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Friday, December 30, 2011

Genocide: Worse Than War

It's so difficult to understand how any human being can justify the killing of mass groups of people. Goldahngen's who's own father survived the Jewish holocaust, points out that extreme cruelty is at the heart of genocide. Though you hear time and time again soldiers say they were just doing their job or following orders, but if that were true, why is there always evidence of torture, rape and unimaginable suffering before killing them.

The victims are thought of as subhumans, thus making it okay to kill them. People who chose to kill another human being, basically don't view them as humans and its starts years before the actual events.

Contrary to popular belief, genocide doesn't happen spontaneously. Many times years of propaganda, describing and depicting a particular group as a threat, as a danger to their way of life, etc. Examples of this are Serbia, Nazi Germany and Rwanda. Add to the mix the feeling that they are untouchable and nothing can stop them.

Genocide's goal is to eliminate a group of people. Glodhagen says we should remain vigilant and be aware of any elimination policies, before the mention of killing even starts.

The Armenian Genocide by the Turks, during WWI are yet to be recognize, though France has now criminalized the denial of said genocide, which has enfudiared the Turks - Tuff!

This film is also available at http://to.pbs.org/hMZzq0 Watch Daniel Goldhagen's ground-breaking documentary focused on the worldwide phenomenon of genocide, which premiered on PBS on April 14, 2010.