June 29

In historical retrospect, it was perhaps the lesser of three evils. There's no guarantee that the generals and the people would have surrendered, in the short and long runs - consider the belief of the people of Nazi Germany that they had only lost the first World War because their government betrayed them by surrendering. The atomic bombings made sure Japan went down, and stayed down. A land invasion in Japan may have cost more civilian lives as well as costing the Allies a great deal in manpower. The "third" evil I mentioned was that at one point, I believe they had planned on destroying as many as five major cities, but mercifully decided that only two were necessary. --JonathanDrain 10:33, 31 July 2007 (EDT)

Mokugatsu! Ring a bell? The US was waiting on a reply to a demand of surrender when they dropped the bomb. (Mokugatsu was misinterpreted as "treat with contempt" when it was in fact "answer pending" (not a direct translation)).

Suppose you pull up evidence for "mokugatsu", including the actual translation of this word, as well as the actual evidence this word was used on a message intended to be "answer pending". Your statement is certainly not ringing any bells here. Karajou 13:00, 25 September 2008 (EDT)
The contributor above almost used the correct word. It should be Mokusatsu (黙殺), which does mean "to withhold comment" or in even better terms "to kill with silence" - often used in business parlance [1]. However, it also means "to treat with silent contempt.", but is very different from rejection (hiketsu 否決) (The word comes from moku = silence and satsu = kill.). Unfortunately, it comes down to interpretation and context and in this case it was taken to mean that the terms of the Potsdam Declaration had been rejected, rather than they were being considered. [2]. I am sure user:RJJensen will be able to provide more clarity on this than I can, but those are the basics, with some English documents I found to support.
Personally, I would rather the bombs had not been dropped, or at worst one dropped offshore would have made quite an impact on an already demoralised population. Dropping both was overkill. Anybody still in favour of atomic weapons should spend a 6th August at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. --KotomiTHajimemashite! 13:42, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

Besides American GI lives, just think of all the Japanese lives that were saved. We lost 4000 GI's the first week of Iwo Jima. An invasion of mainland Japan would have killed 100 times more than two atomic bombs. I would have favored nuc strikes in China for the interference in Korea. It was a problem left for another generation- ours. Now both countries are America's enemy and both coutries have nuc weapons. -- 50 star flag.png jp 14:45, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

Do you really consider China to be an enemy, or more of a rival? --DinsdaleP 17:20, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

"Quickly"

What exactly was so "quick" about the U.S. dropping the first bomb on Hiroshima? Look up statistics on U.S. losses in the Pacific and tell me how "quick" it was. Jeffrey W. LauttamusDiscussion 13:05, 25 September 2008 (EDT)

It was to keep the Soviet Union out of Japan

The allies had agreed to a partitioning of Germany after the victory over Hitler. The United States, however, had conducted the Pacific War practically alone and we did not intend to share the fruits of victory with the Soviet Union after a protracted sea-land invasion of the home islands by both countries. Therefore, Harry Truman undertook to force Japan to capitulate before the USSR could mobilize by knocking out two Japanese cities with the nuclear bombs. The detonations also had a dampening effect on further Soviet aggression until 1949 when they obtained their own atomic devices. Teresita 20:11, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

No

i think that we were right to drop the first atomic bomb, but that we should have waited a little longer than a few days for them to surrender, mabey a week or a few weeks for them to decide, but after that dropped another one (although they weren't relatively that bad compared to all of the firebombings in japan)-Greenmeanie 00:24, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

References