PODCASTS: JOCKO #133, THE HORRORS OF UNIT 731

about a year ago, i wrote a review of christopher BROWNING'S “ordinary men” —a book which told us about how ordinary, non-indoctrinated polish policemen were able to go from ordinary people into absolutely murderous tyrants. the importance in that piece of literature cannot be stressed enough— the idea that the most evil men in history have been human and we happen to be too doesn’t seem to me like a common notion. most people identify with the victims throughout history, not the oppressor. but wouldn’t it be better to identify with the oppressor as opposed to the oppressed as to prevent such atrocity from ever happening again? 

Jocko #133 discusses parallels from ordinary men in poland to those responsible for the Japanese prison camp, Unit 731— a biological and chemical warfare R&D unit of the Japanese Imperial Army. Engaging in lethal human experimentation, it became known for some of the most horrific war crimes in recorded history— not limited to vivisections, human weapons testing, and their famous FROSTBITE testing which still stands, in my mind, as some of the most horrendous reading material i’ve exposed my brain to.