I always wondered why “we” dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on Japan. Here’s one version of the history. Notice that the same attitudes that pervade those in decision-making roles then still prevail: the concern for efficiency, dramatic effect, love of destructive power, complete lack of empathy for people killed or mutilated or diseased, operators sitting at controls far away from intended target . . . on and on.
This is a long, devastating piece that I found on business insider, well worth reading, if you can stand it. You might want to practice remaining aware of your breathing while working your way through it.
One has to practice breathing awareness also while reading the comments! some years ago in Yellow Springs, the Shirley/Jones art gallery hosted an exhibit of “The Unforgettable Fire: Drawings by Survivors of Hiroshima.” My husband, an anti-nuclear activist radiologist, and I walked through somberly; we met a friend outside who was an American scholar of Japanese literature, whose children are Japanese-American. He told us that he had visited the museum at Hiroshima while living in Japan, as stunned as we were. On the elevator, he ran into some Japanese grannies, who were discussing what they wanted to have for lunch in the cafeteria. I just don’t believe anyone who hasn’t lived through a blast, when they say it’s no big deal or it was necessary. I also think most lay people have not the slightest knowledge about nuclear physics or the consequences of nuclear weapons – they speak so casually and thoughtlessly about them.