Re: [OT] The record industry, RIAA and US law
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Celejar wrote:
> On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:14:44 -0400
> Amy Templeton <amy.g.templeton@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Johannes Wiedersich <johannes@physik.blm.tu-muenchen.de> wrote:
>>>> The whole mission is a textbook example of how it probably is
>>>> impossible to bring about democracy, peace and freedom by
>>>> application of force.
>>> Impossible? Where were Germany and Japan before and after WWII?
>> Before: A lot more populous.
>> After: In ruins.
>>
>> Seriously, though...are you advocating dropping nuclear bombs on
>> people in order to force them to be "free"? 'Cause if I recall
>> that's how we got Japan to lay down arms...
>
> First, I was simply providing a counter example to Johannes'
> aforementioned assertion, but not necessarily advocating anything.
> Second, what about Germany? Third, WRT Japan I suppose we had three
> choices: a) the Bomb b) continued conventional war c) negotiated
> peace / truce / ceasefire. It's easy to argue for a over b
> (minimization of the total loss of life, including total loss of enemy
> life), although I know that one can argue the contrary also. WRT option
> c, do you think that was a historically realistic possibility? [It's
> not a rhetorical question; my knowledge of the period isn't that
> strong.]
You forget about the second bomb. It was dropped before the Japanese
government had a chance to figure out what had happened in Hiroshima and
before they had a chance to surrender in face of the first bomb.
(The second bomb was dropped 3 days after the first. In the confusion
and destruction caused by the first bombing it took days for the
Japanese government to figure out what had happened in Hiroshima. No
internet, no telephone, etc.)
No matter what justification one might have for dropping the first bomb,
I guess at least the second bomb was both military and morally 'useless'.
Johannes
Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFGQyzXC1NzPRl9qEURAs6hAJ9MJWObD9cfLyJFL4qUNQiFwvXN0QCcDGjO
rNZytyMNqNSH1JNfpzToJ78=
=NizA
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: