He did not. He was not the only one pardoned. Fellow Japanese “scientists” as well as Germans etc. were grabbed up (in Europe the west rushed to get scientists and materials out ahead of the enactment of new territories outlined with Russia and others) which had strategic value- nuclear, jet propulsion/rocket/medical/bio warfare etc.
Most were pardoned and given cushy jobs and new lives and identities in the United States to protect them from revenge, public outrage, or conversion/death by foreign powers. It also helped cover up the home governments willingness to turn a blind eye thus protecting the government and politicians from political fallout. Happy, well kept murderers are less likely to break confidence and expose things as well- and are more cooperative.
The data gathered from such experiments like transfusing animal blood, holding pregnant women in freezing water and watching them die, exposing people to extreme of high or low pressure- or both, exposing people to sudden acceleration, vivisection, exposed to diseases, attempts at organ and limb transplantation etc. were invaluable and couldn’t be replicated ethically.
Everything from many routine hospital visits to riding an airplane in the modern world benefits from the horrors these men did, bought and paid for in exchange that they face no justice for the deeds in this world. Every day most people enjoy the benefits of their work and many of them died comfortable and as powerful or wealthy men.
Although in fairness the US government did untreated syphilis experiments on its own people, released biological agents on major urban centers causing death (just to study how an enemy attack might spread), intentionally exposed large populations to radiation, used its own soldiers to test the effects and safe exposure limits to nuclear weapons and their aftermath, used radiation and chemicals without informed consent in experiments on US sailors for things like “curing eczema,” and lots more. To date we have not visited horrors quite of the magnitude and scale as Japan did in China in WW2- although slavery and our history with race comes close, and we weren’t exactly nice to native peoples- and we started a war so Dole fruit could get cheap bananas.. but still. To be fair- most of the world is built upon horrors.
I feel like trial and error could have gotten us a lot of this information over a longer period of time, probably with a similar death rate, and likely with less intentional suffering. But just my opinion
Possibly. I think given enough time we would have figured most or all of it out. I’m not defending the decision made- personally I find it morally disgusting even if it was pragmatic. The world would be a different place, but who’s to say it would be better or worse- likely less advanced in various technologies- but who knows? I was merely saying that is what happened, and that our entire modern world is built upon horrors.
In the present I feel we have to reconcile that- come to terms with it. I don’t think it is healthy to ignore the last or try and pretend it didn’t happen or paint it rosy because we benefit from past suffering. Knowing as much of the truth of the past as we can- where it sits wrong with us we have to make sure that we do not carry that cycle on into the future. We have to do whatever we can to set the “moral scales” as balanced as possible and mitigate any harm that such legacies cause to endure- identified by awareness of what inheritance we have culturally and otherwise from such past deeds.
Most importantly- knowing what was done and finding it wrong- we have to recognize that those wrong doers past aren’t so removed from us as far as the species goes. We are speeders by the years we’re we’re born and lived- but as humans our knowledge and language and culture may shift, but our core being is largely unchanged. We could have and may have made many of the same choices of past humans were we in their shoes. Admitting this and recognizing the roots and pasterns that caused them to act ways we find disgusting, and detaching ourselves from the present to see when we follow the same principals in actions even if the details differ- is important.
Getting nuked by and large is what helped but a stop to the "weird shit."
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Don't read this comment.
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They also did fun things like release the plague, and play rousing games of "let's force the patients to infect each other with syphilis!" * Or "let's see how much pressure the human body can withstand!"
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Remember kids: anesthesia is a luxury; vivisection lasts forever. Just because you KNOW a human can't survive a flamethrower doesn't mean you know how LONG it takes for them to melt from one
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They're not people. They're just logs.
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*If you don't understand the full potential horror of untreated syphilis, just picture someone caved parts of your face and skull in with a golf club and you'll be off to a good start.
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Also: if you Google untreated syphilis the first result will be Trump. Most of the results after that will make you want to bleach your eyes out.
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Don't read this comment.
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They also did fun things like release the plague, and play rousing games of "let's force the patients to infect each other with syphilis!" * Or "let's see how much pressure the human body can withstand!"
.
Remember kids: anesthesia is a luxury; vivisection lasts forever. Just because you KNOW a human can't survive a flamethrower doesn't mean you know how LONG it takes for them to melt from one
.
They're not people. They're just logs.
.
.
.
*If you don't understand the full potential horror of untreated syphilis, just picture someone caved parts of your face and skull in with a golf club and you'll be off to a good start.
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Also: if you Google untreated syphilis the first result will be Trump. Most of the results after that will make you want to bleach your eyes out.