Amy Cheon- English 101 #0143 - Final Essay 2

[Amy C.]

ESSAY 2 FINAL



Amy Cheon
English 101 # Section 0143
ESSAY # 2 – FINAL

“How could anyone want to do this?”
(An investigation into the seemingly incomprehensible motives of mass
slaughter.)

Indeed , where should one begin? So unimaginable is the deliberate
choice to bring about the suffering and deaths of millions of people,
that it has led to the construction of reports that in effect reflect
that these sorts of desires don't actually exist, nor that they
motivate mass murder. Such reports don't find fault on the
perpetrators themselves, but rather on transnational systems,
transhistorical forces, or social structures. As Golhagen states in
Chapter 3 of his book Worse than War (2009), there are several
suggestions and questions that would can be taken into account when
explaining the initiation of campaigns of mass elimination/
annihilation. Four basic questions and three perspectives are taken
into consideration. The issue of determinism comes into play. State
centered perspectives find that annihilationist campaigns are
typically political acts that are usually instigated by states. And
“as American Nation-
building” (page 82) and globalization are deemed the usual culprits
of state
instability and it's consequences. A prime example is the Holocaust
itself, which some people claim was virtually unavoidable. In
contrast
to the first, the state-centered view holds the opposite, that it is
great power that draws states to slaugher people. The second
perspective about how mass annihiliation ensues focuses on a
country's
social and ethnic make-up. The individual-centered perspectives for
the initiation of mass annihilation locate mass murder in the
psychological mechanisms of the individual which impel people to kill
other people. In the case of the Holocausts motives Martyn Housden,
author of the e-book:The Holocaust: Events, Motives, and Legacy., adds
to this by this particular quote “By its very nature, motivation is
likely to vary from person to person , day to day- and even according
to mood.” Although we know that there are numerous approaches and
notions which seek to find support for why mass murders begin, it is
nearly impossible, and certainly a waste of time to try to rule out
one absolute reason why someone would be able to kill hundreds of
thousands. The mind of a killer, serial killer, or mass murderer is
not something easily picked apart. In a recent article called “ Q and
A with the Threat Assessment” upon regarding murderers on their
motives, (Dr. Park Dietz )a licensed psychiatrist, noted that “there
are always countless warning signs observed by nearly everyone who has
had contact with the person and often for years.” He then also goes on
to note that the warning signs “are not very specific”, which means
that the warning signs could potentially apply to most people who will
most likely never express violence towards anyone but themselves, and
that they apply to most people for short-term reasons that would
eventually dissapate. Understanding that it is indeed futile
attempting to decipher a pinpoint for the primary motivation of a mass
murdering, such as the Holocaust is necessary to move onto the next
plan of action. Although Goldhagen deems the United Nations
ineffective in their attempts to come to a viable anti-eliminationism
plan. However, it is now known that the United Nations has not only
come up with a viable plan to educate it's youth through a series of
non-violent educational programs, but they are in fact already being
implemented. In fact, the not only has the program been proven
successful, it is nearly full proof since it's concepts value peace
through self-calm as well as changing young people's attitudes towards
how they shall resolve arguments in non-violent/arguementative ways.
In their document titled (Non-Violent Resolution in out of School) The
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization or
(UNESCO) commented “What better place than school to install the basis
of this change in the minds of youth?”

Mishahd was a female survivor of terrorist attacks in her homeland of
Afghanistan. She'd only been a young girl of seven when her family was
brutally tortured and slain in front of her eyes. She'd been left to
die in their family's hovel, which two men after severely beating and
raping her, had laughingly had set on fire, then promptly fled.
Mishahd shaken and injured was miraculously found by her close
neighbors who lived next door to her, and they saved her quickly from
the burning rubble of the engulfing flames. Several years later,
Mishahd now was married and now had a son of her own. Although the
nightmare was over, and Mishahd had healed completely physically, the
mental trauma and emotional scars still remained crystal clear in her
mind, she didn't trust men at all-with the exception of her dear
husband, who despite undergoing several trauma's himself, was both
understanding and amazingly resilient in character. Although Mishahd
and her husband generally got along very well, they found themselves
in a rather heated situation over their views on whether their two
sons should attend public schools or be taught-in the safety of their
own home. Mishahd was adamant about having their sons taught by home-
studies, she felt that if the boy were to learn at one of the public
schools that he would somehow be unsafe, that a catastrophy would
occur and his life put in mortal danger. Mishahd's husband, Simon
believed otherwise. He understood that his wife was looking at the
situation through her own eyes, and bringing her traumatic fears into
the life of her ownly child. Finally, after several hours of intense
discussion regarding the problem, Mishahd shakily agreed to let the
boy try out a trial period for a few months at one of the public
elementary schools. However, if he began showing symptoms of being
bullied,or if there was even the slightest rumor of another terrorist
attack reported by the neighboring villagers, they would not only
retract the boy immediately- but they would also flee their own
village immediately upon the news. Simon agreed to her terms.
On the following monday Terrance (Mishahd's son) attended his first
day of class, and everything went accordingly much to his mother's
relief. Then a week, and then another week. On the following monday of
the third week, Terrance returned home as usual, but seemed very
excited about something that he and his other classmates had learned
in class today, that some very nice white people had come over to
teach them about how to say “no” to violence, and to make things right
without using their fists. Then Terrance proceeded to ramble on about
the various stories and excercises which his entire class had taken
part in, and how much fun it had been. Mishahd was interested, but was
very confused about what exactly it was that he was speaking about,
and she was concerned about who the “nice white people” were, their
whereabouts and motivation. Seeing the clear confusion on his beloved
mother's face, Terrance without a work began to dig through his
backpack. A minute later he produced a slim pamphlet from his bag, and
handed it gingerly to his mother. “The nice people gave these to all
of us, and told us to have you read it!” he proudly exclaimed. The
young mother took the pamphlet and glanced at the bold letters which
spelled out the title. It read:


The UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
(UNESCO) ALONG WITH THE DIVISION FOR THE PROMOTION OF QUALITY
EDUCATION NON VIOLENT EDUCATION

FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS AND KINDERGARTEN LEVEL
Mishahd then interested began reading the pamphlet and much to her
surprise she found that it was a pamphlet letting the families know
that UNESCO, a part of the United Nations were implementing a new
program for young children which taught them the values of the UNESCO
Manifesto 2000 for the international year of the culture of peace,
namely:
1.Respect all life.
2.Reject Violence.
3.Share with others.
4.Listen to understand.
5.Preserve the planet.
6.Rediscover solidarity.
Mishahd realized that this was a program to help out fourteen
specifically designated countries which had suffered tremendously from
either war or terrorism acts, and much to her suprise, her own country
was one of the fourteen listed. Knowing that finally the world had
realized, and more importantly was now taking affirmative action to
spread the knowledge and change the future made her feel safe and at
last at peace with both herself, and her her past.
References
Ileana, Rep. R.L. , 2009, June 25th. H. CON RES. 159. EH. Whereas
this
historic determination was made in response to irrefutable, evidence
of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing launched by the Sudanese
regime, characteized by the manipulation … (Engrossed as Agreed to or
Passed by House)
Housden, Martryn. 2007, The Holocaust: Events, Motives, and Legacy.
http://www.humanities-ebooks.co.uk/files/pdf/Pages_from_HousdenTheHol...
Griffin, Joel. 2009, August 13th. Q and A with the Threat Assessment
Groups Dr. Park Dietz. The Psychology of a Mass Murderer.
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/Corporate+%2526+Office+Parks/the-psy...
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001266/126679e.pdf


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