Genocide Essay, Research Paper

Genocide

From the time humans existed, hatred seemed to be the dominant trait

that possessed the souls of men. It was inevitable emotions could provoke

people to engage in acts without thinking; but it was the acts that were

premeditated which were classified as evil and brutal. A. M. Rosenthal, the

author of No News From Auschwitz, described a single moment in history where

these kinds of acts were invoked. This appalling endeavor is known as genocide

which is the deliberate destruction of a national, racial or a religious group

(Winston Dictionary). Genocide is universal rather than limited to one time and

one group of people.

The Catholics in Ireland were being threatened and eliminated by the

Puritans. The typical Irish lifestyle came to an abrupt halt during the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Lewis 9). In 1641, the Norman-Irish, who

were worried that their lands would be lost, and the native Irish, who were

forced to accept an unfamiliar culture, rebelled (Lewis 9). In 1649, Oliver

Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentarians in the English Civil war, lead the

Puritans into a bloodbath against the Catholics (Lewis 9). “He did it brutally,

massacring the Irish without mercy and called the large scale killing ?the

righteous judgements and mighty works of God’” (Meyer 78). Thousands of

Catholics preferred to suffer and die than deny their faith (Firth 10). By the

middle of the seventeenth century, the Protestants settled on the land they

seized from the Catholics and the Catholics were forced to colonize in towns

which clung to wild coastlines with dangerous tides (Meyer 78). The differences

between the lives of the Catholics and Protestants were clear and the foundation

for their troubles had been laid (Meyer 78).

Another case of genocide occurred when the Armenians were eradicated by

the Turks from the Ottoman Empire (Armenian Genocide). During 1915 and 1916,

one and a half million Armenians were killed. “The Armenian Genocide was

masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party” (Armenian

Genocide). The extermination of the Armenians occurred in a systematic fashion.

First the Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into labor

battalions and then killed. Then the Armenian political and intellectual leaders

were rounded up on April 24, 1915, and killed. Finally, the remaining Armenians

were called from their homes and told they would be relocated … and then

marched off to concentration camps … in the desert … would starve and

thirst to death in the burning sun (Armenian Genocide). To this present day, the

Turkish Government denied these allegations. They claimed the Armenians were

only removed from a “war-zone.” The leaders of the Young Turk Government were

found guilty of carrying out the killing by a secret network (Armenian Genocide).

The decision to eradicate the Armenians was not an impulsive decision, but “the

result of extensive and profound deliberations” (Armenian Genocide).

In the case with China, genocide resulted in the extermination of the

newly born female infants. Since ancient times, the Chinese have regarded the

males to be precious and more prestigious than the females. The birth of a boy

signifies wealth, prosperity and luck (Chow). The Chinese Government recently

passed a law which limited the birth of children to one child per family in

order to decrease the current population. If the first born was a girl, the

parents would kill the toddler in order to receive another chance at conceiving

a son. The son is deemed as the “golden child” because he will keep the family

name alive (Chow). The female babies are eliminated by suffocation immediately

so the parents do not develop an emotional bond. Their lifeless bodies are

wrapped in a thin cloth and are buried like meaningless possessions (Chow).

These cruel acts took place without the government’s knowledge. This phenomenon

is not as frequent as it was when the law was first introduced.

Undoubtably, genocide is an inhumane course of action chosen by

irrational individuals. The bloodshed of the Puritans against the Catholics,

Turks against the Armenians, and the Chinese parents against their very own

flesh and blood were only a few examples of the numerous situations of this sort

of calamity. Indeed, it was evident genocide has no boundaries, and was not

confined to a specific moment in history or one category of people. It is sad

but true, the beliefs of one person could eliminate the existence of people with

different denominations.