Today's discussion questions

[sabotabby]

It's another one of those long days at school and I won't be around, so here are two discussion questions for you. Fight talk amongst yourselves.

1. What do we think of this news story? There's a lot in there, so let's pick it to pieces.

2. Speaking of genocide, the Toronto District School Board has a new history course dealing with the subject. It officially recognizes three genocides: Armenia, the Holocaust, and Rwanda. What's missing, and why do you think they chose to exclude the genocide that happened in the country where the course will be taught.

Have a happy Friday!

Comments

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

2. But I'm sure there are towns and streets named after the agents of the local genocide. Whatever would we do is we taught children what they really did? (This is definitely the case in the US - General Phil Sheridan was the architect of the expulsion and decimation of the Indian in the western plains, but he has a major street named after him in Denver, and a town in Wyoming.) Besides, what happens in kids' minds when they figure out that genocide isn't something that happens "over there"?

Of course, I wish everyone had a good idea of how their ancestors participated in genocides and ethnic cleansings - I suspect it would help a lot of people to understand the world better. I think I find the "it couldn't happen here" attitude very disturbing, especially as it has happened here.

My ancestor, Jeremiah Moulton, was in command of troops that massacred an entire Indian village (over 200 people). When he was a child (1692), he was taken captive and his parents and seven other of my ancestors were killed by Indians (who were probably clients of the French (from Canada) and may have been accompanied by French soldiers). A good number of the survivors of the York massacre abandoned the town and moved to Salem, Massachusetts, where some of the girls, whom I presume were suffering from what we'd call PTSD today, accused some of their neighbors of witchcraft.

Nothing happens in isolation. Genocide is committed by people who think they are doing what is right - or at least, just doing their jobs. Teaching that to children would be too subversive, I fear.