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Comment by tomohawk | Hacker News Reader

The crime against humanity was the government of Japan's actions over several decades, culminating in WW II.

Here's a light introduction to some of the atrocities committed by the criminals in this government:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes

Once these criminals attacked the US in Hawaii and the Philippines, it set a series of events in motion. Their unwillingness to stop their criminal activities was eventually met with decisive force.

If you want to blame anyone, blame the government of Japan.

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>Once these criminals attacked the US in Hawaii and the Philippines

Wait, maybe rewind this a little? I know that the European settlers that created the US took the continental land from the natives, but how did they end up with claims to Hawaii and the Philippines in the first place?

Whataboutism? Really? Please stay on topic.

The topic was the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by the USA being "a horrific crime against humanity."[1]

Your response was "what about Japanese war crimes?"

Please stay on topic.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18540748

Sure, let's play whatabout. What if the US wasn't there in the Philippines or Hawaii? Then Japan would have taken them over just like they took over all other stuff, done terrible things to the inhabitants, just like they did everywhere else, and the US would have sat out the war.

The US being in the Philippines and Hawaii has nothing to do with Hiroshima, other than the US being there when Japan attacked. Japan attacked the wrong country and this resulted in decisive force being used against them.

Oh, the irony.

And, sorry, "whataboutism" is a cheap cop-out. Historical incidents should be seen in context, not just as isolated finger pointing (and always from one side to the other).

The other being guilty does not acquit you from a crime. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were an act of genocide, there is nothing that makes this OK.

They were stopped. The criminal activities ceased. Japan is a completely different country today.

It's not the fault of the US that the government of Japan militarized their whole society and literally made the whole of the country a military target.

> literally made the whole of the country a military target

This is exactly the sort of collectivist thinking that makes it possible to have WWIII. When you can disregard fundamental human dignity based on the actions of a government, you've already lost.

Well, it's somebody's fault.

Japan wanted to be left alone. Western powers took it to war to force it to their will.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakumatsu#Foreign_frictions

> Japan wanted to be left alone.

Yeah, left alone to create the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_East_Asia_Co-Prosperit...).

You're welcome to ask the various Asian nations of that region whether they thought that was a good thing but I doubt you'd like the response.

That's after the West pushed it to break isolationism and taught it it had to be ruthless to be respected, not before.

In other words, that's a century later...

Ah, the classic "But he hit me first" argument[0]. Very persuasive. /s

[0] Also known as the "two wrongs make a right" fallacy. See https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFalla...

That's a very absolute statement that will almost certainly break down under some real or conceivable hypothetical situation.

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