My friend Bayi sent me an article with photos entitled “Hiroshima, the pictures they didn’t want us to see.” I searched Google using the title as keywords and discovered that the article has been published in quite a number of blogs. You may view the photos at Fogozanos and Springoo; note the links at the end of both entries. Who composed the original article, I have no idea.
Sad, isn’t it? The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a military base, and America responded by bombing two cities with all the civilians in them. A group of extremists hijacked airplanes and attacked selected areas and America responded by invading Iraq.
If you want a “political balance”, you can view photos of Nanking during the Japanese occupation in 1937. Then, read a piece about how the Americans were lied to by its own government during World War II to gain a favorable public opinion for the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the suppression of film footage taken in the aftermath.
A lot of people would call it toys for the big boys and games men play. I disagree.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Dezza 05.02.08 at 1:59 am
Looking at the pictures in the links you provided (and after seeing movies and reading books about war), I really wonder what it is about war that makes some people shed their humanity. On a larger scale, I can somewhat understand the political motivations of war. However, these snapshots bring about the reality of carnage and brutality that war can bring. Throughout man’s history, I know that war can bring the worst, and yes, even the best, of man. In war, our humanity is severely and unrelentingly tested.
Connie Veneracion 05.02.08 at 11:48 am
Dezza, I think it’s greed and a twisted sense of preserving what one already has. It’s not even a country vs. country thing because before there were countries, clans were waging war against each other already. On another level, it’s a lifestyle vs. lifestyle thing — hence, capitalism waging war against every system that threatens its existence.
Jaime Monreal 05.02.08 at 12:05 pm
War - it’s all about money(wealth) and power, and you are right Connie, preserving what one already has.
Tom 05.02.08 at 2:02 pm
I believe we have arrived at a juncture in our history on whether we could recognize and utilize the technological advances we have attained to empower ourselves or do we forfeit all these advances to what would rapidly be archaic notions of social institutions that had always used us as its pawns.
ed villanueva 05.02.08 at 8:26 pm
Sadly even the Japanese school text books,never mention any of their their atrocities and barbaric acts against humanity and up to this day many are still paying tributes to the Shrine where these war criminals were entombed.They are yet to apologize to thousand of women that they made sexslaves but instead they dismissed them as mere prostitutes offering sexual favor for a fee or food to the Japanese army.
Ria 05.02.08 at 10:09 pm
I read the book Rape of Nanking when I was a high school sophomore for our social studies class. Although I was appalled by the atrocities of the Japanese, I still couldn’t help but be awed by their techniques in brainwashing the kids. And then a few weeks after that I had a discussion with some upperclassmen about US and agent orange. I think that was a pretty good balance.
I also remember how we discussed the 9/11 issue at that time. Our teacher gave us a historical background, including how the US has always tried to interfere with the affairs of the countries in Western Asia. In the end, she left it up to us if it is just to call only the hijackers terrorists.
BTW, I remember what Dr. Robinson, a sociology professor from the University of California, said during one of his lectures a few months ago. According to him, a pharmaceutical company and an armaments-manufacturing company are included in each of the two biggest conglomerates in the world.
BlogusVox 05.03.08 at 2:20 pm
Killing non combatant men, women and children. Wiping entire villages, burning crops to induce famine. Using germ warfare by introducing diseases such as small pox. Indian War? No! Vietnam war? No! These happened in Eastern Visayas during the Filipino-American War not to mention the atrocities they did in Luzon.
What is sad is these events where never taught to our children in their history class. Ang ikli talaga nang memorya nang pinoy.
Ria 05.03.08 at 4:26 pm
^I agree. Ang ikli nga ng memory natin.
Maswerte lang ako kasi napag-aralan namin yan sa history classes in elem and high school kaya yata hanggang ngayon hindi ko ma-gets ang tindi ng pagmamahal ng ibang Pinoy sa US. Nakakalungkot lang kasi ganito pa din naman ang ginagawa ng US hanggang ngayon pero parang hindi pinapansin ng mga tao.
Connie Veneracion 05.03.08 at 6:36 pm
I suppose it’s a case of which colonizer implemented the more effective propaganda campaign. In the eyes of so many Fillipinos (especially those who were teeners and young adults during the post-Liberation period), the Americans are gods.
BlogusVox 05.03.08 at 7:55 pm
The Philippines: The Continuing Past by R.Constantino & L.R.Constantino
A book read on how gullible we are and what the pacific war was all about.
McArthurs’ “I shall return” is nothing but crap!
Tom 05.04.08 at 1:10 am
Folks, all of these are happening to us because we allow ourselves to be objects of oddity. Back then, it was these “savages” Uncle Sam had acquired with his 20 million dollar purchase. Today, it is this gross failure at governing ourselves. We are a learned people. Our literacy rate is at 90%.
Focusing on rice, the science in producing rice is ours. We teach the world on how to produce rice but we are the largest importer of rice in Asia. Odd isn’t it? Para tayong mga matatalinong mangmang.
Until we decide to take ACTION, the bullshit just keeps going on.
Tom 05.04.08 at 1:30 am
WAR! GOOD GOD NOW, WHAT’S IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Nick 05.04.08 at 5:21 pm
Connie, it’s the politics of war, the economics of war, and the profitability of war.. In the end, America is the superpower, they want to stay that way, and there are numerous corporations who profit from the escalating “defense” budget.
That two-liner, says it all,
the idiocy of the response, but how government propaganda can make everything seem alright.
“
jin kazama 05.05.08 at 8:00 am
GOD! After seeing the photos in the links provided, we could only hope this kind of savagery never happens again. Kahit ano pa man dun sa mga events mentioned. Makikita mo dun kung gaano katindi ang kahayupan ng tao. Hindi na nga gawa ng matinong tao yun no matter what justification is provided. And those pompous Japs…
Angela 05.06.08 at 12:07 am
While the U.S. is far from perfect, the U.S. is still more humane than most countries who’ve demonstrated their share of blatant monstrosities. I don’t find the need to be specific. Being Filipinos we should know about the horrible things that Japan did to us.
In my opinion, the U.S. is the country that has the means and the set of balls to stop these monsters. But of course, that is putting it simply.
I’m not saying that Hiroshima and Nagasaki deserved the A-bombs. The attacks however were NOT unprovoked. Japan during the war was the last to respect the dignity and life of civilians. And honestly I believe that had they been the ones in possession of the A-Bombs, they would not have dropped 2, but 10.
Lastly, the Iraq war isn’t America’s war. It’s idiot Bush’s war. Actually, it was his father’s war that he is now fighting. Since more than 80% of Americans disapprove of him and this number is growing as we speak, what he’s doing is actually very un-American. I couldn’t wait for the day in January when a new President is inaugurated. Certainly, the rest of the world couldn’t wait either.
Trosp 05.06.08 at 12:33 am
Sass, I can say that your post is a well written one specially the “political balance” thing.
I’d like to comment on what the blogger has posted in the link that you have provided -
http://www.naturalnews.com/019176.html
According to her Hiroshima and Nagasaki fact and fiction:
(Or shall I say her lies and her truths.)
• Lie: Leaflets were dropped on Japanese cities to warn civilians to evacuate.
• Truth: Leaflets were dropped after we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(Leaflets were dropped prior to bombing. Granting leaflets were not dropped, sufficient warnings were released prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. Even the Japanese military became aware of the approaching bombing planes but has chosen to ignore them and has failed to warn its citizens.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
• Lie: Our use of the atomic bombs shortened the war.
• Truth: The Japanese were looking for peace when they returned from the Potsdam Conference on Aug. 3, 1945, three days before the U.S. military bombed Hiroshima.
(Nothing is more factual that right after the second atomic bombing, Japan immediately surrendered.)
http://home.att.net/~betsynewmark3/DebateonBomb.htm
(Of course, she can again debunk those items on the above link as US post war propagandas).
• Lie: We bombed Hiroshima, which was an important Japanese Army base.
• Truth: We bombed the city center of Hiroshima, which had a population of 350,000.
(Well, ok, Hiroshima was an army base with a population of 350,000.)
• Truth: Only four of the 30 targets were, in fact, military in nature.
(Ok, included in that four were Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
• Lie: The destroyed area of Hiroshima contained major industrial targets.
• Truth: The only “industrial” targets were three textile mills.
(It also contained at the time of its bombing:
- A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata’s 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan.
- Minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military.
- The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
• Truth: Residential areas sustained the most damage.
• Truth: Less than 10 percent of Hiroshima’s manufacturing, transportation and storage facilities were damaged.
(Other non-atomic bombings have induced more damages to residential areas than those two atomic bombing. It was a war and opposing nations were aware of the realities of collateral damages.)
http://www.essortment.com/all/presidenttruman_rywp.htm
• Lie: Residual radiation was not a threat to the American soldiers who stayed to occupy Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Truth: The “black rain” that fell after the bombings contaminated the ground, which was one of the many sources of residual radiation.
(Then, it is conclusive that “all” American soldiers who set foot in Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the bombing should have been seriously affected by the residual radiation? )
The way I see it, no matter how that blogger wanted to make her post to have the appearance of a fact checked or fact based item, it still looks to me as an agenda based one.
Tom 05.06.08 at 7:54 am
Re#15 Instead of a presidential election, how about a constitutional convention to do away with the federal government?