Give opinion of Peace Petition. Would be inclined to sign this petition?

Question

First circulated in 1950

PEACE PETITION


We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of people.
We demand strict international control to enforce this measure.
We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal.
We call on all men and women of goodwill throughout the world to sign this appeal.

Answer 1

Yes...but no. It's unrealistic.

Have you seen, "Gabriel Over the White House"?

Answer 2

No, I don't think so. It would be a nice if we could outlaw atomic weapons, but we can't. The technology is out there, and sooner or later would surface again. There is already an attempt at regulation that doesn't really work, and won't work until the UN has more power to interfere in the workings of all governments without fear of reprisal. And unfortunately, the governments most likely to use atomic weapons commit crimes against humanity on a fairly regular basis and probably won't care about one more.
Maybe in the fifties something like this could have been effective, but the availability of nuclear weapons has spread to the point that it can't be controlled. Instead of trying to outlaw these weapons (and play hide and seek around the world), we need to find someway to make them useless, so that no one will care who has them.

Answer 3

I believe that nuclear weapons has been a huge positive force on the world since 1944. I would strongly disagree with the petition.

Even when the US dropped atomic bombs in Japan, it was a net gain of life. The number of Japanese killed was far less than the number of dead that would have been involved in a long protracted invasion.

The power of nuclear weapons prevented ANY direct warfare between the giant superpowers of the US and the USSR. So nuclear weapons saved realisitcally millions, by reducing the battle to relatively small conflicts like Vietnam and Korea.

Pacifism encourages aggression, since the aggressive party "wins". War favors the defender, and discourages aggression, since taking territory is more difficult than holding it.