51–60 of 96 posts
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There's goodness too in the world, but reading this and other experiences of war, genocide, slavery, terror, crime et al—human beings can be unspeakably ugly in their actions.
It’s been posted on HN before, but if this topic interests you, John Hersey’s famous reporting on the aftermath at Hiroshima (entitled “Hiroshima”) is worth reading. It’s essentially a short book, but the accounts laid out in the story make the impersonal tragedy into something that’s tangible. It should be required reading.
In a similar vein, going to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum there was a life changing experience for me.
Like with the Holocaust memorial and the Berlin Wall, these are things that have deeply affected me to see in person and comprehend what they represent, but I came away from a better person for it in the long-term—even if it broke me mentally at the time to be there and face it.
Nuclear weapons really disturb me on a whole other level I've yet to really comprehend, especially the idea that countries continue to build them. I worry about my own mental well-being with that, but feel that it's important to understand these things better and get beyond words on a printed page or digitised celluloid. Yes, these things are scary, we should be scared of them, they do scare me, just like the still-raw history of Berlin scared me. I think we run from the idea of feeling fear too often and choose to ignore it. People forget what these things do. People forget what people do to other people. We shouldn't be allowed to forget.
Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…
There comes a point where a director has to ask themselves if they're making entertainment for cash or poignant art. If the language was handled that sloppily, maybe that's the answer. It would be very easy to make a colossal fuck-up in presenting the horror of reality or be seen as cashing in on something absolutely grotesque.
Currently affecting Australian and New Zealand readers.
It’s been posted on HN before, but if this topic interests you, John Hersey’s famous reporting on the aftermath at Hiroshima (entitled “Hiroshima”) is worth reading. It’s essentially a short book, but the accounts laid out in the story make the impersonal tragedy into something that’s tangible. It should be required reading.
Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a similar vein, going to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum there was a life changing experience for me.
Would you mind talking about it a little? What you saw, how you felt, how you feel now—anything. Like with the Holocaust memorial and the Berlin Wall, these are things that have deeply affected me to see in person and comprehend what they represent, but I came away from a better person for it in the long-term—even if it broke me mentally at the time to be there and face it. Nuclear weapons really disturb me on a whol…
Before that visit I felt that I could detach myself emotionally from the reality of an event like that and make justifications for the continued existence of nuclear weapons for "bigger picture" reason. Now I find it impossible to make those kind of arguments. So I think I grew up a little that day and became more empathetic to others at an individual level.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you mind talking about it a little? What you saw, how you felt, how you feel now—anything. Like with the Holocaust memorial and the Berlin Wall, these are things that have deeply affected me to see in person and comprehend what they represent, but I came away from a better person for it in the long-term—even if it broke me mentally at the time to be there and face it. Nuclear weapons really disturb me on a whol…
I visited Hiroshima about ten years ago while on vacation with my wife. The museum presents accounts of the day and artifacts from the bombing very plainly, which by their very nature means it's horrifying. I've always had some "normal" level of fear of nuclear war. The first decade of my life was in the UK during the last decade of the cold war, so I think that planted that seed. I don't think visiting Hiroshima inc…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> Besides, Japan might ask for reparations one day. For the 72 other Japanese cities thoroughly levelled just as Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, or just for the two cities each destroyed by a single bomb? Regardless of what the film showed or not there's no shortage of public domain material showing the destruction in Japan and side by side comparisons of the firebombing of Tokyo against the ruins of Hiroshima. It's har…