Worse than War “Failure to see the humanity in others makes it possible for the killers to commit their crimes.” This quote is from Daniel Goldhagen, author of the text Worse than War. This quote is just one of many that give some sort of insight into the thoughts of those that have contributed to the mass killing of others. I agree with this statement seeing as though I feel that it is easier for people to kill others if they feel that they are less than human beings. Of course, there will be people who will go against this and try to give a valid reason as to why it was and is okay to kill others. To them it’s as if they have a bug infestation in their home that needs to be taken care of. This documentary was both informative and daunting; I say that due to the fact that this documentary held many facts as …show more content…
There were two interviews that Goldhagen held that I felt held the raw truth and was something devastating to see and hear about, one with a man that participated in the death of thousands of Tutsi’s and another with a woman who told a story of her own personal experience. The man talks about how for him it was almost hard to kill Tutsi’s since they had the same skin as him and how he didn’t kill children because it was sad knowing that you still had to. He says it was like a cloud covered their hearts and it was like a darkness that came over them, making them kill others. The young woman talked about how her mother, father, and brother were chopped into pieces with a machete. She goes on to tell Goldhagen that the people that killed her family were members of her community and even family friends. This lead Goldhagen to the questions ‘How do neighbors turn against neighbors?’ And ‘Why do the killers kill?’ these are just two of the questions that Goldhagen tries to find the answer to during the
He places a lot of his emphasis on fear and intimidation as the main drivers of the violence and says that no matter what reason perpetrators gave for their individual participation, there was one main rationale that drove genocidal violence. That one rationale was that the violence occurred in the following way: “the RPF killed President Habyarimana; RPF soldiers had invaded to kill Hutus; all Tutsis were RPF supporters or potential supporters; ergo, Hutus had to kill Tutsis to prevent being attacked by them” (Straus 153). The most common reason respondents stated was the cause of the genocide was the death of their president, but some said it was because elites desired power. As a reader, it is hard to understand why perpetrators chose to kill people who did not pose any immediate threats when the perpetrators themselves feared insecurity. The Hutus believed that the Tutsis wanted to take back their power so the Hutu extremists had a goal of terminating them, but it is still difficult to interpret the happenings of the genocide because there were so many dynamics. But regardless of all that went on, in sum, The Order of Genocide maintains that three dynamics lead to the killing: war, race, and power. Without a war in Rwanda, the genocide may have just been unable to take place. But the war resulted in “fear, insecurity, rage, revenge, and self-defense” and tensed up the country to perform violent acts of killing (Straus, 173-174). Race allowed all Tutsis to be labeled as the enemy. And finally, power gave hardliners an ability of control to issue the elimination of all Tutsis and authorize the
After reading this book all I can think about and imagine is the horror and pain that the Tutsi must have gone through and their families and friends who have survived to think about and re-live the memories they have of such a horrible event. In the book, Gourevitch really paints a picture by the way he describes what things looked like and the way things were during that time period. Since watching the movie from last semester Hotel Rwanda and reading this book it reminds me of the movie Tears of the Sun when the rebels are in the small communities murdering everyone in sight and Hitlers reign in which mass genocide that he and his army committed.
Orwell states in his essay, “…to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration,” which means if we want governmental or political change, we must first know what they are telling us through written reports, or speeches, by paying close attention. This is important to pay attention too, especially in times of war, when political parties can be more deceptive. Lakoff mentions thinking critically as well, and its tailored more specifically to in times of war. She paraphrases ethnologist Konrad Lorenz by saying, “…the more clearly we see other members of our own species as individuals, the harder we find it to kill them.” This is a pretty good point, considering most human beings cannot fathom murdering someone. There are exceptions to this, as there are with most things, but for the most part it holds
...er wish existed and blame it on that they were in a state of nature? Where do we draw the line on the timeline of when it is okay to kill a man to save your own self from hunger pains? Letting one person get away with murder opens up the flood gates for the very thing we are trying to prevent which is the wilful killing of another. “Through words and other actions, we build ourselves in a world that is building us.” Letting these men get away with the action of murder builds into us and the world that it is okay to kill a man in order to save your own life. It teaches us that if we value our life higher than others we can take what we “need” from them and not pay for the consequences of our actions.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
The mass Genocide of the Tutsi people was an intrusion of all types of human rights first and foremost the taking of one's life. The Tutsi people were tortured, stolen from, had their...
In the pursuit of safety, acceptance, and the public good, many atrocities have been committed in places such as Abu Ghraib and My Lai, where simple, generally harmless people became the wiling torturers and murderers of innocent people. Many claim to have just been following orders, which illustrates a disturbing trend in both the modern military and modern societies as a whole; when forced into an obedient mindset, many normal and everyday people can become tools of destruction and sorrow, uncaringly inflicting pain and death upon the innocent.
Such brutality does matter regardless of where it happens because it is inhuman. Above all, it is against human nature and an obstacle to the advancement of the human civilization. Being a member of the global village, how could I ignore such brutality happened in the far-flung continent? The most important thing that I learned from the film is that the prosperity of the human civilization depends on compassion and cooperation. With both, the gaps among peoples can be bridged and many human sufferings can be stopped. Peoples across the board can live in a better world with love that is the most important and basic element for the progress of the human
...he Hutus being to care more about the benefits than thinking of the consequences of what they were actually doing. Ultimately, Machete Season, allows the killers to speak, and within their own words, we’re able to see what could really drive one to kill and commit genocide. Narrowing the reasons for the Rwandan genocide down to economic reasons may seem overly simplistic, but through killing their neighbors and thus looting them, the Hutus are able to deal with their underlying jealousy toward the Tutsis and take what they believe is theirs and that they deserve. This idea of the Hutus committing mass genocide of the Tutsis for economic reasons, and to get ahead in life seems scary in how simple it is. In a sense, one can begin to imagine how others could be driven to do whatever it takes to get ahead in life and get what they want; even it means they have to kill.
In 1972, the Burundi people led vicious attacks against one another. The Tutsi government officials massacred the Hutu people having an influential effect on the neighboring country of Rwanda. The poor “pre-coloinal kingdom” was heavily populated with three different types of ethnic groups: Hutus, Tutsis, and the Twas (only made up 1% of the population).
“The sweetly sickening odor of decomposing bodies hung over many parts of Rwanda in July 1994: . . . at Nyarubuye in eastern Rwanda, where the cadaver of a little girl, otherwise intact, had been flattened by passing vehicles to the thinness of cardboard in front of the church steps,” (Deforges 6). The normalcy of horrible images like this one had cast a depressing gloom over Rwanda during the genocide, a time when an extreme divide caused mass killings of Tutsi by the Hutu. Many tactics such as physical assault or hate propaganda are well known and often used during times of war. Sexual assault and rape, however, during times of war is an unspoken secret – it is well known that rape occurs within combat zones and occupied territories, but people tend to ignore, or even worse, not speak of the act. There have been recorded cases of rape and sexual assault in almost every war in human history. Genocidal rape was used as a gendered war tactic in the Rwandan genocide in order to accomplish the Hutu goal of elimination of the Tutsi people in whole, or part.
When the Rwandan Hutu majority betrayed the Tutsi minority, a destructive mass murdering broke out where neighbor turned on neighbor and teachers killed their students; this was the start of a genocide. In this paper I will tell you about the horrors the people of Rwanda had to face while genocide destroyed their homes, and I will also tell you about the mental trauma they still face today.
There are several ethical issues surrounding the decision by the Hutu politicians to start the genocide. It is unfair and unethical for the Hutus to blame the entire Tutsi tribe for the president’s death. The Hutu politicians are so much driven by hatred that they fail to consider the innocent lives to be lost in the planned genocide. Instead, they organiz...
During the 20th century, Africa was a land of trouble, especially in South Africa and in Rwanda. In between 1948 and 1994, it was the apartheid in South Africa. All the white people were segregated from the black people; each race had their own systems of education, leisure and public transports. The Rwandan Genocide took place in 1994 (April-July) and killed 1’000’000 people. The Hutus and the Tutsis, two different tribes from Rwanda, were segregated and even killed. The Hutus killed the Tutsis and the moderate Hutus, those who were sympathetic to Tutsis. These two genocides can be linked in one word: discrimination.