Scream bloody murder!

Did you see this article on cnn.com about the perpetuators and foot soldiers of genocide? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I think back to Nazi Germany and wonder how Hitler could convince the people of a country so previously full of culture and scientific advancement to commit such unspeakably evil acts of murder. This article lays it out pretty simply. It's easy really.

Divide people into groups, us and them. Dehumanize the other group. They, the other group, are evil, an infection that will kill us unless we take action now. Then with the groupiness, a little mob psychology, presto chango, the ordinary person can become a killer.

How do you guard against that when the perfect storm of conditions can make it so easy? I don't know except to recognize it in all its forms and fight it.

I wonder how different really is genocide at its psychological core than what the Klan has done to black people. My own mother, raised in Alabama, used to walk to school in the morning and see black people hanging from trees who had been lynched and hanged the previous night by righteous upstanding white people, the pillars of the community.

And I am forever seeing people terrified of Muslims and warning that all Muslims are out to kill us.

And how about illegal immigrants? Aren't they all bad and evil and out to get our jobs or leech off our system? They couldn't possibly be looking for a better life and to contribute to society, could they?

Or have you ever heard the Reaganeers speak well of unions? Aren't unions the cause of all our problems? How many people in this country believe that? Unfortunately I hear it all the time.

I think we'd be wise to keep this report in mind whenever we hear such talk. Nip evil in the bud before it happens so we don't have to have regrets later. Thanks for reading.

Stumble It!