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> I closed the page immediately because of the full-page popup ad ... You may want to actually read the article before criticizing it. It's more nuanced than y

> I closed the page immediately because of the full-page popup ad ... You may want to actually read the article before criticizing it. It's more nuanced than you seem to assume, and does not really contradict your own comment. In particular, it does not imply that the threat of Soviet invasion was the determining factor; but that it was only one of several factors, of which the bomb was another, neither of which were dominant. > Emperor Hirohito ... explicitly mentioned the destructiveness of the atom bomb As you say, the bomb was a gift, allowing the emperor to (quoting the article) "blame the loss on an amazing scientific breakthrough that no one could have predicted" and put Japan in a sympathetic light. The emperor and the government had every reason to shift the blame on the bomb and away from everything else.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> As you say, the bomb was a gift, allowing the emperor to (quoting the article) "blame the loss on an amazing scientific breakthrough that no one could have predicted" and put Japan in a sympathetic light. Which is why it was the decisive element; Japan has lost militarily before either the bomb being dropped or the USSR declaring war. But the bomb is the thing that, given the cultural context, allowed the regime to admit defeat, which was what was missing.
- lobster_johnson 13y ago
  Indeed, but methinks you pasted the wrong quote. :-)
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    Edited; thanks. That was really wrong.
bradleyland 13y ago
It has become the rule that even a good article must have a horrible title. Otherwise, who will click through to see what has been written? It's a real shame, because the title isn't really reflected by the content. The actual title: "The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan... Stalin Did" A more accurate title: "The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan... There Were Many Confluent Factors" The latter is something you'd expect to read on an academic paper, where the former is about par for the course when it comes to journalism.
- lobster_johnson 13y ago
  Absolutely. I thought it was a very well-written article despite the hyperbolic, misleading title.
  - Sharlin 13y ago
    As the sibling comment states, writers rarely get to pick their own titles.
- moogleii 13y ago
  This may be common knowledge to some, but it wasn't to me: I complained about titles to a friend who writes for a pretty big site, and she pretty much admitted that the author's don't really pick/control the titles. The editors do, and it really is pretty geared for link bait.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > [...] the author's don't really pick/control the titles. The editors do, and it really is pretty geared for link bait. Note that this practice is much, much older than the internet; hyberbolic headlines sell newspapers as well as driving people to click on links, and headline writers have been taking that into consideration forever.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> As you say, the bomb was a gift, allowing the emperor to (quoting the article) "blame the loss on an amazing scientific breakthrough that no one could have predicted" and put Japan in a sympathetic light. Which is why it was the decisive element; Japan has lost militarily before either the bomb being dropped or the USSR declaring war. But the bomb is the thing that, given the cultural context, allowed the regime to admit defeat, which was what was missing.

lobster_johnson 13y ago
Indeed, but methinks you pasted the wrong quote. :-)
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  Edited; thanks. That was really wrong.

bradleyland 13y ago

It has become the rule that even a good article must have a horrible title. Otherwise, who will click through to see what has been written? It's a real shame, because the title isn't really reflected by the content. The actual title: "The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan... Stalin Did" A more accurate title: "The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan... There Were Many Confluent Factors" The latter is something you'd expect to read on an academic paper, where the former is about par for the course when it comes to journalism.

lobster_johnson 13y ago
Absolutely. I thought it was a very well-written article despite the hyperbolic, misleading title.
- Sharlin 13y ago
  As the sibling comment states, writers rarely get to pick their own titles.
moogleii 13y ago
This may be common knowledge to some, but it wasn't to me: I complained about titles to a friend who writes for a pretty big site, and she pretty much admitted that the author's don't really pick/control the titles. The editors do, and it really is pretty geared for link bait.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > [...] the author's don't really pick/control the titles. The editors do, and it really is pretty geared for link bait. Note that this practice is much, much older than the internet; hyberbolic headlines sell newspapers as well as driving people to click on links, and headline writers have been taking that into consideration forever.