War: Time of Immorality

1. War: Time of Immorality By Natalya Libo

2. “The appearance of people was…well, they all had skin blackened by burns…They had no hair because their hair was burned, and at a glance you couldn’t tell whether you were looking tat them from in front or in back…They skin not only on their hands, but on their faces and bodies too hung down” (Epilogue: The Decision and The Consequences 30) stated one Hiroshima grocer about the “Little Boy” atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. But what could make a country act in such a corrupt and drastic way? During World War II, many countries around this world faced many different forms of violence. Nobody would ever consider the way that people acted all around the world to be acceptable during a time of peace. War, however, makes people act in immoral ways against other groups, other individuals, and at times, even themselves. This can be seen in history, as well as in the book Maus, by Art Speigelman. Because of the atrocities that took place during World War II, this war shows everyone how people’s morals are undermined during a time of battle.

3. Immoral Against Other Groups War makes people act in immoral ways against other groups. During the Holocaust, many Germans treated Jews very badly. Jews were put into concentration camps where many of them died from the terrible treatment they received. One way that many Jews died was when the German soldiers sent them into a room and they were gassed to death. About one million Jews died as a result of being sent to the “gas”. Sending hundreds of people at a time into a tiny room where they were intoxicated with gas and died is very immoral. Germans, however, extremely discriminated against Jews during the Holocaust. Under Hitler, many were led to believe that Jews aren’t humans and should not be alive. During the Holocaust, most German’s acted very immoral ways, which ended up killing very many people. The German people’s morals were undermined, which caused this great murder.

4. The atomic bomb an was occurrence when people acted in immoral ways against another group. This time, Americans acted in immoral ways against the Japanese. The first atomic bomb, “‘Little Boy’ struck Hiroshima with an explosive force of 12,500 ton of TNT. At the time, the city was home to approximately 280,00 civilians and 43,000 soldiers. Approximately 100,000 of them died immediately […] the radiation burns and internal damage caused by gamma rays produced lethal injuries to people as fast as two miles form the center of the blast” (Epilogue: The Decision and The Consequences 30). Another atomic bomb “‘Fat Man; exploded over Nagasaki with a force of twenty-two thousand tons of TNT. Roughly seventy thousand people were killed” (Epilogue: The Decision and The Consequences 31). America dropped the bombs on Japan after Pearl Harbor occurred. Americans were scared of the Japanese and felt like they wanted to hurt and threaten them very much in return to what they did to America. Killing very many innocent people in Japan is obviously very immoral and could have been avoided. World War II was already coming to an end at that time, so the war could have been ended without dropping such a deadly bomb on the Japanese. Because people act immoral during time of war, America dropped two very deadly bombs on the Japanese, which killed hundreds of thousands of them.

5. Immoral Against an Individual War makes people act in immoral ways against other individuals. In the book, Maus, Vladek Spiegelman is a very lucky individual because he makes it out of the concentration camps that hundred of thousand of people died in during the Holocaust alive. In concentration camps, however, many people were killed just by getting shot by another German. Many Germans randomly picked someone that they would shoot just because they wanted to. If a Jew ever complained about anything to a German soldier, they would automatically either get severely beaten or shot. In the book, one time, a Jew complained to a soldier that his shoes didn’t fit properly. The Jew was shot at right away by German soldier. Obviously, it is not considered moral for someone to kill anyone just because they complained about something. During the time of war, however, people act very immoral towards other individuals, which end up causing many deaths.

6. Immoral Against Themselves War not only makes people act in immoral ways against another group or another individual, but also against themselves. During the Holocaust, everyone was very eager to survive, which made most of the victims very selfish. People did anything they could for themselves to get through the hard times. In the book, Maus, Vladek’s friend, Mandelbaum, is explaining to Vladek why he doesn’t have a spoon. He says, “I dropped it, and by the time I bent down, someone stole it” (Spiegelman II: 29). If this were to happen during a peaceful time, nobody would obviously do such a thing, most people would probably pick it up and give it back, but not steal it. Stealing anything is considered very immoral by everyone, but during the time of war, people don’t act on their morals in order to survive. People act very immoral even to themselves in order to get through the hard times.

7. The End!! Thank You