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.