Rotunda Blog

I chose to comment on Nick Collins' rotunda presentation on genocide for this post. Genocide often seems to be a rare occurrence, with the only two commonly mentioned the Holocaust of the 1930's and 40's, and the Armenian genocide of the 1910's. While these two mass-murders may be among the most deadly, genocide is still occurring in today's world, although it may not be in areas as populated or central to the globe as Germany and Armenia. The murder of over 8,000 by the government of Bosnia in the mid-1990's still horribly bloody, yet I bet many of you readers have hardly even heard of it. I am glad Nick highlighted one of the other major genocides in recent history, the Rwandan genocide of 1994, in which large scores of Tutsi were killed by their government; between 500,000 and 1 million were killed in the 100 day period, beginning in April.

Genocide is a horrific form of murder, made possible only by the most disturbed, deranged, and completely evil beings on the Earth. Taking one life brings a toll on the killer; to be responsible for the deaths of millions, one must be extremely ignorant or inhuman. I wish there were a better way to explain the emotion of the interior but as Joseph Conrad wrote "We live as we dream--alone." There is absolutely no way to fathom the insanity, the blood lust, the heartlessness, or the killing, unless you perform it. Even then though you are ultimately alone, as you are not a carbon copy of one of the famed killers. Although we can not experience genocide, we must indeed understand the horror and evil nature of the act, so future generations will not need to experience this horrible affliction.