RE: virus: Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Sun, 14 Mar 1999 22:19:15 -0800 (PST)
On Sun, 14 Mar 1999, carlw wrote:
> Umm, no. Before the uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (on 6 August 1945)
> and the plutonium bomb used on Nagasaki (on 9 August 1945), Japan had
> already told the Americans that they were ready to surrender
> (conditionally), and had told the American's allies (the Russians), that
> they were ready to surrender unconditionally.
[big history snip]
> So I don't think your example is one of reason? Unreason perhaps. Look at
> the August 10th entry above. Maybe "These people are evil devils and we need
> to punish them"? Sounds like faith to me.
I dare say, you're looking at the bombings as the end of one war and see it as
unreasonible in that context. But they were not, they were meant as the first
shots in a much more subtle struggle for power, a war that would not end for
another 40 years after that.
And in that context, it was a surpremely logical and reasoned tactic. (And
brutal and ugly and unforgivible at the same time.)
Don't kid yourself, Carl, the _tactics_ of war are many things, and highly
reasoned, more often than not, tops that list. Carpet bombing was not
developed as an act of faith, it was a well thought out, reasoned strategy for
achieving a specific objective -- destroying the morale and production
capablities of an enemy, entirely. And that objective itself, was a well
reasoned, objectively considered resopnse to the question, "How do we make sure
we win this war?" Now if you simply don't like the power that objectivity
gives you to get things done (at any cost) that's one thing, but to deny that
it is there or pawn it of on "faith" is another thing entirely.
The Crusades may have been ordered by the priests, but it was generals that
commanded the battles. And generals don't give a damn about faith, they only
care about winning.
And what could be more rational than that?
-Prof. Tim