Cambodian Genocide Effects

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A genocide can be classified as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a specific ethnic race or or group. All genocides start with certain beliefs. These beliefs grows as they spread to large groups of people. If taken too far these beliefs can negatively impact the lives of many as well as all the future generations to come. When one thinks of genocide they usually only think of the suffering inflicted on the different ethnic groups as well as the devastating losses that ensue. Most do not consider the effects of genocide on countries and people after it happens. Genocide not only impacts the group of people who are persecuted but also the generations of people who come later. The Cambodian Genocide was one …show more content…

The Cambodian genocide left an economic imbalance in the Cambodian society. Since Pol Pot wanted to return Cambodia to an agrarian society, free of Western influence, he killed many intellectual people (i.e. doctors, monks, students, ex-government officials, ex-military officials, professors, lawyers, etc) This created an imbalance in the society. Currently, there more uneducated farmers in Cambodia than intellectual people. The imbalance makes it very difficult for the Cambodian economy to create jobs that apply to the majority of Cambodians (i.e. the demographic …show more content…

During the Cambodian genocide Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge targeted intellectuals such as musicians and artists. With a majority of these people executed Cambodia lost a lot of its traditions and cultural history (i.e. traditional songs, dances, musical instruments, paintings, and legends/myths (i.e. storytelling)). Oral tradition was also lost because it was never written down and there were no performers to pass the stories down to each generation. Overall, very little cultural tradition survived the Cambodian genocide, as the Khmer Rouge burned thousand of books (i.e. demonstrating they were against

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