- Feb 5, 2002
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No faithful Catholic could look at the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and be proud of that decision.
The dropping of the atomic bomb was evil. For the average conservative commentator, this comment automatically causes a knee-jerk reaction with the same old platitudes. For decades, the American Right has been the defender of our usage of the atomic bomb, with either “it saved more American lives” or “it was the lesser of two evils” being some of the strongest candidates.
Phyllis Schlafly once declared, in a 1982 New York Times article, that “the atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” For many years, I would have championed Schlafly’s point, parroting all the appropriate conservative talking points on the subject. I believed that by defending America’s decision, I was somehow being patriotic and defending the nation. I now know I was wrong.
Russell Kirk, one of the greatest conservative thinkers, disdained America’s use of the atomic bomb. He wrote to a close friend, Warren Fleishauer, “It will not be long before we are reduced to savagery. We are the barbarians within our own empire.” Kirk could not be more correct, for this action and the conservative defense of the bomb has created a generation of American barbarians.
Continued below.
The dropping of the atomic bomb was evil. For the average conservative commentator, this comment automatically causes a knee-jerk reaction with the same old platitudes. For decades, the American Right has been the defender of our usage of the atomic bomb, with either “it saved more American lives” or “it was the lesser of two evils” being some of the strongest candidates.
Phyllis Schlafly once declared, in a 1982 New York Times article, that “the atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” For many years, I would have championed Schlafly’s point, parroting all the appropriate conservative talking points on the subject. I believed that by defending America’s decision, I was somehow being patriotic and defending the nation. I now know I was wrong.
Russell Kirk, one of the greatest conservative thinkers, disdained America’s use of the atomic bomb. He wrote to a close friend, Warren Fleishauer, “It will not be long before we are reduced to savagery. We are the barbarians within our own empire.” Kirk could not be more correct, for this action and the conservative defense of the bomb has created a generation of American barbarians.
Continued below.
The Bomb and the American Barbarian
No faithful Catholic could look at the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and be proud of that decision.
crisismagazine.com