Is Shylock a villain or a victim?

In Merchant of Venice, Shylock is both a victim and a villain. Shylock is a victim he is the subject of discrimination and bully by the citizens of Venice. For example, Antonio often insults him by calling him names like "cut-throat dog" and "misbeliever". Another incident when Shylock is being bullied is when the beggars on the street mock at him when his daughter, Jessica, fled with Lorenzo and even took away with her Shylock's hard-earned ducats and his gems. A large portion of Shylock's business of usury has also been snatched away by Antonio. Antonio, like most of the Venetians, disapprove of the usury, the business of lending money and getting it back with an interest. To show disapproval of Shylock, Antonio lends money to others gratis (without interest), a sign of open competition to Shylock's business. This would make people who want to borrow money to go to Antonio instead of Shylock as it is a more lucrative and money-saving option, and therefore Shylock's business is being stolen by Antonio (note that Shylock did not be an moneylender because he wanted to be one, but because he cannot find other jobs in Venice as he is a Jew and no one wants to employ him).

However, Shylock is not a an innocent victim. He, too, is guilty of offending others and doing heinous acts. For example, the entire plot to get the pound of Antonio's flesh (with the intention of taking away is life as well) was planned by Shylock under the facade of justice. Shylock makes use of Antonio's willingness to help Bassanio and his confidence that he have much more than enough money at hand than the amount he has to pay by the time the bond is due to make him sign the bond which states that Antonio will have to forfeit a pound of flesh if he fails to pays Shylock the stated amount in the bond when the bond expires. To make Antonio unsuspecting of his intentions, Shylock says that "in a merry spot", Antonio would have to forfeit a pound of flesh if he fails to repay Shylock the sum of money on time. When Antonio eventually could not pay Shylock the money as his money was put in his ships and his ships did not return on time, Shylock mocked at Antonio and promised that he would have his bond. Moreover, when Antonio and his friends try to convince Shylock to give Antonio more time and not be so cruel, Shylock insisted that he would have the pound of Antonio's flesh and justified his action by the fact that Antonio has bullied and humiliated him previously, and now he would have the right do it back on Antonio. In this case, Shylock's argument shows that he is a hypocritical person as he expects others to show kindness to him and not to insult him, while he does not have the same expectation for himself. These show that Shylock is exacting revenge by attempting to take away the life of his enemy under the facade of justice.

Should US have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan?

The US should have dropped on the atomic bomb on Japan. Since the start of World War 2, Japan has been invaded many Asian countries, some of which were much bigger than itself. This caused the Allied forces to see Japan as a major threat, for fears that the war would spread to their countries. The US had taken steps to stop the war. They include the extensive bombing of major Japanese cities, which destroyed more than 40 percent of these places on avcerage. Despite the severe loss, Japan stubbornly refused to surrender. Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, had also come under attack by the Allied forces but they surrenderred by the end of April 1945. In an effort to force Japan to surrender, the US gave Japan the Potsdam Ultimatum, which stated that if Japan did not not surrender, it would result in "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland". Despite the previous bombings and the ultimatum, Japan still decided to carry on with the war. This proved the conventional bombing that the US had carried out ineffective as it did not bring Japan anywhere near surrenderring despite the great amount of damages done to major cities. Hence, the US decided to drop the atomic bomb, the bomb that could wipe out an entire city.