> Well, if you have it all figured out, why engage with me in conversation?

I don't have it figured out. What I am trying to do is explain your policy. I'm trying to get you to commit to an actual viable policy rather then doing moral grandstanding.

> This is false, and an empty assertion. So the people who disagree with you haven't studied WW2 in detail? A variant of the "all non-populist historians agree that [...]".

It reflects my own experience with studying the topic, in media, books, podcast, forums and so on.

And generally the people who disagree refuse to make detailed historical argument or proposing alternative solutions and just relay on moral grandstanding.

In Australia, for undergraduate students studying history, this is the most commonly assigned essay topic in World War 2 studies.

Most of the students go into it thinking like you.

Nearly all of them change their mind once they look more deeply at the evidence.

The atomic bombings are a classic case where the popular assumed narrative differs significantly from the facts.

And that’s the reason this is assigned as an essay topic. The idea is to sober up the students a little bit and help them understand that their neat worldviews (USA bad!) are not reflected in the messy reality.

Thanks for your reply. One thing I want to point out, because I saw someone else also ask me this:

> [...] help them understand that their neat worldviews (USA bad!)

I don't know about Australian students, but at least I am not saying "USA bad". I'm describing a particular narrative about the atomic bombings as being fueled by the necessity of Americans to sustain their perception of always being the good guys.

For some reason some people read this and conclude I believe the US were the bad guys.

I obviously believe the atomic bombings were a war crime; but more generally, I do not believe the US were the bad guys in WW2. All moral grays and downright immoral actions committed aside, the US was on the good side of that war, and Japan on the bad side. I hope that clears up that part of my position.