1944:
In nature, there are creatures that can only live at the expense of hosts, from the life of other creatures: Grape vine and vine louse — without a grape vine, it perishes. A tree and mistletoe — without a tree to support it, no mistletoe. The Jew is the parasite among humans. That is the natural law. He can not do differently. He needs a host people to be able to live himself.
1993:
We began by saying that a cockroach cannot give birth to a butterfly. It is true. A cockroach gives birth to another cockroach […] The history of Rwanda show us clearly that a Tutsi stays always exactly the same that he has never changed. The malice, the evil are just as we knew them in the history of our country. We are not wrong in saying that a cockroach gives birth to another cockroach. Who could tell the difference between the Inyenzi who attacked in October 1990 [Kangura falsely claimed that Tutsi forces had attacked Kigali] and those of the 1960s [who had resisted the Hutu revolution of 1959]. They are all linked … Their evilness is the same. The unspeakable crimes of the Inyenzi today … recall those of their elders: killing, pillaging, raping girls and women, etc.
2007:
The first and most basic element in all hate propaganda is the dehumanization of the target, for if the perceived enemy is considered to be nonhuman, the concept of killing them entirely ceases to be a series of murders and instead becomes simple, necessary extermination.
Be vigilant.
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I have a standing wager going that the U.S. will be in a shooting war with Iran by 2008 (troops on the ground, planes in the sky, etc), and have yet to see any evidence to the contrary.
In America, I think it might too late. I love the hell out of my country, and I am kind of embarrassed sometimes about how proud I am to consider myself an American, but sometimes the people in it could use a good choking out.
We will always be vigilant. Always.
I certainly agree with you on dehumanization being a key ingredient in most conflicts. It’s strange to think that people keep falling for the same tactics over and over. Most people (at least most I know) would laugh at the idea of Jews as human parasites or blacks as ignorant brutes only suitable for slavery. But then I hear about the situation in Jena, Louisiana and wonder why the hell people can’t learn a simple lesson like not to judge people by their race/ethnic group/sexual orientation…
Of course, my tack would be to get people to recognize the right of all beings to exist and then dehumanization loses some of its power. But then, I’m a little weird.
Where, dare I ask, is that image from?
Another vote for knowing the source of the cartoon, please.
Nevermind, just saw it on Sadly No!, it’s from some right wing blog, who found it on some other right wing blog, who got it while picking on people who were complaining about it appearing on right wing… you know what? I’ll cut to the chase.
It’s by Michael Ramirez, a syndicated political cartoonist whose work appears in ~400 publications through the Copley News Service.
Reasonable people on the right have disavowed… nevermind.
Here’s what worries me, Chris. I think that people can be as vigilant as they like and bad shit is still gonna do down.
In 2003 the Canadian media was a hell of a lot more vigilant than the U.S. media, and Iraq was still invaded. Other countries were against it too, of course, most notably Germany and France. And it still happened. So international opinion is not gonna affect what these fuckers do.
What about the opinion of the electorate? Well…the approval ratings of both the President and Congress are in the toilet, and it hasn’t brought anybody home from Iraq. So the American public can be as vigilant as they like, write their congresspeople, and apparently it’s no help at all.
I’m getting discouraged, because it seems that at the end of the day the only thing the American people can do is to vote for the lesser evil and hope that there’s no election fraud.
Maybe it’ll take more than just vigilance.
There’s so many viewpoints on this that it’s impossible to really express them all.
Liberal Opinion #1. The US Government is contradicting its foundations by persisting in a war against an entire culture. Going to war with Iran solves nothing, can it even be ventured to be for humanitarian aid?
High School Civics Opinion #2. The foundation of the US Government is based on the idea that the people, via their elected representatives, control the course of government, and that if the government then fails to serve the will of the people, the people must replace that government via revolution and reinvention. But can the people of the US revolt? Can any effort to subvert the warmaking order succeed against a government that subjects its own people to the same rigorous scrutiny as murder suspects?
Bush Supporter Opinion #3. The US Government withholds information because the American people ARE STUPID.
Conspiracy Theorist Opinion #4. Bush is the Antichrist!
It… makes me head hurt, really, because on the one hand, we have the system of American Government in how it was intended to function, and we have the Government now which is content to throw all that to the wind for… for what? I can’t believe that Bush and his allies are all so devoid of human compassion they will willingly throw lives away in a fruitless cock display. It just amazes me that the system of US government has been facilitating this for six years now, and the only thing we can hope that will MAYBE stop it is replacing the President at the scheduled election time?
It’s nice to know the expiration date on our tyrant, but I thought our system had kinda factored tyrants out of the mix.
Oh Noes! — It will take revolution.
It is possible to call someone a cockroach, and simply meant it as an insult, not as a trick to dehumanize “the enemy”
In fact dehumanization is not the problem with the conflict in Iraq, and if there will be a conflict in Iran is unknown. If you recall one of the later(second I believe) justifications of an invasion of Iraq was the human rights record of Saddam Hussein. ANd it was on my mind during the lead up. Hell, when I was a kid I wondered why we didn’t get rid of him during the Gulf War because of what he did to his people. If they were seen as subhuman I doubt many would care.
It is possible to call someone a cockroach, and simply meant it as an insult, not as a trick to dehumanize “the enemy”
Sure, if you’re referring to an individual “someone,” rather than an entire race or a nation… which is precisely what the quoted/posted material is doing. So I’m not sure what your point is.
If you recall one of the later(second I believe) justifications of an invasion of Iraq was the human rights record of Saddam Hussein.
Oh, well thank god we got the only tyrant in the world, then.
The world is full of abusive tyrants doing terrible things all the time. Many of whom number among our (USA) allies. Many more of whom we (USA) simply ignore. Bush and Co. have very much cherrypicked their targets, and all the talk about moral obligation is bullshit when you compare it to all the horrible stuff we just pretend isn’t happening. Stuff that would be, by the way, a much smaller can of worms than fucking Iran.
Late to the party, but Jason, what does that matter a hill of beans? The Regimes in Sudan, China, Korea, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Uzbekistan Pakistan and more all have records as, or more abominable as Hussein’s was. The Doctrine of Relative Filth does not play, unless you go after the worst offenders first. In addition does it not excuse lies, manipulation, falsehood in office and “mistakes” being made to stampede an unprovoked invasion.
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