tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post7748299375300938185..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: CiviliansMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-57904660573415366012015-09-10T12:41:49.900+01:002015-09-10T12:41:49.900+01:00All,
I read the essay by Fussell recommended by P...All,<br /><br />I read the essay by Fussell recommended by Paul, and it's a very worthwhile read -- in fact, it's pretty much the script for parts of the Burns series. A PDF (obviously scanned with OCR -- there are some odd misreads, e.g. "ride" for "rifle") is here:<br /><br />http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/undervisningsmateriale/Fussel%20-%20thank%20god%20for%20the%20atom%20bomb.pdf<br /><br />Thanks again, Paul.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-49982035128600692132015-09-10T11:02:51.459+01:002015-09-10T11:02:51.459+01:00Zouk - since my father was one of the men fighting...Zouk - since my father was one of the men fighting the Japanese, and might well have been included in an Allied invasion of Japan, personally I'm pretty unambivalent about the dropping of A-bombs on that country. All arguments against seem to be based on guesswork about what the Japanese might have been about to do next.Martyn Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16843357962176591317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-65798661505645316652015-09-08T21:16:55.917+01:002015-09-08T21:16:55.917+01:00Thanks, Paul -- I mainly know "The Great War ...Thanks, Paul -- I mainly know "The Great War and Modern Memory" from my spell a few years back as a WW1 buff, so I'll look that up, thanks.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-82029313023303200892015-09-08T21:14:03.473+01:002015-09-08T21:14:03.473+01:00Mike,
Really enjoyed this post. Interesting that ...Mike,<br /><br />Really enjoyed this post. Interesting that you mention Paul Fussell. Have you read his essay "Thank God for the Atom Bomb"? You can find a copy of it on the internet. Sorry I can't provide the address. Ian Buruma also wrote a good article about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in The New York Review of Books. It's behind a paywall unfortunately. Wish I hadn't thrown out my copy. Keep up the good work.<br /><br />Paul Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13723832613673266429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-72691882903347545652015-09-06T17:13:57.779+01:002015-09-06T17:13:57.779+01:00Zouk,
Well, not really, I'm just being a bit ...Zouk,<br /><br />Well, not really, I'm just being a bit provocative, asking myself what I'd have felt at the time if my son had been a marine in the Pacific...<br /><br />You need to watch some of that footage, though, which -- extraordinarily -- American cinema audiences did...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-66423595812639770012015-09-06T16:51:30.603+01:002015-09-06T16:51:30.603+01:00Are you really prepared to endorse, however hesita...Are you really prepared to endorse, however hesitantly, the justification of the murder of so many thousands (not to mention the effects on the survivors and their mutant progeny) in terms of military losses on the battlefield such as at Iwo Jima?<br /><br /><br />Einstein famously sent to Roosevelt in 1939 the <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_letter" rel="nofollow">letter</a> advising of the possibility of atomic bombs, and leading to the establishment of the Manhattan Project to develop US atomic weapons and their subsequent deployment. But long before that, in <a href="http://todayinsci.com/E/Einstein_Albert/EinsteinAlbert-TechnologyQuote500px.htm" rel="nofollow">another</a> (private) letter, he also wrote: "All of our exalted technological progress, civilization for that matter, is comparable to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal."Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-70310139746835133582015-09-06T13:55:26.340+01:002015-09-06T13:55:26.340+01:00Thanks, Debra -- yes, you'll be seeing more of...Thanks, Debra -- yes, you'll be seeing more of him. You, like me, probably see the wicket gate of an Oxford college there, more than any lisbon cathedral...<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-83349198388988943202015-09-06T13:45:24.382+01:002015-09-06T13:45:24.382+01:00A powerful post for these dismal, *uncivilised* da...A powerful post for these dismal, *uncivilised* days, Mike. Thank you. Glad to see the portal guy from Las Meninas re-appearing - an evocative complement to the words.Debra Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13891261799165438422noreply@blogger.com