Spiegel has a good collection of articles on the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's important to remember not simply to provoke anti-Americanism, but to recall constantly what humans are capable of doing to each other. Keeping that present in the public eye and at the center of our accepted notions of morality, with their emotional and psychological investment, is as important as any strict ethical arguments regarding the justification or lack thereof of the bombs. This is because our moral sense tends to fade the greater the distance in space and time. If one hopes for a less violent world with greater respect for human rights and dignity, those hopes have to be reinforced by the moral lessons learned from history, good and bad. Some in our midst actively count on us to forget.
The bomb that was meant for Hitler
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