August 6th 2020

By Robert Anderson

August 6th marks the passing of 75 years since the first use of an atomic bomb on a human population, the people of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9th, a second bomb was used on the people of Nagasaki. Together, perhaps two hundred thousand of men, women, and children were instantly incinerated. 

With all that is going on in our country and the world, it is still vitally important to pause and reflect on this horrific end to the bloodiest war in human history, and how the threat of nuclear war, trigger by miscalculation, the act of single mad man, or a computer malfunction is still very real. Indeed, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has recently moved its iconic doomsday clock to just 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been. Their reasoning: “Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change—that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond. The international security situation is dire, not just because these threats exist, but because world leaders have allowed the international political infrastructure for managing them to erode.” And there are still some 15,000 nuclear weapons.

But after 75-years, the threat of nuclear war is at risk of becoming even more of an abstraction. And it has always been beyond our ability to imagine. But recently I watched a documentary that brought the horror into sharp focus. I found it on Netflix, and it is called Twice. Having spent considerable time contemplating the insanity of our species’ drive to extinguish itself, I have never seen a more powerful message against nuclear weapons and war. I would recommend it to every single person on the planet. If we are to ever eliminate the threat of our atomic arsenals, a crucial starting point is to really grasp the nightmare unleashed by the two, small nuclear weapons dropped on Japan. The documentary reenacts the experience of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a survivor of both atomic bombings. He was within two miles of the Hiroshima blast and somehow survived to make his way home to Nagasaki where he found himself again within two miles of a nuclear burst. It is hard to watch, but that is the point. If you have any empathy, you cannot listen to Yamaguchi’s story and his pleas for nuclear disarmament and peace without crying along with him. He is an extraordinary witness to the hell humans can rain down on each other. His experience is the ultimate warning to future generations. Watch it.