Genocide in Syria?

I believe that what is going on in Syria is not just a conflict, but is a genocide. The government is executing people, which is one of the stages of genocide. When the Arab league was trying to help the victims by creating a peace plan with Syria, Syria just kept prosecuting the people that wanted them out of power. However, it makes sense that people don't believe this is a genocide. In the definition of genocide, it says to eliminate ethnic and religious groups, along with other groups. It doesn't mention political groups. I believe this needs to be put into the definition, because I believe this is still genocide. They are still trying to wipe out a group with certain beliefs.

Who's to blame for Rwandan Genocide?

       I believe that Belgium, the Hutu's, and possibly the Tutsi's are all to blame for this genocide. A very small amount of the blame rests on Belgium for favoring the Tutsi's while they were colonizing it. This built up the the tensions between the Hutu's and the Tutsi's. However, most of the blame goes the the Hutu's. The Hutu's are the ones that kept killing the Tutsi's rather than trying to reach a peaceful resolve. Tutsi's are possibly responsible depending on how the Hutu President's plane was shot down. If it was the Tutsi's, they would be to blame for starting conflict. However, it is still unknown whether it was actually the Tutsi's that shot down the plane or not.

Holocaust Blame

       I believe there were many people at fault during the holocaust. Many people were the murderers, and many other people were just standers by, but yet, they didn't do anything to stop the tragedies. One person that deserves a lot of the blame is the Protestant clergyman that gave the names of the non-Aryan clergy members to the Nazis. The people that were even in his religion, did nothing to hurt the Nazis, he was putting at risk of being killed. If he hadn't done that, many of the people probably would have lived.
        As for the American response to the holocaust, it was not nearly as good as it should have or could have been. They shouldn't have delayed the visas for foreigners. They also shouldn't have limited the number of Jews that they admitted into the US. Most of all, they shouldn't have withheld information about the genocide. Steps to stopping the holocaust could have began earlier had someone known earlier. They slowed down the process greatly.
       When genocide happens today, I believe that everyone should help in ending it. Whoever began it needs to be taken down, and the people that are being exterminated need to be taken out of there. There are many countries that they could go to, they just need to be given the chance to go.

Defiance- Imaginary Editor

       If I were the editor of Defiance, during the scene where the people living in the woods were beating up the scout, I would keep it that way. I would have them kill the scout and not give a second thought about it. I believe the way that they were doing it really shows how much what the Nazis did effected them. For example, one woman yelled out "he was only fifteen!" She then hit the scout to avenge the boy's death. It shows the complete and awful pain Jewish people were in. By them not giving a second thought about killing him, it shows how the holocaust really effected people. Before the holocaust began, if those people were to have killed a man, they would have felt horrible about it. The holocaust made them feel like it was revenge, so it was okay to do. By keeping it the way it was, it is more dramatic and better showing of the real circumstances.
       This scene, however, if it were going on now days, in real life, would be completely against my ethics. I would never be able to kill or even hit a man. And if I did, I would hold a sense of guilt that would eat me alive. That just goes to show the difference in situation that they were in and how it changes a person.

Defiance- Is all fair in love and war?

       In the movie Defiance, there were many times when the people that were staying in the woods used guerrilla tactics to survive. Sometimes, it was during a battle, other times, it was for stealing food. These actions are completely justifiable. They are doing what they can to survive, since they can't survive in the normal world. The Germans are bringing these actions upon themselves because they are making it impossible for the Jewish people to survive, so they are doing whatever is possible to not die.
       During the revolutionary war, when we were fighting against the British, we did the same types of things. The British weren't letting us live on our own, so we did what we could to survive. In war, anything is fair. All morals are buried anyway, so there is no point in creating new rules. When you are fighting for survival, you do what you can.

Defiance- Were their actions justifiable?

       In the movie Defiance, the brothers killed the people that killed their family as revenge. I think this is completely justifiable. The brothers killed just a few people, but those few people would have killed hundreds of Jews  for no reason but for who they were. It helped them cope with the death of their family, while saving the lives of more Jewish people.
       While in the woods, they were also stealing food from other people. This is also justifiable. They were not able to get jobs because they were Jewish. Since they didn't have jobs, they didn't have money to get food. Stealing a little bit of food from a few people to feed a bunch is not that bad when the people's lives are at risk from starvation.
       Over-all, most of the actions in this movie have some sort of justification behind them. Whether it's risking a few lives to save a few hundred, or taking a little bit of food to feed the mouths of many, there is always a reason for what the brothers did.

Holocaust Stages of Genocide- Preparation

During the holocaust, the primary goal was to create the perfect race by wiping out all of the inferior groups. One of the groups targeted was Jewish people. They killed them in many different ways from gas chambers to just plain murder and mass homicides. One of the widest known parts of the holocaust was the concentration camps, where they held tons of different inferior groups. A lot of times, they were forced to do hard labor. Gathering these people together was one of the stages of genocide, preparation. They were preparing to exterminate the people by gathering them all together.

Comparing the Past to the Present

http://resources.ushmm.org/inquery/uia_doc.php/photos/11427?hr=null
Jewish children playing on a summer day

Hiking during spring break
Jacob, Olivia, Beth

Life seemed to be pretty normal for Jewish people in Germany prior to World War II. As suggested in the photo above, Jewish children could happily play with friends on summer days. That is a lot like the way our life is now. Kids still play outside with friends and have fun together. The picture that I chose was a picture of my younger brother, me, and my friend's little sister when we were hiking together. On a day wen we had nothing better to do, we played together, just like in the picture of the Jewish kids. With the exception of the differences of the years (black and white vs. colored, clothing style), the pictures are pretty much the same: Family and friends doing things together without worry of persecution.

Before the Holocaust- Berlin

Before the war, life in Berlin, located in northeastern Germany, was good, even for the Jewish people. They played on the hot summer days just like everyone else. According to a census taken shortly before the war, there were about 160,000 Jewish people living in Berlin before the war began. Since Berlin was the was the capital of Germany, it was first to be under the Nazi rule. When they began to take power in 1933, many of the Jews emigrated away from there. The amount of Jewish people in the town then declined to 80,000. The ones left faced a lot of persecution and discrimination.

Armenian Genocide Reflection

Before we began studying the Armenian Genocide, I didn't know there was a legal definition of genocide. After earning this and going into the details of the Armenian Genocide, I could connect the dots and see why it can be considered a genocide and see where the stages of genocide fall into place.

Armenian Genocide Survivor

       Many people went through horrible things during the Armenian Genocide. Some people were killed, some people survived. Some people came so close to death that they felt him breathing on their neck. One of these people was Sam Kadorian. He has fluffy white hair, a mustache, and bushy eyebrows. But one of his most distinct features is the scar of his cheek.
       When Mr. Kadorian was no older than 7 or 8, he and his family were camping down by the Euphrates River. After some time of being unbothered, some gendarmes came down to where they were and grabbed all of the boys, ages 5 to 10. They threw them into a pile on the ground, and started stabbing them with their swords. The lucky ones, such as Kadorian, were in the middle. Mr. Kadorian only got touched by a sword ones, cutting his cheek. Though he wanted to, he didn't make a noise. If he had, he would have been found and killed.
       I am sure this man is happy that he is alive, though he is completely horrified by his experiences. He was surrounded by people around his age ad they were being killed, their blood flowing onto him. After the torture was over, he probably had nightmares for years. It was probably the worst thing he experienced.

Classification/Symbolization

Classification and symbolization are the first stages of genocide, but they aren't always bad. Sometimes, a group gives themselves a symbol, such as christians using the cross as their symbol. These things become bad when people don't want to be classified a certain way or given a certain symbol. When using classification to discriminate, it is bad. For example, when you single out a group of people to pick on. One example of the bad of symbolization is when the Nazis made the Jewish people wear the Star of David so they could be seen in a crowd. To put it simply, classification and symbolization are bad when they are used on people that don't want to be seen that way.

What causes Genocide?

I believe genocide is caused by the yearning for power in people. Whether it was Hitler wanting to create the "perfect race", or something much smaller and less known, people want to feel in control. To get this feeling, they kill people. They wipe out people that are a threat to them, or they kill the weaker people to instill fear in the stronger people, it all traces back to people wanting to be the strongest and most powerful.

What I don't understand is why people let people like this rise to power. Hitler, for example, wrote a book while he was in prison before he became the leader. In the book, he shared his plans for the holocaust. This book was published, and was read by many, yet they still let him gain full power to the point where he couldn't be easily brought down. How can people know the evils in someone, yet let them gain control?