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Thoughts for the day

D
Devonsangel

I am in the process of reading a new book about Unit 731.  During WWII and before, Japan had an organization that was responsible for research into defense and offense against biological weapons and Unit 731 was a large part of it.  This research began before the US was involved and Japan was warring with Russia and China.  Some of the research involved frostbite, plague, typhus and others.  Some were transmitted by insects (fleas and ticks) and others were by direct contact.  The importance of this Unit was that the research involved human test subjects, mostly Chinese POW or citizens.  Human dissection while subjects were still alive, dropping contaminated wheat flour dumping organisms into water or just directly injecting subjects and watching the reaction.  These were some of the methods used in the research.  The worst ones occurred when they were studying the effects of frostbite and they would have people in cold environments, tied up, and pour cold water on arms or legs at intervals to see how frostbite progressed.

All of this sounds criminal and it is.  But, the results and conclusions drawn during those "experiments" gave other researchers insight to new things.  Most didn't know what the methodology was but agreed the conclusions were valuable.  Okay, now here's the stinker.  When the war was over and the US was questioning the men responsible for Unit 731 they made a deal not to prosecute them in exchange for the information on the research projects they conducted.  I have been struggling with this question as I continue to read.

Do we condemn the results of these studies since they came about in evil and inhuman, diabolical means and punish the people responsible losing the research results that could benefit millions?  Or do we give them a "Get out of Jail" card in exchange for the information that can be used to treat many diseases?

Discuss.

On a lighter note,

Would you rather
As a spouse taking a new name, have it be Doodoo
or
Klepnermierhelgenermanson?


Keep on Go!

Comments (8)

D
doorgunnerjgs·
A real moral dilemma. Although such research should never have been sanctioned, the results were beneficial and probably not reproducable in any other fashion. So do you accept that the people who performed this were 'following orders' and should be protected or criminalized like concentration camp guards?\r \r I don't have an answer but it is really hard to justify the means used.
D
Devonsangel·
Good questions DG. Most were not \"following orders.\" The subjects were not \"human\" to them, they were test subjects. Some of the lower ranked men had to follow orders or be killed. The Japanese did not mess around. Do or Die.
G
Gman·
They should've given them a choice, trial by jury with the death sentence on the table OR trial by jury with \"only\" life imprisonment on the table if they gave up all their research results. Bottom line to me is this, the people whom were tortured to gain these results deserve Justice by any standard of societal decency. If it had been you or yours, wouldn't you want to know they at least received some sort of punishment. \r \r I despise savages like these guys.\r \r Doodoo for me...would be much easier to pronounce.
L
Liger117·
I went out with a girl whose last name was Doodi. I had a hard time with that.
E
ekattan·
What done is done. \r \r There was a Japanese doctor that recently confessed about his dissections of Filipino pow's while they were still alive. Just for his knowledge of the human anatomy. \r \r The Japanese did atrocities just like the Germans yet our views towards them are very different than our perspective on Germans.
S
SoupNazzi·
In my opinion, we did not put enough Japanese on trial in comparison to the Germans.\r \r Granted, the Germans slaughtered a great deal more, but the Japanese were just as brutal and atrocious.
D
Devonsangel·
FYI, the Japanese were given \"immunity\" for their knowledge. Of course, part of the encouragement was that the US would allow the Russians to try them if they didn't give up the info. Lots of little twists in this.
M
madwoman·
FYI, that is messed up. Personally, I think they should be subjected to the same kind of experiments they perfomed on their \"subjects\" Regardless of what \"valuable\" lessons we may have learned from them God never meant for us to do such atrocities to one another.\r \r P.S. Tried your ranzas...loved them..as predicted, hubby wouldn't eat them but me and my daughter did. Mmmmm good!