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Psychological Essentialism In Rwanda Genocide

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800,000 people were killed. This includes both the Tutsi and the Hutu. The genocide finally ended when a small Tutsi extremist group called the Rwandan Patriotic Front defeated the Hutu. This genocide occurred because the Hutu was afraid that the Tutsi would become more powerful and take over. They believed that by eliminating the entire Tutsi population, they wouldn’t have to worry about them taking over. The genocide went undetected for a few reasons. Politicians and government officials were aware of the target of the Tutsis. Not only did they fail to get involved, but they also refused to acknowledge that the genocide was even occurring. They tried their best to keep it a secret. People in America refused to even bring up the idea of genocide, …show more content…

A main reason they are able to occur is the denial that something so horrible could ever happen. Crimes like this are so inconceivable that often times it's easier to ignore them than except that they are legitimate. There are a few reasons psychologists believe genocides occur. Two of the major beliefs of those who carry out genocides are called psychological essentialism and hierarchy. Psychological essentialism is the belief that everyone has an essence or soul. This can lead to dehumanization, which is the belief that a person of specific descent or with certain features is lacking that essence or soul. This in turn makes them essentially “not human”. The hierarchy is the belief that nature is set up like a pyramid. Humans are at the top of the pyramid, symbolizing power and importance. Domesticated animals come next, then wild animals, sea creatures, and finally insects and plants. When there is the belief that someone lacks a soul or essence, they fall on the social hierarchy. This goes back to considering them less than human. This all plays a part in genocide. When someone believes that a group of people lack an essence or soul, they can end up treating them like they are less than human. For example, during the Holocaust, Hitler taught his followers that Jewish people were not human. Rather objects that created destruction and would bring down society. This is why it was so easy for Nazis to …show more content…

In America the government works for the people. Politicians want to be in power and as long as they give the people what they want, they will remain in power. If everyone were to write to politicians and demand that action be taken, there is a good chance that in few years genocides would be almost unheard

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C. Introduction The Rwandan genocide lasted three months and in those three months it is said that 1 million Tutsis were killed. The Holocaust lasted 4 years and 6 million Jews were killed. Bearing this in mind it would be expected that The Rwandan genocide should be extremely well known because of the loss of lives, impact and brutality of the event and the similarities it holds with The Holocaust. The fact is that the Rwandan Genocide is not very well known and is not thought to be in the same category as The Holocaust, where in fact it is.

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To begin, we've had plenty of genocides before, but sadly some victims aren’t able to realize they’re experiencing one before it is far too late.

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Genocide happens when groups try to take out a whole population. 800,000 hutus and six million Jews died in the killing by the people that wanted to commit this massacre. Kids, adults, teens, boy or a girl died if a Tutsi or a Jew. Two great people that survived these two genocide wrote books about their experience. Paul Rusesabagina wrote An Ordinary Man and Elie Wiesel wrote Night.

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Genocides, the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular group or nation, has affected various countries. Genocide not only brings a war but also problems like decreasing economic affairs and social problems. When genocide starts, society overlooks economic affairs like their agriculture since they focus on the war. In the case of Rwanda, once the genocide had begun many farmers fled or were killed. "All was

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500,000 tutsi and hutu were slaughtered, even worse was the 2.8 million jews that were killed in the holocaust.. Although this extermination was a lot, it was nothing compared to the Holocaust, where roughly nine million people died. What was unique about the Holocaust was that the victim groups were all considered undesirable by Hitler, whereas in the Rwanda genocide, the victim groups often swapped places with the perpetrators. The Rwanda Genocide came to begin in 1896 when Germans began the rule in Rwanda; the people that were mostly killed were Tutsi and Hutu, and in the Holocaust, the Germans mostly killed the Jewish. These two massacres had some similarities, but there are also some differences.

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10 Mc Des Forges believes that "[U.S. senior officials] feared [the word genocide] would generate public opinion which would demand some sort of action they did [not] want to act"(Rory Carroll, "US Chose to Ignore Rwandan Genocide)11. But something couldn 't be hidden; "the evil things that they 'd done to many innocent souls" (Immaculée 92). By hiding the reality in the African country from the press and consequently, the people, the government also hid the main reason why it did not

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The main reasons to why this atrocity happens in our world is because of: authority figures that lead and encourage these killers, the ethnic tension between folk, and the propaganda that is fed to everyone to make them believe that slaughtering them is the right thing to do. The authority involved in these genocides inspire these events to occur by convincing the killers that they are not the ones taking fault for their actions. One way that the authority can manipulate these people, are by taking advantage of the ethnic tension that is between the groups of people. That ethnic tension is usually the result of propaganda that is fed to at least one side, and with enough propaganda, it is very easy to cause a mass-hysteria and make them believe a certain way. It is important for the reader to learn why this heinous act occurs, so they can spread their knowledge and be able to identify when and where a leader is trying to hypnotize the people into slaughtering thousands of people; they can then put an end to something before it ever takes place.

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One of the utmost irrational mistakes of mankind is Genocides. Genocides are consistently repeated throughout all of history. Seventeen million people died in World War I. In comparison, three million people have died during the Cambodia Genocide. In half the time that each major power took to stop fighting. The social integrity of Cambodia collapsed on its self, killings equaled 27% of the death of World War I. As a matter of fact, the Indochina War is what caused Cambodia 's damaging self infliction.

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Both groups took innocent lives. Mothers, fathers, and children. Some weren't even the age to know right from wrong. Genocides all (usually) target a specific group of people. They still happen today, if you think about it these two mass murders weren't that long ago.

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This thing called genocide is a horrible thing that does happen. Genocide is a mass killing of people, and that is horrific thing to happen. At different times and different places Genocide happens, with different reasons, but either way we need to find a solution. This happens more than you think.

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Terry George aims no less than to demonstrate the Rwandese reality through the extremely violent and cruel scenes in the movie, he manages to convince the audience that really, over 800,000 people were in fact killed in no more than 100 days and more than 2 million refugees had to seek shelter elsewhere in the world (1). To begin with, it is important to understand the root causes of the conflict between Tutsis and Hutus to in turn understand the genocide demonstrated in the movie. Rwanda was

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When the Rwanda genocide began in 1994, its population stood at more that 7 people. Roughly 85% of the population was Hutu, 14% Tutsi, and 1% Twa (un.org). The decades following Rwanda’s independence from Belgium in 1962 saw growing ethnic tensions and periodic violent attacks and reprisals between Rwanda’s Hutu majority and its Tutsi minority. On April 6, 1994, the deaths of the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda in a plane crash caused by a rocket attack, ignited several weeks of intense and systematic massacres.

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The Rwandan genocide was a mass murder of thousands of Tutsi people by the Hutu people, they were viciously killed and scared out of their country, partly due to the rumor that a Tutsi man ordered the death of the Rwandan President. To begin, from April to July 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic group in the East-Central African nation murdered 800,000 men, women, and children from the Tutsi ethnic group. During this period Hutu civilians were forced by military soldier and police officers to kill their neighbors, friends, and family (“10 facts About the Rwandan Genocide-Borgen”). Radio stations encouraged ordinary civilians to take part in the killings (“10 facts About the Rwandan Genocide-Borgen”).

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The genocide was an after affect of the scramble for Africa by European countries who help no regard for the people who already lived their. In the scramble for Africa many European countries raced to make claims on land in Africa that was already lived on by natives, they mistreated the natives and killed and enslaved many of them. This was prevalent in Rwanda when the belgians imperialized the land. The belgians sent the Hutus who were the majority of the population into slavery and lead to mass deaths of their people. But they lead the land through another ethnic group the tutsis who made up about 15% of the population compared to the 85% population of Hutus.

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official describing the decision to not intervene in Rwanda. The U.S. official is quoted as saying that, “it was a foregone conclusion that military intervention was not on the table for discussion; it was automatically concluded that the United States would not take part in stopping the Rwandan genocide.” Which showed that, all deaths are not the same. The emotionally effect that the genocide caused on the people of Rwanda was massive. During a 100-day period, the people were tortured and terrorized as they saw those they love die and feared the loss of their own life.

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