The American Prometheus is a recent biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer. The movie Oppenheimer comes out in Imax on Friday. I am looking forward to reading the book and watching the film.
The title of the book makes an appropriate allusion to Prometheus, the mythical god who gifted man the blessing and the curse of fire. Prometheus stole fire from Hephaistos’ forge because he felt sorry for our pitiful human struggles and weakness. Zeus and the other gods were angry at Prometheus’ act of benevolence, and they punished him severely.
The Hydrogen Bomb exploded on top of Hiroshima, Japan on my brother’s day of birth, August 6, 1945, and on Nagasaki a few days later. Since then, and even before, the question has arisen as to whether or not humanity has the required maturity, rationality, and indeed sanity to harness and use that kind of knowledge. The events that unfolded in the months and years after the bombs were dropped argue against our ability to handle such massive responsibility. The political fallout is particularly revealing.
Plot spoiler warning:
Was Oppenheimer made a national hero for bringing an early end to the war and therefore saving many thousands of lives? No! He was investigated, hounded, and harassed.
Only recently have the results of those investigations been repudiated, clearing his name.
Could you please make your program stop putting the latest Reply at the top?
This is wordpress programming. The latest appears at the top until I view it. Then it rearranges itself.
Here is what the governments of Russia and China value:
Russia suppresses freedom and makes war on Ukraine. Putin and his cronies say that the war on Ukraine is a “special operation,” and the real war is against “the West,” lately he says it is against “the Anglo-Saxons.” Putin, the former KGB agent, said that the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics “was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”
The Chinese Communist Party suppresses freedom, mass brutalizes the Uighurs, ended political freedom in Hong Kong, and threatens to conquer Taiwan. Reuters reported, “Safeguard Defenders, a Europe-based human rights organization, published a report in September revealing the presence of dozens of Chinese police ‘service stations’ in major cities around the world, including New York,” to intimidate Chinese living abroad.
All the above is rational, mature, and sane in the pursuit of expanding power. Russia has more nukes than we have.
War is extremely bad for business, but businesses don’t make the decision to go to war, governments do. The US and NATO supply of weapons, training, and logistics to Ukraine are acts of war against the government of Russia. This is why we are now closer to nuclear war than ever before. Happy hope is not an effective alternative to reality.
McCarthy seemed excessive. Suppose the Nazis won WWII in Europe. It would be then prudent to find out who in the US government had Nazi ties. “But Nazis were worse,” said a Democrat colleague when I mentioned this. Estimates of the number murdered by communists range from 20 million to 100 million innocents. “Nazi” is the German contraction for National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
“Woke” started out as “waking up” to racial discrimination (which had mostly ended decades before) and then expanded to delusions of persecution against LGBTQ+ people. Wokism is a continuation of the neo-Marxist project of destroying institutions that support private property capitalism. The woketariat are not liberals, they are pyscho-sexual-racial socialists.
Richard:
You said, “Happy hope is not an effective alternative to reality.”
I am not looking for an alternative to reality. Mankind has been mired in a dystopian rut since the beginning. I only offer the obvious truth that things are slowly getting better. Fingers crossed.
As to your sixth paragraph comparing and contrasting Naziism and Communism. Both rely on dictatorial and authoritatian rule. One day mankind will mature to the point of being capable of living without dictators.
Thank you for your last para defining and outlining WOKE. I asked for it, and you complied. You ended by saying, “The woketariat are not liberals, they are pyscho-sexual-racial socialists.” Thanks again for letting old-school, traditional liberals off the hook. As an Un-WOKE liberal (ALA the 1700’s of the enlightenment) I appreciate that. However, it is not clear to me some who characterize themselves as conservative make the same distinction or even know that it exists.
As a political football, the use of the term WOKE seems to be shorthand for “forget your individualistic ideals!” You know! The kinds of things the Nazis and the Commies are guilty of!
Correction: the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear fission bombs were not hydrogen bombs which are fission-fusion-fission bombs. The US exploded the first full-scale hydrogen bomb in 1951.
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs released energy equivalent to 15 and 21 kilotons of TNT, respectively. Russia today has an estimated 1670 strategic hydrogen bombs that are 25 times more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb, weigh 300 pounds, and stand 5 feet tall. One intercontinental missile contains several independently targeted warheads and decoys. Russia has another 4300 tactical nuclear weapons of various yields. China is thought to have around 400.
Consider the governments of Russia and China and their goals about maturity, rationality, and sanity. I think the most important argument is how we avoid getting nuked. We are closer today to nuclear war than ever before.
We have been miseducated by schools and media that anti-communism was somehow worse than mega-mass murdering communism. Klaus Fuchs, a Manhattan Project scientist, gave nuclear secrets to the Soviets who exploded their first Fat Man bomb in 1949. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and executed in 1953 for giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets who exploded their first hydrogen bomb in 1953.
Robert Oppenheimer opposed the development of the US hydrogen bomb. His wife, brother, girlfriend, and some friends had been members of the Communist Party. According to the Oppenheimer biography on which the movie is based, his loss of security clearance in 1954 for his advisory role was personally a minor issue.
Communism was and is a real threat and so is its woken spawn.
Richard, Yes, the hydrogen bombs were bigger and more powerful than the ones dropped a short time earlier on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You said, “Consider the governments of Russia and China and their goals about maturity, rationality, and sanity.”
I take it that you do not believe they have such goals. History tells us that political and governmental systems tend to expand creating conflict and competition. That much is true, but they, like us, value maturity, rationality, and, indeed, sanity.
You went on to say, “I think the most important argument is how we avoid getting nuked. We are closer today to nuclear war than ever before.”
I question your reading of the tea leaves to some extent. In my opinion, the global competition focuses more on economics than ideology. Nuclear war is less likely now, because nuclear war would be bad for business. You may say economics and ideology go hand-in-hand, and there is truth in that as well. However, it does no harm to maintain a positive outlook and hope for the future. Is it not so?
You said, “We have been miseducated by schools and media that anti-communism was somehow worse than mega-mass murdering communism.”
I think we have been educated fairly well to the problems of the past. Those of us with an understanding of history know that Communism equals authoritarian dictatorship, and history tells that it is bad and worth fighting against. However, history also tells us that the McCarthy excesses were also wrong. In the case of Oppenheimer, a fine scientist answered the call of his country and, through the efforts of his team, hundreds of thousands of lives were saved. But Oppenheimer was not treated as the hero he was. He was spied on, persecuted, and hounded. Fortunately, the case the right-wing zealots built against him has been finally thrown out.
Richard, you said, “Communism was and is a real threat…”
I agree that communism is a threat, as is any dictatorial regime.
You added, “and so is its woken spawn.”
We hear a lot of Americans these days railing against WOKE liberals. I have asked others in other forums to define the term, and frankly the people who use the term are not good at defining it. Perhaps you would like to give it a try. It seems to be a partisan political rallying cry used primarily as a litmus test to divide our great nation. We are not going to approve of everything everyone thinks or says in a Democracy, but that doesn’t mean the people we disagree with are second-class citizens. Otherwise, we are right back to the McCarthy era, and I, for one, do not want to go there.