[StBernard] New HBO documentary of the atomic bomb drops on Japan

[Westley Annis]

Well, since when can a "moral judgment or moral justification not to be
included in decision making? If this were not true, then there would be NO
system of checks and balances between a political we elect and our U.S.
military. Moral constraints and the Commander-in-chief's Superego are
absolutely necessary to keep itself distanced from his ego. A sort of
natural set of "checks and balances".

Wanting to drop the BOMB and allowing oneself to go beyond the consideration
stage to devastating consequences and political fallout must be thought out
in a process that includes one's ability to separate the yes' from the no's.

Yes, initially we want to destroy everything in sight--simply because we as
a superpower believe we can. Heaven help us when our president is impulsive
enough be believe there are winners with atomic fallout.

Yes, there are governments and whether we can label them "rational" or
justifiable in their actions to prompt them to start using Nuclear weapons
worldwide is debatable. Personally, my anger at radical Muslim countries
would be in check when it comes to retaliation as an impromptu tactic.
Feeling sorry for such an action after the fact is utter garbage and
unacceptable.

--jer--

-----------------------------------------------------
Jer,

In regards to future scenarios and whether or not using nuclear weapons will
be justified, I'll worry about crossing that bridge when or if we get to it.
As for the past and the discussed specific situation the Japanese brought
upon themselves, it's a bit easier to discern between justified and
unjustified.  Still, I'm not sure how the concept of "justification" ever
got into the mix of decision making.  When anti-nukes talk about
"justification" for using nukes, what they really mean is they want some
sort of "rational" explaination to the justification - and there lies the
problem - because there is no such thing as an objective rationale to
justification.  Each person, each government takes action based on what it
deems or deemed necessary.  All one can do after the fact is either agree or
disagree.

Boy, I just knew all those philosophy classes the Jesuits forced me to take
was going to come in handy one day.

- John Scurich