Measuring everything with Hiroshima-Nagasaki

Today's topic is on the heavy side but it has been weighing on my mind lately and I felt I needed to share my thoughts on it.

Everyone is aware of the tragic events of Hiroshima-Nagasaki at the end of WWII in August 1945. When America hit the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons that devastated the area permanently and killed over 300.000 people. It is one of the most tragic events of the 20th century and is the only known instant of nuclear weapons having been used in warfare in the world. It is an extremely complicated, controversial and difficult event to explain and come to terms with and it's my feeling that it can never be explained properly. But that does not mean we shouldn't try.

Earlier this year, my local library held an exhibition about the events which featured stories of the events, real items from it like singed shirts, shoes and books, pictures and an explanation of the effects this has had upon the area, the Japanese nation and how it is being dealt with today. It was a very well received exhibition and it affected everyone that went there. I know that for me personally, it was devastating to see it. Devastating but necessary. I know many teachers brought high-school students to the exhibition and it affected them a lot, many parents took their children as well to teach them about this difficult history and raise awareness of the issue.

And how does this relate to the TV world?

It seems to me that every single time my favorite TV shows deal with nuclear weapons and distribution of them (or just bombs in general) they always reference Hiroshima-Nagasaki. But not to acknowledge these events or attempt to deal with them. No, it is used as a measuring device. I cannot count how many times I've hear something along the lines of: "The nuclear device is so big it can kill up to 3 million people, that is ten times as much as Hiroshima-Nagasaki". And then all the characters nod seriously. Am I the only one that feels that people are trying to upstage the death toll of Hiroshima-Nagasaki when they do this? It's like: "Yeah sure, those bombs killed 300.000 people but our fictional bombs, they are much deadlier. Take that Hiroshima-Nagasaki!"

NCIS has had this, Castle and NCIS:LA. And for the life of me I cannot understand why. Hiroshima-Nagasaki is what it is - a devastating and terrorizing event with immense political controversy attached to it. It should never be used as a measuring stick for fictional death toll on television. 

It crossed my mind that when measuring death toll I have never heard certain things. I have never heard people comparing death tolls to the lives lost in the Holocaust, the tsunami in 2005, the earthquake in Haiti, The Armenian genocide, the Boznian and Serbian civil war in the early 90's, the civil war in America in the 1860's, the number of people killed by Stalin and so many other events. And it is obvious why, to use those events as a measuring stick for fictional death toll would be highly disrespectful and ignorant. 

So why then is it fair-game to use Hiroshima-Nagasaki as a measuring stick? Devastating events when masses of people die, be it due to war or natural causes should never be used flippantly on TV and never ever as measuring sticks. They should and can be dealt with deftly and with respect. But never ever for the sake of pure entertainment.

I have sometimes written about here my worries on how TV shows approach reality and how it can shift our perception of it. TV represents heightened and freaky reality and should always be taken at a surface level. But when TV reality starts treating the real reality flippantly and without caution and respect, we are on a dangerous path. It seems to me that the TV world is partly on that path already but it can be changed and it should. Otherwise, we are in dangers of starting to approach historical events as if they do not matter, as if history and it's effect isn't real. And that is something we cannot allow to happen. 

(And in case people need a measuring stick instead of Hiroshima-Nagasaki. Iceland has a population of roughly 320.000 people, similar to the death toll of Hiroshima-Nagasaki. So just reference the Icelandic population instead. Much easier, inoffensive and will make a lot of Icelanders happy)