Hiroshima Day and the International Dateline

Posted on August 6, 2003 in Fact-Dropping

A few people pointed the finger and said “Hey! You’re wrong! Hiroshima Day is August 6th not August 5th!”

In my defense and in the defense of those American peace groups which observe it on the 5th, I simply observe that when the Bomb was dropped at 8:15 am on August 6, it was still the previous day in the United States. Writing as an American, it was right of me to declare August 5th Hiroshima Day — for Americans.

The caution of others who waited until the 6th to observe it is understandable, but I am not incorrect in saying my piece on the 5th.

I guess arguing over whether it is the fifth or the sixth is like arguing over when it is Easter. Tell you what: I’ll do it on the fifth and you do it on the sixth and we’ll say it is every bit as holy for one to choose the one and the other the other.

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I appear to have been targeted by a circle of trolls. So I have switched comments off, but left trackback on for those who want to clutter up their own sites with rebuttals and counter-rebuttals. It always gives me a warm feeling to realize that the trolls all want to see what I say when I don’t care in the slightest what they say.

Thank you for making me feel important. Your hits will go into my next report for advertisers.

For those who want to see just how stupid people can be, here are the comments from various people who left real email addresses.

But isn’t that very American-centric of you? Aren’t you denying the validity of the experiences of those Japanese who experienced that horrific event on August 6, 1945? How can you say it was also August 5th just because it was August 5th in the land of the Euro-American death-beasts who performed the atrocity? Aren’t you therefore granting them a temporal hegemony as well as physical and cultural? I beg you to reconsider.

Posted by: Larry on August 9, 2003 02:18 PM

I’m not getting what you’re saying, Larry. Could you explain how it is denying the pain of those Japanese who were killed in the context of the rest of my writings on the subject?

Posted by: Joel on August 9, 2003 06:42 PM

Don’t you see how you’re implicitly endorsing the centrality of the American experience of this horrific event? For an analogy, what if Australia, perhaps persuaded by some right-wing death-beast like Tim Blair, decided that July 5th was the proper date to observe America’s Independence Day because, after all, it was July 5th in Australia when the Declaration of Independence was signed. As an American, what would you think of Australia’s real view of your country and heritage? Would you think they’re awfully Australo-centric, perhaps even temporally bigoted, or at best, just silly and foolish?

Posted by: Larry on August 10, 2003 03:27 PM

Larry, that’s a good point you raised about Independence Day. If I am ever in Australia in early July, I will remember to hold off my celebration until the 5th so that I will be in sync with my fellow Americans in their celebration.

People who mark August 5 as Hiroshima Day in America do it so that they can hold services and vigils at the same moment as they are being held in Japan. Now, when put that way, explain to me how that is Americo-Centric? Without repeating yourself, please.

Posted by: Joel on August 10, 2003 08:12 PM

Jeez, I thought Larry was joking.

Posted by: S.A. Smith on August 10, 2003 09:20 PM

Ah, I see. “If you look at my previous posts, you will clearly see that I am a bleeding-heart liberal. Therefore it is impossible for me to do anything that could be construed as cultural arrogance.”

Robert Fisk felt the same way about the people of Afghanistan… yet, strangely, he found himself in the middle of a mob who apparently never got word of how peaceful and kind he was, and not only did he get beaten, but was forced to respond with violence himself in order to survive (which, he claims, was far more traumatic for him).

Posted by: Tatterdemalian on August 10, 2003 09:55 PM

Hmmmm. This trout smells stink bait being trolled through the water here. I think I’ll stick to my natural diet of mayflies.

Posted by: Joel on August 10, 2003 10:00 PM

For the record, I feel that Larry was sincere in his argument, just wrong in marking my feelings and the feelings of the many organizations here in the USA who observe Hiroshima Day on the 5th. I happen to feel that by marking the moment simultaneous to the rites being performed at 8:15 am on the 6th an act of solidarity. It is, I feel, more Americo-Centric to wait until August 6 when the only thing of note that happened in America is that Truman got on the radio to tell us that he did it. As if the news was more important than the actual event!

Waiting a day until it gets to be August 6 in the USA diminishes this powerful expression of world peace.

As for the matter of Robert Fisk, now there’s a hero and a man of courage. So many people just hear a rumor of something being done to someone and they turn utterly against the people alledged to do it. Fisk got beat up, survived it with the help of a couple of other Afghanis, and kept his perspective all the same! That’s no weak will, but a very strong and committed one.

Posted by: Joel on August 10, 2003 10:49 PM

All this has got me thinking … does this mean I can be in America on Friday, listen to the Saturday races in Australia, ring my bookmaker in Australia and make a killing?

Or as I listen to the race, is it actually being run?

If yes, does that mean if I celebrate Hiroshima Day on the actual anniversary of its happening, then it’s the time I do it and not the date I call the day that matters?

I’m just a simple Aussie.

Posted by: Os on August 11, 2003 12:57 AM

I hope all you yanks celebrate New Years Day on the 31st of December then!

Posted by: Random_Prose on August 11, 2003 01:37 AM

That’s usually when we get started. — Joel