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The white light black rain film offers an unflinching and graphical look at the realities of the nuclear warfare through the eyes of its survivors as well as the American men who aided in the bomb mission atNagasakiandHiroshima. This film focuses on interviews that were done with four Americans and four Japanese survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing. There was great human cost after 210,000 people died during the atomic attacks and others died because of injuries. The film is quite disturbing as we see the ghastly injuries and burns of the survivors whom plastic surgery was to be carried out on. The film is a clear reminder of how war can affect the lives of many and how merciless people who are avenging can be. If the young people who were actually interviewed on the streets ofHiroshimaare actually anything to go by, then it is evident that most young people were not taught the importance of these dates when the tragedy happened. This is a film depicting exceptional human resilience of the Japanese and their unimaginable suffering. The indelible accounts of this incident are showed with drawings and survivor paintings as well as photographs and historical footage. As one of the survivor in the film remarked, “I’m here to make sure it never happens again”. This is a film that stands to be a powerful warning to the current nations that have watched this film and use nuclear weapons. It is therefore imperative to give some immense details on some of the ethical issues that were portrayed by this film after the aftermath of the tragedy.
The two bombs which were dropped inJapanin August of the year 1945 had a vast destructive force that stretched the limits of what any human can ever imagine in her or his life. Approximately 210,000 people were immediately killed (BBC, 2007). Others died as a result of illnesses as well as injuries incurred that were caused by the radioactive black rain that occurred afterwards (BBC, 2007). The destruction and injuries from the bombs were as a result of the immense blast, the thermal radiation that caused burns as well as producing fires and the nuclear radiation that resulted in injury and deaths. The survivors were denied treatments by theUSdoctors though most of them were brought toAmericato undergo the plastic surgery (Susan, 1997, pp. 117). A child who was treated for burns looked so awful that he begged the doctors to go ahead and kill him because he could not stand how he was looking. Some of the images are extremely difficult to stare at unless one is a pathologist. The film dramatizes the intense feeling of getting stuck via an intensive device by merciless people who care less about your feelings.
The devastating impact of both bombs shown in the film depended largely on the energy that was released during the explosion that caused fires, destructive pressures and immense local exposure of radiations that will have impact to the future generations who were born with defects.
Were there any signs of the genuine practice of ethics? DidAmericaever consider the term ethics as rational as it should be when they were carrying out these evil acts? On great issues that are concerned with mankind, there ought to be affirmative law as well as ethics to make a common cause as well as nuclear weapons because of the destructive effects they have. Human society should be driven by both moral and ethical norms based on wisdom and learn to practice them.
Treating others just as you would like to be treated is an ethical foundation that Americans should have cultivated. It is inconsistent with ethical and moral wisdom for Americans to have violated this universal and ancient valid principle of treating others as they would like to be treated in a fair way without endangering the lives of the innocent people. Nations should never forget the awesome and immense destructive power of nuclear devices. Moral, legal and ethical issues continue to loom over survivors and all those Japanese who were affected. What they face is nuclear deterrence which has its reliance on horrific annihilation of big numbers of people as well as destruction of the environment rendering it to be quite hostile to the generations that are to be blessed with life. Deterrence is usually designed in a way that it is intended to threaten the mass and violate most of the humanitarian law. The nuclear war against the Japanese was unethical. It violated human rights, killed innocent people and affected generations to come who are born with defects. The doctors failing to attend to the affected were unethical and increased the pain of those who were affected.
Though this act brought an end to the Second World War it had more losses than benefits. According to the utilitarian theory, this shows that the war was unethical and immoral and should have never happened in the first place. The bombing ofHiroshimaandNagasakibrought many questions that were ethically related (David, 2003). Can killing of thousands of innocent people be considered ethical and justified? DidUSAever benefit from this attack? Was denying the survivors medical benefits ethical? The only advantage to this strategy of using nuclear weapon is that it minimized the civilian casualties but ethically, it was all wrong.
It was morally, militarily and ethical unjustifiable to bomb cities ofNagasakiandHiroshima. Careful observation of this film and all the events that led to the bombings allows the viewer to realize the major reason behind the atrocity. TheUSAanger towards the Japanese acts incapacitated their moral and ethical reasoning. Under no circumstances can indiscriminately getting rid of the Japanese be condoned or termed as ethical. This is completely unethical.
According to theUSAmilitary personnel who were interviewed, the atomic bombs were militarily unethical and unnecessary (BBC, 2007) thus we can depict that the decision to go ahead and drop the atomic bomb was more political than military. The decision to use nuclear weapons in order to make war is not ethical at any circumstance. It cannot be justified or defended. This film shows the aftermath of horror in bothNagasakiandHiroshimaand helps in comprehension of the absolute destruction and tragedy that the nuclear weapons brought to the fruition. How couldUSAbe that unethical and immoral not to only drop one bomb but two? Why would anyone order the murder of so many lives with a devastating weapon?
Though it can be argued from theUSAstandpoint that it isJapanthat started the war, it does not justify the ethical grounds that led to these inhuman acts. The dropping of the bomb inHiroshimaalone killed about 90,000 to 140, 0000 civilians who were totally innocent. Killing of innocent civilians to get back at the leaders can never be justified. Though, America was interested in saving the lives of its people which is ethical, the revenge for all the humiliation that the Japanese had caused when they bombed Pearl Harbor as well as portray their power was unethical and unjustified. The other benefit though quite distant and illogical is that this film depicts the horrific power that is in the nuclear devices.
After that instance there has been no further use of nuclear devices in war. If this incident had never happened, then probably, there would have never been an occurrence of the same issue. The Americans made it clear that they had a super weapon and ought to surrender instantly. How can you depict your strength at the expense of innocent lives and claim you know anything to do with morals and ethics? Crimes against humanity can never be ethical. The actions of theUSAwere barbaric and nothing close to ethics and in future they should consider choosing between intellectual use of the scientific conquests and mass killing. In fact the use of the barbarous weapons at bothNagasakiandHiroshimahad no material assistance or gain to theUSAsince the Japanese were already defeated and the only thingUSAwas after is revenge.. Whatever anybody would judge the principle of war ethics, the surprise bombing of these two cities were morally wrong since it ended up killing innocent lives.
Utilitarianism which is an ethical theory declares on what should be good to the majority (Douglas 1982, pp. 189-231). The ethical rationale in use of nuclear weapons comprises of two utilitarian considerations. One is there are no other reasonable options and the second is that use of nuclear weapons usually does more good as compared to harm. In this case the atomic bombs did more harm in killing innocent lives and to an extent it also did good in saving the lives of people of American people.
It is patent that to analyze the ethical concept in this scenario is quite complicated and has no direct answer but the fact is, no matter the dimension you look at it, the nuclear and atomic bomb use is unethical and immoral as innocent people end up dying and no one stands to gain much. This is a detailed film with an emotional setting that is worth watching in order to analyze the ethical perspectives. However, watching this film will prove that there was nothing ethical with the war as the only thing depicted is human suffering and pain as well as torture. It is the highest rate of inhumanity on mankind.
