Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ghostcluster 3131 days ago
Japan hadn't declared war.
1 comments
timthelion 3131 days ago
US never declared war in Vietnam.

And since when did saying "I hate you, I'm going to war with you" make it OK to indiscriminately kill civilians.

ISIS has declared war on England. Does that make it OK for them to bomb the subway?

link
ghostcluster 3131 days ago
What are you trying to argue? That Pearl Harbor wasn't a surprise attack?

That the Japanese didn't employ terrorist tactics against American civilians? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon

> And since when did saying "I hate you, I'm going to war with you" make it OK to indiscriminately kill civilians

Maybe ask the Japanese? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre

If you can't understand a strategic decision to bring a war to an end and avoid a larger loss of life, I don't know what to tell you.

link
boomboomsubban 3131 days ago
The Japanese were in Nanking as part of a strategic decision to bring the war to a quick end, does that justify that massacre of civilians?
link
timthelion 3131 days ago
My point is, that this "everything's fair in love and war" attitude is without moral basis. It's not magically OK to be evil just because you are at war, and using wartime tactics when you are not officially at war is not worse than doing them during a war.
link