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This sounds like a cartoon version of what would lead to a genocide. It seems like this sort of thing is usually the product of close proximity, prolonged ethni

by jrs95 8y ago

This sounds like a cartoon version of what would lead to a genocide. It seems like this sort of thing is usually the product of close proximity, prolonged ethnic conflict, a perceived threat (real or imagined), and other pressures like lack of resources.

ksdale 8y ago
Well from what we read about the genocide in Bosnia, the ethnic conflict was purely made up over a period of just a few years prior to the genocide. The party in power in Serbia latched onto a massacre that had been perpetrated by the Ottomans hundreds of years before as a way to whip up sentiment against the Muslims. Economics definitely came into it, but there were lots of anecdotes of people who didn't even know what side they were on and had to literally ask their parents about their heritage to find out whether they should fear for their lives. In Rwanda, the divisions were constructed by the people running the colonies and hadn't actually been divisions recognized by the people prior to that. That happened over a period of decades, sure, but they were also complete fabrications that turned into reasons to kill people who were called "cockroaches" over the state run radio. I agree that dehumanization isn't the only factor, but it's also not cartoonish. People kill each other all the time for all sorts of terrible reasons, but what causes them to crowd a bunch of women and children into a building and set it on fire is a belief that those people are less than human. Once again, I'm not talking about war, I'm talking about genocide. Edit for clarification: a lot of the things you mentioned are very often present, but in that class we read about the genocides in Turkey/Armenia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Germany, and it was striking how similar the language was from place to place. Despite the different cultural, economic, and historical circumstances, the one thing they all had in common was really brutal language about the targeted group. We've all seen the propaganda targeted at Jews in Germany, and I mentioned above the Rwandan radio calling people cockroaches. This attitude toward the opponent is necessary but not sufficient.

by jrs95 8y ago

ksdale 8y ago

Well from what we read about the genocide in Bosnia, the ethnic conflict was purely made up over a period of just a few years prior to the genocide. The party in power in Serbia latched onto a massacre that had been perpetrated by the Ottomans hundreds of years before as a way to whip up sentiment against the Muslims. Economics definitely came into it, but there were lots of anecdotes of people who didn't even know what side they were on and had to literally ask their parents about their heritage to find out whether they should fear for their lives. In Rwanda, the divisions were constructed by the people running the colonies and hadn't actually been divisions recognized by the people prior to that. That happened over a period of decades, sure, but they were also complete fabrications that turned into reasons to kill people who were called "cockroaches" over the state run radio. I agree that dehumanization isn't the only factor, but it's also not cartoonish. People kill each other all the time for all sorts of terrible reasons, but what causes them to crowd a bunch of women and children into a building and set it on fire is a belief that those people are less than human. Once again, I'm not talking about war, I'm talking about genocide. Edit for clarification: a lot of the things you mentioned are very often present, but in that class we read about the genocides in Turkey/Armenia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Germany, and it was striking how similar the language was from place to place. Despite the different cultural, economic, and historical circumstances, the one thing they all had in common was really brutal language about the targeted group. We've all seen the propaganda targeted at Jews in Germany, and I mentioned above the Rwandan radio calling people cockroaches. This attitude toward the opponent is necessary but not sufficient.