Quote Originally Posted by Montmorency View Post
To be fair, carpet bombing was not a norm just like that, and strategic or terror bombing was pretty much universally condemned at the outset of the war. It developed over the course of the war in a series of accumulated escalations and path dependencies. The carpet bombing we know and love wasn't really mature until at least 1943. The systematic demolition of Japanese cities had hardly begun by the time Germany surrendered. The British and American air forces had some kind of unprecedented autonomy to sort things out for themselves during this war - and they had that institutional incentive to interpose their branch - and there may not have been much political oversight or understanding of what was actually happening, let alone popular consciousness of the issues.
You're right, I should have clarified that it was the norm by the end of the war, and you are right that it was an escalating tit-for-tat game which ended in the firebombing of cities to the ground. I think there was some consciousness about it (see Churchill's alleged "are we beasts?" remark) but I honestly think people just didnt care all that much. I find it hard to believe that a population inundated with racist anti-Japanese propaganda is going to also care about firebombing their cities. I also admit I havent researched this specific topic all too much.