Hiroshima and Olimpic
Re: Hiroshima and Olimpic
While the recent turn of this thread is interesting (and perhaps because it is interesting) it should probably be moved to it's own thread as it is off topic in this one and in this forum.
Re: Hiroshima and Olimpic
This thread has certainly gone off at a tangent, but a tangent that is relevant to the original proposition and certainly relevant to the issues that we have today.
This thread is in the WW2 section and I would have thought that the issues raised arising from WW2 as applied to later and to today are not so much off topic for that section. If this thread was instead in the section ''Bismarck General Discussion'' then yes it would be off topic as it clearly has no bearing whatsoever on the battleship Bismarck. But here the issues are so wide that the boundaries are much more difficult to define.
This thread is in the WW2 section and I would have thought that the issues raised arising from WW2 as applied to later and to today are not so much off topic for that section. If this thread was instead in the section ''Bismarck General Discussion'' then yes it would be off topic as it clearly has no bearing whatsoever on the battleship Bismarck. But here the issues are so wide that the boundaries are much more difficult to define.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
Re: Hiroshima and Olimpic
My thought was that there will be some who might be interested and/or make valuable contributions to the latest turn in this thread who won't see it because of the forum and thread title.
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tnemelckram
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Re: Hiroshima and Olimpic
I think the problem is not off topic but rather that we are all guilty of using excessive hindsight.
I started this when I said (and IIRC provided a source) that future proliferation was among the factors that Truman and his advisors weighed in making the decision to bomb Hiroshima instead of first using a demonstration bomb. I then opined that a demonstration bomb would have been a better way to set up a future non-proliferation policy, and if this known factor was not given enough weight, then perhaps the best possible decision was not made. In testing my thesis we all drifted into using hindsight in the form of the subsequent historical record of proliferation, the reasons why nations do or do not do it, how they behave, the nature of their leaders and political systems, etc.
Lwd, maybe some advisory or guiding post putting this drift into the context of the tread title (using my above description or whatever you think appropriate) would be a good solution.
I started this when I said (and IIRC provided a source) that future proliferation was among the factors that Truman and his advisors weighed in making the decision to bomb Hiroshima instead of first using a demonstration bomb. I then opined that a demonstration bomb would have been a better way to set up a future non-proliferation policy, and if this known factor was not given enough weight, then perhaps the best possible decision was not made. In testing my thesis we all drifted into using hindsight in the form of the subsequent historical record of proliferation, the reasons why nations do or do not do it, how they behave, the nature of their leaders and political systems, etc.
Lwd, maybe some advisory or guiding post putting this drift into the context of the tread title (using my above description or whatever you think appropriate) would be a good solution.
Re: Hiroshima and Olimpic
Without hindsight we would in fact have little to discuss anywhere on these forums, hindsight does give us the means to learn from our past mistakes so that they are not repeated, and without wishing to be too idealistic or sounding like a piece of spin, make the world a better and happier place in which to live.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.