Lest we forget!

You can count on people to forget a “what” of a situation. Also, you don’t have to be concerned that they will remember a “why”! They won't!
    And then there is a matter of not even knowing what a topic is about . . . like genocide*!
    I have been conducting an ad hoc survey of local “first nations people” and “others” about their knowledge of genocide.
    I passed my 200 mark Sunday!
    I conduct my survey at bus stops, at lunch counters, in parks and at church gatherings.
    None of three that I surveyed Sunday knew what “genocide” meant. Two were white and one was a first nation’s person.
    For more than half of my queries, I have to explain what “genocide” means.
    After providing a definition, I ask my question: “In our last 500 years, can you identify at least three genocides?”
    I then ask my second question: “Which genocide resulted in the largest death toll?”
    The score?
    Seven were able to identify three genocides.
    Three persons surveyed knew the answer to question two!
    Only one of them was a first nations person — an aboriginal.
    The answer: “Approximately 50 million Western Hemisphere aboriginals died directly and indirectly at European hands!”
    That is sixteen times the Jewish death toll of the infamous holocaust.
    If you add to this total the number of “non-white” peoples who were terminated world-wide by European whites, the number is estimated at around 150,000,000 in the last 500 years — which works out to an average of 300,000 per year!
    Most of these genocides were condoned, and even promoted, by Christian church leaders.
    Lest we forget — they blessed their invaders as they went into “battle”.
    All right, we concede! The white race got our hemisphere!
    Now, does that mean we have to accept their religious beliefs? They certainly weren't following these so-called beliefs when they acquired the western hemisphere.
    And today, few of them really follow those beliefs; honour treaties and contracts; or remember who inhabited this hemisphere first. 
    They did it because they could. They continue to do it because they can. The European invaders were greedy — certainly not moral. Morality is still absent from this fray because racism continues to “victimize” our first nation’s people.
    Christians want us to venerate an alleged person who allegedly died for their sins.
    I prefer to remember 150 million who, before they were killed, were like me.
    They could live quite well . . . without gods!  

To view list of all posting that deal with prejudice, hate and racism, click here

                                            Anton Kozlik
   

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        *Terms and            Definitions
My articles may contain words or phrases that may infer different meanings to different readers, or my reader may be unfamiliar with a term or its definition. I feel it is important to know what writers meant when they used a word or term.

genocide — the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

cognitive dissonance —
Filtering out information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one’s beliefs.

Editors note: I will be repeating the “cognitive dissonance” definition for quite a while since it is practiced by so many — known by so few!