#1 in a long series: Liberals Are Usually Wrong
I caught a documentary on the Discovery Channel this weekend called "Hiroshima, the First Weapon of Mass Destruction."
We'll save the overall bias of the Discovery Channel for another day. Today, let's just focus on this title. Specifically: It's a lie.
Perhaps it's a mistake, and the person who penned it actually believes it. If so, "mistake" is the wrong word: it's an example of criminal spin stupidity.
Hiroshima was horrible in ways that all of Hollywood's magic simply can't capture. Even so, to claim that the atomic bomb is the first weapon of mass destruction is grossly false. Hiroshima was far from the first weapon of mass destruction.
Incendiary weapons were, and are, every bit as gruesome as atomic weapons - particularly in the tinderbox cities of 1940's Japan. I knew a survivor of the great Dresden firebombing and, believe me, the emotional scars of that attack are as intense as any from Hiroshima. I'm not cheapening what happened to Hiroshima. What I'm saying is that the atomic bombs are hardly unique.
Does the fact that only one plane destroyed Hiroshima make the horror of the massive Tokyo (etc.) firebombings any less qualified to be termed "results of a WMD?"
And what about chemical weapons? Chemical warfare predates atomic warfare by decades, and they were always meant to be WMD's. Biological? There are records of diseased animals being *catapulted* over besieged castle walls, correct? Do we believe a plague-infested carcass is anything but a WMD?
No, anyone with even a passing knowledge of history knows the lie in the title of this documentary.
Then why do it?
We all know why: to taint. To spin. To add yet another straw to the unceasing attack on our beliefs, our self image, and our culture.
If this blog survives you will find that I am deeply, deeply proud to be an American. I believe that our immigrant roots have yielded a culture that is unique in Human History. As powerful as Ancient Rome, we enslave no adversary. The economic hub of the world, we choose to spend our blood and treasure for the freedom of others. That's unique, and we should be proud of it. As a blog, this site will likely focus on these areas for they are what made - and could still make - us great.
Even so, there are many pieces of baggage in American History. Many cases where we didn't take the high road. Americans are people and like all people are often selfish, mean, petty, and stupid. We won't be afraid to discuss those times, either.
This is one of those times. Not in how we ended WWII, but in the scurrilous way that yet another America-Last'er spins the truth.
Rob
We'll save the overall bias of the Discovery Channel for another day. Today, let's just focus on this title. Specifically: It's a lie.
Perhaps it's a mistake, and the person who penned it actually believes it. If so, "mistake" is the wrong word: it's an example of criminal spin stupidity.
Hiroshima was horrible in ways that all of Hollywood's magic simply can't capture. Even so, to claim that the atomic bomb is the first weapon of mass destruction is grossly false. Hiroshima was far from the first weapon of mass destruction.
Incendiary weapons were, and are, every bit as gruesome as atomic weapons - particularly in the tinderbox cities of 1940's Japan. I knew a survivor of the great Dresden firebombing and, believe me, the emotional scars of that attack are as intense as any from Hiroshima. I'm not cheapening what happened to Hiroshima. What I'm saying is that the atomic bombs are hardly unique.
Does the fact that only one plane destroyed Hiroshima make the horror of the massive Tokyo (etc.) firebombings any less qualified to be termed "results of a WMD?"
And what about chemical weapons? Chemical warfare predates atomic warfare by decades, and they were always meant to be WMD's. Biological? There are records of diseased animals being *catapulted* over besieged castle walls, correct? Do we believe a plague-infested carcass is anything but a WMD?
No, anyone with even a passing knowledge of history knows the lie in the title of this documentary.
Then why do it?
We all know why: to taint. To spin. To add yet another straw to the unceasing attack on our beliefs, our self image, and our culture.
If this blog survives you will find that I am deeply, deeply proud to be an American. I believe that our immigrant roots have yielded a culture that is unique in Human History. As powerful as Ancient Rome, we enslave no adversary. The economic hub of the world, we choose to spend our blood and treasure for the freedom of others. That's unique, and we should be proud of it. As a blog, this site will likely focus on these areas for they are what made - and could still make - us great.
Even so, there are many pieces of baggage in American History. Many cases where we didn't take the high road. Americans are people and like all people are often selfish, mean, petty, and stupid. We won't be afraid to discuss those times, either.
This is one of those times. Not in how we ended WWII, but in the scurrilous way that yet another America-Last'er spins the truth.
Rob
posted by RobM1981 at 8:44 AM
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