Stewart Wenner“Ugly Draft” #2 – Hypervisbility

Humans are used to disasters; they have readily become a part of our lives, especially as we

deform the earth more and more, provoking all sorts of rather unnatural “natural” disasters. However,

while many people may think of natural disasters when the topic of human tragedies arises, one must

take the time to realize that some of the most horrific disasters actually are completely man-made:

those which occur during wartime. As war had developed and become more and more sophisticated,

the amount of destruction has risen exponentially; new weapons and methods have been created that

make it easier than ever to take the lives of humans. One incredible catastrophe that is sometimes

overlooked – or pushed off to the side as “justified” – is the attack on Japan at the end of World War II,

that which essentially eradicated the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The massive and unique destruction

caused by the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki raises serious questions about the ethics of

contemporary warfare; the fact that there is still debate about the military significance of the Japanese

cities as targets, and that hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed or irreparably damaged suggests

that, at least in the United States, insufficient intelligence or morally deficient decisions have led to

disasters.

To begin analyzing what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a visual representation of the

damage and injury caused is quite powerful and able to summarize – without words – exactly what

happened and what the results were. The image that I felt showed this best was one of two survivors of

the blast in Hiroshima. They are shown sitting in some sort of building, possibly a relief shelter, huddled

together. What stands out the most to me is the combination of their oddly blank expressions and the

flash burns that cover large areas of their bodies. Neither the man or woman is looking directly at the

camera, and both appear to be simply staring off into the distance. They seem to be in some sort of

shock, which is understandable based on the incredibly traumatic experience they had been through.

Though their expressions are hard to read, their hands are gripping tightly onto some sort of blanket,

signaling more visually that they may be stressed or anxious about what happened. Another very

important aspect of the photograph is the unique burns that appear on the pair’s faces, arms, and

hands. While it is unclear as to exactly what caused it, based on the circumstances, they appear to be

“flash burns” due to the massive heat given off by the atomic blast. The two people are still living and

breathing, but they have been significantly changed. It is important to note that the two are clearly non-

military, based on their apparent older age and the fact that their clothing is casual and civilian-like.

Based on the actions of the United States military in World War II, their goal was clearly to

simply “win” the conflict, with no regard to civilian casualties at all. When a military power is arriving at

a decision as to what enemy target they will attack in a certain instance, one would think that they

would take a variety of factors into consideration. For example, they would need information on any

military structures, defenses, or troops in the area (each which may make the target worth attacking).

Also important, however, is the number and density of civilians in the area – especially when using a

weapon such as an atomic bomb, which has no ability to pick and choose who it destroys. This is very

relevant in the Japanese cities, as they were both packed full of civilians. By no means were the cities

purely military targets, as was claimed or suggested by the United States military. In reality, “it is an

indisputable fact that most of the Japanese casualties of the two atomic attacks of August, 1945, were

civilians living in the two cities that were destroyed by the atomic bombs” (Mahoney). Over 250,000

Japanese citizens died as a result of the bomb between 1945 and 1947, not to mention the long-lasting

radiological and genetic damage done to many of the survivors. These people did not even have a

chance to get out of the way, to move themselves out of harm’s way; which supports the idea that the

intention was to eliminate the civilians as well. As one expert said, “All human beings within a two-mile

radius of the [blast’s] epicenter were incinerated in an instant…Another one hundred thousand or more

bomb victims died in the following months and years” (Mahoney). (add how small Japanese attacks

were relatively)

The question of ethics in modern warfare is something that has certainly been confronted – by

the United Nations, for example – but is extremely difficult to control, regulate, or observe in some

cases. The dropping of the atomic bombs happened before some of this regulation was put through,

resulting in a direct attack on innocent civilian lives. The only thing most of these people were guilty of

was being Japanese, and living in Japan. In wartime, people of one group tend to turn the opposing

group into simply “the enemy”, as beings that are almost non-human and completely alien. After this is

done, any sort of attack is usually justified in their minds: “Once people are defined as being outside

[our] universe, offenses against them are not violations of the normative order and do not trigger

criminal sanctions. Excluding a group from the universe of obligations is a necessary, but not a sufficient,

condition for genocide” (Gamson). This is an unfortunate, but very true, aspect of contemporary

warfare. Even as the world has become significantly more connected and intertwined, or perhaps as a

result of this, differences have risen up between groups and have served to create harsh divides

between cultures and ideologies. This, without a doubt, happened between the United States and Japan

during World War II. (insert research about anti-Japanese) Looking at the Japanese internment camps,

for example, people from Japan were discriminated against and displaced from their normal roles in

society in the United States. They were portrayed as evil and un-American, and these were people who

were part of American society! Thus, one can only imagine the portrayal of the Japanese soldiers and

people living in Japan. The Japanese as a whole were defined as “the enemy”, and as such were

dehumanized to the point that any attack against them – even an atomic bomb dropped on a mainly

civilian target – was easily justified.