There are many recurring themes among the left. Then there are mantras for every leftist, but one that gets passed around, modified, recycled and reused a lot is the “America is evil for having actually used the A-bomb” meme. The jihadists have been using that one, as have socialist and communist governments around the world, for years. At least someone agrees with John Stewart besides a few pimple-faced high school students watching Comedy Central on their parents’ TVs.
Whittle does a wonderful job of refuting this blatant ignorance. “Ooh! Ouch!”
Watch the whole thing. Whittle didn’t even have to mention what the Japanese did in China.
I almost feel sorry for Stewart. Almost, but then I have to think that surely he knew all this stuff beforehand, and was just playing out a shtick on his show. That would be giving him the benefit of the doubt I suppose. Maybe he really is that vacuous.
The left however will be clinging to this worn-out meme for generations to come, no matter how many times it’s proven wrong. As they say; there’s sucker born every minute.
Never mind the estimated costs in American and Japanese lives had a conventional attack taken place. One of my teachers in high school attempted to provide that BS education to the class. At which point I asked if they had a problem with Japan still existing as a country, and the fact that low estimates for US losses were a quarter of a million.
They tried to play off that the sole reason for the use of the bomb was to demonstrate to the Soviets we had it. That was only one very minor factor in a laundry list of items. The fact of the matter is, Japan struck first with a low blow. Why should the US sacrifice itself to minimize their losses?
In the words of Bill Engvall, “I hate stupid people. The should have to walk around wearing signs that say I’m stupid.” At least with the sign I’d know that arguing with the person wouldn’t change anything. However I hope that the other students in the class at least listened.
I had a clearly Marxist professor who always tried to cast the West as the bad guy. “Japan was trying to surrender” was one of the canards told to me (of course, there is a difference between surrendering and dismantling your empire).
That professor also believe that the attack on Pearl Harbor was a conspiracy to drag the U.S. into the war. Thank god that class was for my major.
Oops, ^wasn’t for my major.
One can talk about the projected differences in casualties all day without making a dent in other people’s beliefs. Instead, try a different approach. Just ask the person a question like, “If dropping the A-bomb on Japan means America is evil, doesn’t it also mean the Democratic party is evil since it was a Democrat who decided to use it?” Then sit back and watch the cognitive dissonance.
Projected casualties was only part of the knock-out punch, though it alone should be more than enough. In the video, Whittle also disproves the assertion that a demonstration of the bomb would have resulted in surrender.
The underlying assumption we’re trying to undo of course is that America is a global perpetrator, if not the global perpetrator. That a Democrat of yesteryear did this or did that is not going to change that underlying assumption. The Vietnam war is a good example.
Probably the best we can do is demonstrate to the more rational among us, just how wrong and stupid is that assumption. Rather than apologizing for America, as the left is doing, we should be demanding some respect once in a while.