Spiro who, I hear you cry. Agnew was VP under Richard Nixon and was famous for decrying the “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism.” The expression actually came from Nixon speech writer William Safire and it became synonymous with an attack on the media as the enemy. After almost a half century of such attacks (with the media as purveyors of fake news according to the current President) the mainstream media has lost much of its credibility and far too many people turn to social media and other sources that mostly tell them what they want to hear rather than provide them with news.
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I was inspired (if that is not too grandiose a term for the result) to write this column as I contemplated the latest media reports obsessed, as always, with getting beneath the skin of an individual and debating the gradations of differentiation that might be found. A person is no longer just a person, in this crazy world. In the never-ending search for things about which apologies are needed, there have been recent demands that the Canadian Government apologize for the bombing of Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945). The bombing was horrific and the consequences devastating for the Japanese population, not only for those who died immediately but also for those who died later after suffering from radiation poisoning. Historical Context While I can appreciate that those opposed to nuclear weapons, and the continuing threat they pose to mankind, would regard the bombing of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki three days later) as an act deserving of our condemnation. However, I believe that some historical context is needed with respect to these bombings. World War Two was essentially over in the summer of 1945, but the Japanese would not surrender as a matter of national pride. This led American President Harry Truman to deploy a new weapon, the atomic bomb. Terrible as the bombings were – and of that there is no doubt – they prompted the Japanese to surrender just one week later. As a result, many thousands of lives, Allied as well as Japanese, were saved. |
AuthorC. Richard Tindal, Ph.D is a retired Professor of Government. He taught for 30 years at St. Lawrence College, Kingston and was an occasional Visiting Professor at Queen's University. He has also written and consulted extensively about government. Archives
October 2023
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