Topaz,
thanks for sharing that link.
I would like to believe that the participants of this forum are fairly well educated fans of the Amazing Race who enjoy worldly views, and firmly understand that there are "two sides to every story". It is my hope that we can continue to partake in this discussion so we can all reflect, share and learn in a fair and factual manner, without any personal attacks.
But on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it's a different story because some Americans doesn't want to admit that kind of crime they'd committed and they have reasons why it should had drop the bomb to that 2 cities as a result to the payback of the Pearl Harbor attack and being an alliance to the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the war.
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I'd be interested in finding our more about Army Dave's view on Hiroshima. Not as a challenge, but I am curious to find out what really went through his mind as he saw the Atomic Dome, as an American, and as a human being.
Like most of you in this forum, I too was born in a generation that "never knew about THE war (WWII)", as opposed to my parents' generation (they were directly affected by it). Some of you who are parents may be watching TAR with your children too. So WWII was just something you learn in history books.
Yet, we have seen different kids of wars since then, some even broadcast live on CNN, some going on right now. You may have your own more personal experiences that you have lived through. A lot of us are (unfortunately) familiar with the idea.
So from that standpoint, we are more or less in the same boat.
Given that, I think it's important that we reflect on this topic that was presented to us.
I first learned about WWII when I was attending elementary school in Japan. The history curriculum in Japan at the time didn't present WWII with severe amounts of animosity, but what is interesting is that not a whole lot is taught about Japan immediately after WWII. This is perhaps due to the mostly apologetic tone that the Japanese government had during the post-war era, coupled with the influences of the GHQ. It was not a very proud era for the Japanese to say the least.
Then I learned about WWII at an American high school. I think most people on this forum know the story from this angle.
About 15 years ago, I visited the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, NM (
http://www.lanl.gov/museum/index.shtml), and I was able to view the exhibits in a somewhat neutral stance. I have to admit it was bone chilling to read the copies of American newspapers from August 7, 1945, however, I was able to walk through the museum to understand a certain historical perspective without getting overly emotional for the rest of the exhibit. I could only imagine that my parents or late grandparents would be thinking if they were to go visit this museum.
Despite the somewhat brief appearance of the Atomic Dome during our beloved American TV show compared to the Auschwitz tribute many seasons ago, and setting aside any speculation as to why the Atomic Dome visit didn't include a lengthy a tribute like the one at Auschwitz, I still truly appreciate Phil and the TAR producers in bringing attention to the matter in order to stir conversation about humanity. There are very few historical events that have the same level of impact to humanity in such a short amount of time as what happened on August 6, 1945. Yes, that was 67 years ago. It's "history" by all means. I hope we all agree this is the type of history that must not be repeated. And those lessons need to be passed down the generations.
Sidenote: The City of Hiroshima had previously proposed to tear it down as the structure is not sound (think earthquakes like 3.11 and all of the Japanese building codes), and you have to admit, it is a rather (purposely) depressing looking structure (in contrast to the modern buildings around it), but its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site still holds, and as recently as 5 months before the race visited Hiroshima, the city had completed some reinforcement work. With respect to the lives lost at the moment of impact, it's a very small price to pay to preserve this memory.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorialhttp://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8E%9F%E7%88%86%E3%83%89%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0