I have a few questions about genocide:
- Is what the Germans did to the Jews during WWII genocide? (Note: it is frequently referred to as such.)
- Is what the Europeans did to the native North Americans genocide? (Note: it is very rarely referred to as such.)
- When is genocide justifiable?
- Did the people who instigated and perpetuated these campaigns (which included murder, rape, enslavement and torture) know any better? In other words, can their deeds be understood and forgiven within the greater context and culture of the time, therefore lessening the impact and responsibility of what was done?
- Is it only genocide if you are the victim? Is it something else if you are the aggressor?
I would appreciate it if you could answer these questions as best you can in order to discuss what genocide actually is, and what impact it has on the future.
2) I don’t agree that what the European invaders did to the Native Americans is rarely referred to as genocide. I guess it depends who you hang with.
5) “Genocide” may not be the word of choice for aggressors because it’s a technical, legal word for a crime which describes only the behaviour of the aggressor, eliminating the vileness of the target group from discussion. However, aggressors are often pretty clear on what they are doing. Not shy at all. The vocabulary may differ (genocide vs extermination vs utter destruction vs ethnic cleansing), but the intent is often unmistakable. Check out the Old Testament. War and genocide are pretty much indistinguishable and are both regularly commanded by God. Of course, the word “genocide” didn’t exist back then (according to Wikipedia, ‘The term “genocide” was coined by Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959), a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, in 1943’) but God was nonetheless able to make the concept perfectly clear, issuing detailed instructions for wiping out an entire people.
1. Yes
2. Europeans... to vast a question. Depends who did what to whom.
3. The highly improbable case of Borg wanting to enslave the human race. Yeah go ahead destroy their hive mind.
4. Again define people. Fear gripped German civilians brainwashed into believing the Jews were responsible for the million fold inflation destroying their entire economy? Or the military complex who expedited it? Again as always this is a pretty grey question. Even in today's modern world millions of Americans believed Obama took his oath on a Q'ran and is a secret Muslim. People will believe anything if you repeat to them often enough.
5. Of course it's something else for the aggressor. It's always making something right for the aggressor or else he wouldn't bother with it. He believes he's doing something right. Just like at the individual basis, the sociopath thinks his killings are righteous.