Hypothetical question! If there was a genocide starting in Rwanda tommorrow excactly the same as the one in 1994 and the military were asking for volunteers to help defend against approx 7 million machete wielding Hutu's would you lend your services??
I thought about this question long and hard and concluded that I would politely say no, I've tried sticking up for someone once before and got touched up! Operant conditioning lol! Also humans generally have an innate tendency to be selfish to aid survival and reproduction (lect 1 I think) and I did not miss out on this tendency! Plus If I did go, as soon we leave they would kill each other anyway! It would be just delaying the inevitable. Pointless!
Genocide is terrible and I feel for the victims especially the kids. I am generally an optimistic person but the more I research genocide the more I feel it is innevitable. It has been happening since time began and will - as far as I can see - continue to happen forever. Since 1945 there has only been 26days of world peace, that is a very alarming stat, not even a month!!!!. It seems that whenever there is economic or political crises people just go crazy and are capable of anything! Who Knows if Howard gets voted in again hah
Any comments welcome!!
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5 comments:
hey Mike
i'm not sure if this is the best way to reply to you (very new to this blog business) but that was a very interesting question. you are right, military intervention can probably only delay what may be inevitable. it seems to me that as long as there are different groups to label ourselves by (such as religion or ethnicity) there will always be differences of opinion and when the differences stem from something as unchangeable as ethnicity, there will be hostility. you are right that it seems to be human nature to look out for one's own group. anyway i hope that makes sense. and in answer to your hypothetical question - i'm just not sure what i would do!
BK (i think my blog is called BK's Social Psychology Blog). my full name is Brett Kaye (BK)
Hi Mike
I think that I would say no as well only because I have no fighting ability and would just be one more body to kill before they got to who they wanted to. But I would definitely try to find other ways to help. Maybe try to raise enough concern from others hoping that the government would listen and step in. I have to say that I do not agree with your view that genocide will continue forever and think that it is a very pessimistic view of the situation. I know that the world seems bad a lot of the time but humans are an incredible species and I have to believe that we will see the errors of our way and change eventually.
hey mike,
personally, i would not fight because thats not really 'me'. and i think a lot of people who read your post will say no as we are uni students and not soldiers.
i think a more important question is why didn't the world/USA step in to do something? i beleive that 7 million machete wielding Hutu's would not be so willing to commit the murders if there was a strong western army there to protect the Rwandans. As the French UN commander said when all he needed was a few thousand armed troops at the football stadium to protect the people.
Great comments everyone!
Josie, Good point!! Humans are incredibly adaptable species and I guess only time will tell whether such atrocities will happen again!
Graham, excellent point also, the commander's words made me think twice about the situation but the odds were stacked, the Hutu's were against him, the Tutsi rebels were against him, the hutus and the tutsi's were against each other, awful situation! Extra troops may have saved a few extra lives but for how long? They would be at each others throats again soon enough. But who knows, thats just my personal opinion.
It was a very traumatic documentary but there were some positives to come out of it. That girl who survived living amongst the dead bodies, the senagalese commander, the red cross doctor, the other commanders, the embassy lady etc were all very inspirational. In crises situations its amazing how you see both the best and worst aspects of human nature.
Hi Mike
I agree with Josie's comments, I would put my skills to better use and do what I could to bring the plight of the people to the worlds stage. Listening to Madeleine Albright in the documentary say she regrets not doing something despite the fact that she knew she would be up against the majority speaks volumes. I am sure there are those individuals who regret there in-action. Based on this learning I would strive to do something, anything to help. I responded to your blog in mine http://michelle-socialpsychology.blogspot.com/.
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