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Perceptions vary based on history and culture. What many Americans consider a justifiable, even necessary action is considered one of the worst crimes ever against humanity by most of the rest of the world.
That seems a highly unlikely assertion. Got any statistics to back it up?
I should be more careful in my word choice. "Most" does imply a majority and is likely to instigate a call for proof from those who disagree. Given that most of the world lives below poverty level in Asia, Africa and S. America it might be more accurate to say that most of the world doesn't know or care much about US foreign policy.
Among those in Europe, Asia, Africa and S. America who do know and care about U.S. foreign policy, it may be that a majority have a negative view but better to sidestep that and amend my statement to "many in the rest of the world".
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Jeff Wilson: I thought he was speaking in the context of war crimes, crimes against
humanity, etc. down at the Hague, while most Americans think of them as things that happen in other countries, if they bother to think about them at all, and the US is pointedly not a signatory to the agreements that would make its past deeds actionable.
Jeff you correctly interpret that mentioning Hiroshima was an illustration of a general principle. I chose Hiroshima because it is such a polarized issue. Many Americans consider it the right action and I think most consider it at worst a necessary evil. While most..erm...many in the rest of the world do not see it as even remotely necessary. Some in the world accuse that the US deliberately delayed using the atomic bomb until Germany surrendered because they didn't want to perform the radiation experiment that it was to be used on white people.
Others have made the valid point that while world opinion of US military action is what it is now, it
surely was a lot different if you had asked the same questions to people 60-70 years ago. All of this
supports my original assertion: Perceptions vary based on history and culture.
So, who is right? Americans? Europeans? Chinese? Muslims? People now? People 60 years ago?
The same principle applies to the interpretation of Gene Wolfe books as it does to global politics.
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Jeff: All were awful, but the atomic weapon makes it so much easier and convenient to be awful. The
overkill bombardment of Berlin and the Okinawan slaughter required a huge human cost in sustaining the
terrible resolve to kill and keep killing for as long as it took, so that few of the victors could look
forward to repeating it.
I agree 100%. Yet, I have to admit that the last 60 years of relative global peace (Pax Americana?) are
more a result of fear of atomic weapons than the far worse results of conventional bombings in WWII. People
are funny. I think maybe they don't fear conventional weapons because they are an extension of the use of
fire. Nuclear energy is spooky and people fear being killed by it so much more than than being burned or
ripped apart by chemical reactions.