Pro/Forums - View Single Post

bobkoure · 02-03-2005, 05:04 PM

I'd be sorry to see this thread either disappear or keep going the way it's been.
Personally, I'm glad to hear all points of view - particularly ones I disagree with (or at least think I do).
Up to a short while ago, this thread was a (although sometimes a bit heated) pretty rational exposition of different points of view. Somehow it devolved into name calling and threats.
I wonder if we could, after all taking a deep breath:
- avoid making threats
- avoid any kind of name calling that lumps someone in with a particular race, nationality, religion, whatever. If someone's pissing you off that's who's pissing you off - not everyone with that same race or whatever.

As far as the "two bombs", there's still an ongoing historical controversy over whether they were actually necessary to end the war or not. On the one hand, we'd already lost a lot of troops to what were essentially suicide fighters - and were facing the prospect of losing up to a million (!) more. On the other hand, we hadn't told the Japanese that we were not going to kill their Emperor and did not ask for a surrender either before the bombs or even just after the first one. There's one conspiracy theory that the bombs were simply to put a fright into the soviets (would'a frightened me).
Finally, if you've been to Japan, you know there's been a big change since the loss and the MacArthur days. IMHO they've taken much more responsibility for having started a war than, say, the Germans.

Oh - and yes I've lived in parts of the world where some people automatically didn't like me because I was from the US. I'm sure it was a very faint shadow of what Lothar goes through because of his skin color - but it gave me a hint of what it feels like.

Thanks for listening...

02-03-2005, 05:04 PM	#714
bobkoure Cooling Savant Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: USA - Boston area Posts: 798	I'd be sorry to see this thread either disappear or keep going the way it's been. Personally, I'm glad to hear all points of view - particularly ones I disagree with (or at least think I do). Up to a short while ago, this thread was a (although sometimes a bit heated) pretty rational exposition of different points of view. Somehow it devolved into name calling and threats. I wonder if we could, after all taking a deep breath: - avoid making threats - avoid any kind of name calling that lumps someone in with a particular race, nationality, religion, whatever. If someone's pissing you off that's who's pissing you off - not everyone with that same race or whatever. As far as the "two bombs", there's still an ongoing historical controversy over whether they were actually necessary to end the war or not. On the one hand, we'd already lost a lot of troops to what were essentially suicide fighters - and were facing the prospect of losing up to a million (!) more. On the other hand, we hadn't told the Japanese that we were not going to kill their Emperor and did not ask for a surrender either before the bombs or even just after the first one. There's one conspiracy theory that the bombs were simply to put a fright into the soviets (would'a frightened me). Finally, if you've been to Japan, you know there's been a big change since the loss and the MacArthur days. IMHO they've taken much more responsibility for having started a war than, say, the Germans. Oh - and yes I've lived in parts of the world where some people automatically didn't like me because I was from the US. I'm sure it was a very faint shadow of what Lothar goes through because of his skin color - but it gave me a hint of what it feels like. Thanks for listening...