Exterminate All the Brutes

Exterminate All the Brutes

Written by Sven Lindqvist

"No one points out that during Hitler's childhood, a major element in the European view of mankind was the conviction that "inferior races" were by nature condemned to extinction: the true compassion of the superior races consisted in helping them on the way." pg. 10

I chose this quote because it means a great deal of what we've learned in the fall term of Sustainability. The reading for this week touched subject on the idea of extermination. When you think of people being tortured in an era, what do you usually think of? Probably most people actually think of Hitler, and the holocaust. They just assume that this is the most important time era where someone crazy killed millions of people just because of "extermination". These days, there are classes designated just for the study of the Holocaust. In eleven weeks, all you would talk about is the Holocaust. But is there a class associated, or just on the German extermination of the Herero people in South Africa? No. Why is it then that we focus on one problem, and not address all? 

It wasn't just that Hitler decided one day to exterminate the "inferior" people. He was moved by it. He was moved by philosophers alike, and the European view on mankind. The European view on mankind was that there were two groups of people. The rich, and noble, and destined to survive, versus the inferior. Consider Social Darwinism. Here, the theory of Social Darwinism when applied, means that only the fittest of species survive. Because of this, the inferior would die. This is the main reason why the Europeans back then felt that it was their duty to exterminate, and help the other race on their way to extinction. 

That sounds like such a good plan. Right? I mean, if the fact that a certain race is already heading towards extinction, wouldn't the nice thing to do is to move their process of extinction faster, so they wouldn't have to suffer? That may sound like such a great idea (because the Europeans viewed it this way), but it does not help in away way. Trying to go right ahead, and kill off a race is inhumane, and justifies no human compassion at all.

I think what we truly need to think about today, is the need for education. Education that not only places emphasis on the Holocaust, but emphasis on world problems. Students today are given such a broad overview of a situation. If a deeper look and explanation about the problem is looked at, students and people will have a clearer view of word problems. Like the theory we learned about last week, this need for education is very similar to cross-cultural referencing. When we examine what happened to other cultures, and apply what we know from observation, we will have a closer view of each problem. We will have a more refined answer for problems. 

Well! That's it for today! I'll hopefully be post more this weekend. I have a few thoughts to share about some things that recently crossed my mind. Bye!

-Tai

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