12:52, 6 August 2010
On 6 August 1945 at 8.15, the first atomic bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima. The bomb directly killed an estimated 80 000 people, the indirect damage (radioactive injuries, flash blindness, electromagnetic pulse, ionizing radiation) was much wider. On 9 August 1945, the second atomic bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. Set the direct human tragedy aside, this is one example of political use of names, as demonstrated by, for example, Edward Schiappa in (already referred in this blog), Defining Reality: Definitions and the Politics of Meaning (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003).
Is it realistic to live in the nuclear free world? – Although more advanced weapons are proliferating, the question is actual again today, under the shadow of, for example, North Korea having tested rockets. The Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, said today that as long as the nuclear weapon exists, we will live under the threat of it. He also stressed the need for disarmament education in schools, including teaching that “status and prestige belong not to those who possess nuclear weapons, but to those who reject them.” Link: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35539&Cr=nuclear&Cr1
