Roderick Femm gave this succinct statement as a perspective many Americans had regarding Asian attitudes about the sanctity of human life in WWII.
Over the years I’ve heard this attitude repeated in one form or another, usually in the context of illustrating that another (presumably less morally developed) culture values human life less than we do in the west.
At the same time I see the US military go about killing it’s enemies with great gusto using terrifyingly destructive weapons to slaughter the enemy, We still have the death penalty in many states, and an eye for an eye is still the rule when murder is deemed to be deliberate and/or especially egregious.
Do we really the right the claim that our moral posture regarding the sanctity of human life is more developed or morally upright than that other cultures if we only play lip service to the notion as long as we are safe and not threatened? When our nation is threatened in any way all the polite “sanctity of human life” attitudes seem to go flying out the window.
I don’t think we cold-bloodedly kill civilians for the hell of it. Death penalty is imposed after a trial and due appeals. We’re not paying bounties to the families of suicide bombers after they blow up a deli.
I think it is true in some circumstances and 100% incorrect in others. It varies depending on which government and what time you are looking at. The Japanese in World War 2 seemed to have little regard for our lives nor theirs, but it depends which perspective you are looking at. We thought the shinpu/kamikazes were totally crazy, but in their minds they are dying for a just cause. During the same timeframe, very few thought the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as being brutal, and many cheered it (and still do) as saving many lives which would or could of been lost if war continued. In retrospect many think it was not necessary.
Now the Japanese are considered a peaceful country, but they are involved in our War on Terror.
Some consider Islam to be a peaceful religion and some consider them all extremists and savages, who will cut off heads in the name of Allah. Personally (although I consider myself Catholic), I compare a lot of what is going on now in the Middle East to the Crusades. Religion does crazy things.
Either way, we are all evil deep down and we all view human life the same way. OUR LIVES ARE WORTH DEFENDING, and OUR LIVES ARE MORE IMPORTANT, as we are better people.
