He's not Latverian, for one thing
January 14, 2015 1:23 PM Subscribe
Q: Did you ever get any Dr. Doom jokes while you were working on the bomb?
A: (Laughs.) Many. There were so many of them that I can’t remember half of them. And in fact, early in life, I thought I would become a doctor.
Doctor Doom's first publication appearance was in 1962. The Manhattan Project was effectively over in 1945. Maybe "Doctor Doom" is just naturally fun to say, but if he really means the jibes were references to the metal guy in the cape, he's full of it.
So the statement is simply falls and shows that Mr Doom has actually never really thought at all about the consequence of his actions.
Be that as it may, it's a cultural rationale: not his alone. Most veterans from that generation think the same thing. They also factor in future casualties, and assume the number would have at least doubled in Pacific fighting alone. To say nothing of what they expected casualties of a mainland invasion might have been.
posted by clarknova at 2:24 PM on January 14, 2015
A: (Laughs.) Many. There were so many of them that I can’t remember half of them. And in fact, early in life, I thought I would become a doctor.
Doctor Doom's first publication appearance was in 1962. The Manhattan Project was effectively over in 1945. Maybe "Doctor Doom" is just naturally fun to say, but if he really means the jibes were references to the metal guy in the cape, he's full of it.
So the statement is simply falls and shows that Mr Doom has actually never really thought at all about the consequence of his actions.
Be that as it may, it's a cultural rationale: not his alone. Most veterans from that generation think the same thing. They also factor in future casualties, and assume the number would have at least doubled in Pacific fighting alone. To say nothing of what they expected casualties of a mainland invasion might have been.
posted by clarknova at 2:24 PM on January 14, 2015
clarknova: "Doctor Doom's first publication appearance was in 1962. "
Consider that Dr. Doom might exist outside comic???? Like just as a conceptual thing???? it is a possible thing.
posted by boo_radley at 3:13 PM on January 14, 2015
Consider that Dr. Doom might exist outside comic???? Like just as a conceptual thing???? it is a possible thing.
posted by boo_radley at 3:13 PM on January 14, 2015
Consider that Dr. Doom might exist outside comic???? Like just as a conceptual thing????
"True magic is the imposition of a narrative on reality. It is telling a story and making the world believe it. The dark world of police and politicians, of rulers and tricksters. And if magic is narrative, then to be a creature of magic...to be a god...is to be a creature of story." So says Doom.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:08 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
"True magic is the imposition of a narrative on reality. It is telling a story and making the world believe it. The dark world of police and politicians, of rulers and tricksters. And if magic is narrative, then to be a creature of magic...to be a god...is to be a creature of story." So says Doom.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:08 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
During the parade of nations in the last Winter Olympics, I said "oh, Latveria" when Latvia went by. Fortunately no one around me was nerdy enough to notice.
posted by angerbot at 4:10 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by angerbot at 4:10 PM on January 14, 2015
The projected losses from a full-scale invasion of Japan were so large that we're still working through the purple heart's made for it. (checks for possible urban legend, confirms the medals are still being issued out of inventory, though the ribbon has changed and more medals have been ordered to make up for regional shortages).
If Mr. Doom or the author had just slightly sloppy grammar then "were projected" (a true statement) instead of just "were" might have been intended. Without having a recording to verify exactly what was said, and how, we can't know if he said it lightly, or with the concern of his contribution to the deaths of so many, and the resultant insanity of the Cold War, and the continuing MAD policies informing his every utterance. Later he laughs, but this sentence is reported without such description, and at the time he probably was happy, no matter how he may feel now in retrospect.
posted by Blackanvil at 6:07 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
If Mr. Doom or the author had just slightly sloppy grammar then "were projected" (a true statement) instead of just "were" might have been intended. Without having a recording to verify exactly what was said, and how, we can't know if he said it lightly, or with the concern of his contribution to the deaths of so many, and the resultant insanity of the Cold War, and the continuing MAD policies informing his every utterance. Later he laughs, but this sentence is reported without such description, and at the time he probably was happy, no matter how he may feel now in retrospect.
posted by Blackanvil at 6:07 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
On Iwo Jima alone, there were 26,000 US casualties in quite a concentrated dose, and the anticipated costs of a US invasion of Japan to come next were severe by all accounts.
The Pacific Theatre in total, when considering the suffering of Chinese, Malaysian, Filipino, and various other civilians, Japanese casualties, and Allied casualties, was costly enough in lives that I think we should go gently on judging the mindset of those who lived through those years and aimed to bring it to a quick an end as possible while sparing a full-blown invasion of Japan.
But that's just me.
posted by C.A.S. at 12:40 AM on January 15, 2015
The Pacific Theatre in total, when considering the suffering of Chinese, Malaysian, Filipino, and various other civilians, Japanese casualties, and Allied casualties, was costly enough in lives that I think we should go gently on judging the mindset of those who lived through those years and aimed to bring it to a quick an end as possible while sparing a full-blown invasion of Japan.
But that's just me.
posted by C.A.S. at 12:40 AM on January 15, 2015
that's already more than the 110,000 casualty the US forces suffered in the Pacific in WW2. So the statement is simply falls and shows that Mr Doom has actually never really thought at all about the consequence of his actions. I find this astonishing.
tecg
I'm not saying Doom is correct (whereas Dr. Doom always is), but this is a pretty weird argument. Projected casualties for Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of Japan, were in the hundreds of thousands to the millions. You might find his line of thinking less astonishing given that he was considering the future costs, not the ones already incurred.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:31 AM on January 15, 2015
tecg
I'm not saying Doom is correct (whereas Dr. Doom always is), but this is a pretty weird argument. Projected casualties for Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of Japan, were in the hundreds of thousands to the millions. You might find his line of thinking less astonishing given that he was considering the future costs, not the ones already incurred.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:31 AM on January 15, 2015
« Older Zombie Blue | Being Buddhist, Being Gay — George Takei Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
[I]f we had to invade we would have had hundreds of thousands of casualties. The number of Japanese killed were tiny in comparison to the number of American lives that were killed and wounded.
Estimates of cicilian victims of the attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima range between 140,000 and 250,000; that's already more than the 110,000 casualty the US forces suffered in the Pacific in WW2. So the statement is simply falls and shows that Mr Doom has actually never really thought at all about the consequence of his actions. I find this astonishing.
posted by tecg at 2:18 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]