Dark Mirror

Today is the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, three days after Hiroshima. "Anniversary" seems such a strange word here, implying something worth celebrating. But then I don't what words could possibly be appropriate to describe such an obscene event. An article in last Friday's LA Times caught my eye belatedly today, "The Myths of Hiroshima":

The bomb was dropped, as J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, said in November 1945, on "an essentially defeated enemy." President Truman and his closest advisor, Secretary of State James Byrnes, quite plainly used it primarily to prevent the Soviets from sharing in the occupation of Japan. And they used it on Aug. 6 even though they had agreed among themselves as they returned home from the Potsdam Conference on Aug. 3 that the Japanese were looking for peace.

Oppenheimer warned of a "sleazy sense of omnipotence". What a perfect description of the men (and women) who are, even as we speak, leading us toward another war, this time in Iran, with "bunker-busting" nukes as part of their intended arsenal.

The myths of Hiroshima keep us from acknowledging the enormity of the crime that was committed on August 6 & 9, 1945. They keep us believing that destruction on such a massive, random, heartless scale can be justified, even efficacious. They keep us believing that we are by definition the good guys, and that the rest of the world would realize that if they just woke up. In fact none of that is true.

Acknowledging our own capacity for evil might rid us of some of that "sleazy sense of omnipotence". It might even engender some humility. Unfortunately, at the highest levels of this government, humility is non-existent. And the mask of innocence that we hold up to the world isn't fooling anyone anymore, only ourselves.