Saturday, May 24, 2008

Aluminum can crusher, Non-apology # 2, "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

When the first atomic bomb in the history of mankind was dropped from a the Enola Gay to utterly and completely destroy a city and all living things within it, the pilot uttered a quote, "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds." I would like to think he uttered these words with tears in his eyes, comprehending the full extent of pain and suffering he had unleashed. Unfortunately, it was probably just preplanned quote arranged with some consultation, similar to "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..."

Anyway, I have an aluminum can crusher featuring a variant of the atomic bomb dropping quote:




Of course, someone pointed out to me that this is totally tasteless and offensive.

No, it is not. I interpret that reaction to mean, "I am not courageous enough to think about troubling issues."

Words are just words. It is the act associated with these words is horribly brutal and offensive.

PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR AND TRY TO PAY ATTENTION. This t-shirt is meant to be provocative! Wait, haven't we been over this before once already?! (see post from Wednesday, April 23, 2008, entitled, "brunch, bbq, t-shirt non-apology."


Provocation is needed, especially as we enter an era of a nuclear armed world run by kids who did not live through the cold war, while simultaneously paranoid former Soviet, first-strike advocate generals still hold positions of influence.


"Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

4 comments:

Jason Tseng said...

Hey, Crockett. Nice quote on the crusher. In terms of the quote "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds." I believe it was Robert Oppenheimer who witness the bomb testing and recalled a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, about Shiva the Destroyer.

I don't know what the quote that the pilot of Enola Gay spoke. Perhaps it was Keanu Reeve-like "Whoa" or just stunned silence.

Crockett Dunn said...

Hi Jay,
Thanks for the clarification about the quote, and the original source.


I wonder what the original context of the quote, by Bhagavad Gita, about Shiva the Destroyer, was.

Perhaps the first successful catapult deployment :).

Oh, and also, Jay, you are now my arch-nemesis for revealing my ignorance on my blog ;).

J/k. Who the heck else would I have to talk to about this stuff?!?!

Crockett Dunn said...

Hey, Jay-rock,

I almost forgot... You might not have caught on that my "adults only" section in the right-hand sidebar is a ruse to lure visitors into facing some unpleasant truths.

For crying out loud, I hear about "Iraq fatigue" in the media... but what about, "man-has-the-ability-to-annihilate-the -human-race-along-with-the-majority-of-what-we-consider-life-on-this-planet-in-under-a -day-[and-possibly-over-a-misunderstanding-fatigue??!?!"

I don't do partisan politics on this blog, but I think Clinton was working on some kind of disarmament plans, which is one way to approach the problem.

Lately we have approached the problem from a different direction, by deploying missile defense systems way over on another continent. According to the ideas conveyed in "War Scare," of the aging, paranoid, former soviet generals, this approach only further reinforces those generals' belief that a preemptive strike is their only way to win.

I dunno, man. I think I'm going to go eat some grapes and throw the Frisbee with b-rock.

Did we ever account for all of those "suit-case-nukes" after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

Sleep tight :).

Crockett

Crockett Dunn said...

The part of the first link to note (first link=Harry S. Truman's Announcement Of the Dropping Of An Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima, 1945) to note is the following:

"We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war

It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam.* Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth."