paradise on earth: the bikini islands

i have heard many times that american citizens do not know why the world hates them so much. my suggestion to them would be simple to watch this show that was on the ‘discovery channel’ right now on the ‘bikini islands’ in the south pacific. yet another in the never ending list of stories of american imperialism and wide eyed self righteous ignorance. the show itself has to be seen for two reasons – for the disturbing story it tells and even more for the disturbing way the story is told.

a recap of the story for all of you- as i was- unaware of the story. post the world war two devastation of hiroshima and nagasaki the usa wanted to further test the effects of nuclear bombs on entire populations- (duh- they get decimated -i could have told them that!). to check the various levels of destruction possible they emptied an entire group islands called the ‘bikini islands’ in the south pacific of its population, promising them a safe return, filled the waters around the islands with aircraft carriers and battleships and bombed them- with over two dozen nuclear bombs for around a decade. the largest bomb ever dropped anywhere was dropped on bikini on march 1, 1954. called bravo, it was a hydrogen bomb 1000 times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on hiroshima.

they recorded these tests, filmed them, analyzed the destruction caused and left- leaving in the wake of the tests an entire portion of the land and the water of the area simmering with radioactivity. naturally the original inhabitants of the place could not go back to the land; many people died and many are still suffering the mutations and diseases caused by the tests.

the show (american made) i saw today on tv swerved between two stories- that of the original bombings and that of the fabulous relics of battleships that lie underneath the waters for divers to discover.

it was truly amazing how with the simple act of describing the blatant atrocity of the act it was assumed that forgiveness has been granted for all the violence caused. this ease by which a wrong is righted by the supposed acceptance of a ‘mistake’ was only one part of the show that angered me. the rest of the show, with lingering shots on the drowned guns and bombs, spoke about the fact that today the remains of the battleships are tourist attractions making the local economy boom- isnt that just great!

first you bomb the place, kill an entire way of life- then to make it better you say that it finally turned out all right because at least there are people coming to see what we did to you. you're making money because of our atrocities - be grateful! and of course the locals were presented in that wonderful way that ‘otherizes’ them further- wearing flower garlands and dancing- as the friendly ‘locals’ whose capacity for anger has been sucked away by the american propaganda machine convincing them of both the american regret (like a child saying sorry after he has eaten the stolen sweets); and of their own banal smiling acceptance of it all.

the show went further to say that this chain of islands is a 'paradise on earth' for all who want to see what the ravages of history can result in- if you are a junkie for the extremely surreal thrill- you cannot give the bikini island a miss! like a ride in an amusement park.

and this is a country that is now serving us more platitudes on world peace and the irresponsible leaders in the third world who would not behave 'in the best interests' with nuclear power. sometimes I almost empathize with terrorists.

the ‘bikini’- by the way- the two piece swim suit – symbol of lazy summer afternoons to help white skins get tanned on california beaches was named after the islands during the testing period by a french designer who thought that it was wonderful how his creation made women look like they would after a nuclear bomb blew all their clothes away- cute story, eh?