The Continual Devolution of Humanity

As I watched a documentary today that focused on the attraction Hitler had on a society, I began to wonder about the distinction of his extreme views on race and those of others that have been a part of humanity throughout its history. This is not a defense of Hitler and his "Final Solution" but an objective view of life as I see it. Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. How many societies and their civilizations had anything but tolerance to people from all walks of life? Sure, the genocide of Jews by Hitler's Germany takes headlines but what about the Armenian Massacres of World War I, The Bolsheviks and Lenin's tirad, et. al. We cannot forget such examples of the following:
*Idi Amin's regime forced the expulsion in 1972 of Uganda's entire ethnic Asian population, mostly of Indian descent.[82]
* The communist Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia disproportionately targeted ethnic minority groups, including ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and Thais. As a result of Khmer Rouge genocide and emigration, the small Thai minority along the border was almost completely exterminated, only a few thousand managing to reach safety in Thailand.
* Subsequent waves of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Burma and many refugees inundated neighbouring Bangladesh including 250,000 in 1978 as a result of the King Dragon operation in Arakan.
* Aftermath of Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984, the ruling party Indian National Congress supporters formed large mobs and killed around 3000 Sikhs around Delhi, known as the Anti Sikh Riots during the next four days. The mobs using the support of ruling party leaders used the Election voting list to identify Sikhs and kill them.
* In 1987 and 1988 Al-Anfal Campaign, the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein and headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid started Al-Anfal against the Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdish civilian in Northern Iraq massacred 100,000 to 182,000 non-combatant civilians including women and children;, destroyed about 4,000 villages (out of 4,655) in Iraqi Kurdistan. Between April 1987 and August 1988, 250 towns and villages -were exposed to chemical weapons;, destroyed 1,754 schools, 270 hospitals, 2,450 mosques, 27 churches; and wiped out around 90% of Kurdish villages in targeted areas.
* Between 16–17 March 1988, the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein carried out a poison gas attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. Between 3,200 and 5,000 civilians died instantly, and between 7,000 and 10,000 civilians were injured, and thousands more would die in the following years from complications, diseases, and birth defects caused by the attack.
* In 1991, in retribution for supporting Saddam Hussein against Kuwait during the 1990 Invasion of Kuwait, Kuwait carried out the expulsion of 400,000 Palestinians.
* The widespread ethnic cleansing accompanying the Croatian War of Independence that was committed by rebel Serbs and Serb-led JNA on the occupied areas of Croatia. Large number of Croats and non-Serbs were removed, either by murder, deportation or being forced to flee. The majority of Croatia's Serb population left the country by the orders of local Serb leaders which organised retreat of up to 200,000 Serbs Operation Storm.
* The widespread ethnic cleansing committed against Albanians on the Albanian-dominated breakaway Kosovo province (of Serbia) (1999). Large numbers of Albanians were forced to flee their homes and expelled.[101]
* The widespread ethnic cleansing committed against Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo in 1999, ended up with expulsion of over 400 000 people, mostly Serbs and Gypsies. [citation needed]
* The 1994 massacres of nearly 1,000,000 Tutsis by Hutus, known as the Rwandan Genocide.
* An estimated 1,000 Tamil people were killed, tens of thousands of houses were destroyed by the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka in what is commonly known as Black July.The murder, looting and general destruction of property was well organized. Mobs armed with petrol were seen stopping passing motorists at critical street junctions and, after ascertaining the ethnic identity of the driver and passengers, setting alight the vehicle with the driver and passengers trapped within it. Mobs were also seen stopping buses to identify Tamil passengers and subsequently these passengers were knifed, clubbed to death or burned alive.
* In October 1990, the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), forcibly expelled the entire ethnic Muslim population (approx 75,000) from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The Muslims were given 48 hours to vacate the premises of their homes while their properties were subsequently looted by LTTE. Those who refused to leave were killed. This act of ethnic cleansing was carried out so the LTTE could facilitate their goal of creating a mono-ethnic Tamil state in Northern Sri Lanka.[citation needed]
* There have been serious outbreaks of inter-ethnic violence on the island of Kalimantan since 1997, involving the indigenous Dayak peoples and immigrants from the island of Madura. In 2001 in the Central Kalimantan town of Sampit, at least 500 Madurese were killed and up to 100,000 Madurese were forced to flee. Some Madurese bodies were decapitated in a ritual reminiscent of the headhunting tradition of the Dayaks of old.

The list is much more comprehensive than what I have provided. Not all "cleansing" involves extermination--many simply involve the expulsion of a particular race from an existing society. Nevertheless, humans have historically felt this sense of entitlement that is based entirely on nothing more than their birth. Starting with the Neanderthals and their suppression by Cro-magnon man (or more recently referred to as EMH or Early Modern Humans), there has always been this sense of entitlement and superiority that one race had over another. We can spend a lifetime comparing the hatred of others to the rise of civilization but I choose now to focus on the present.

We, as humans, are nothing more than hypocrites; egocentric, greedy, and disillusioned people that continue a steady decline into a world where our superiority to others can and are, measured with an accuracy based on status and money. How do we justify our superiority over another human being? How does anyone with a conscience feel they are more significant than any other life on this planet? I, personally, wonder why the fact that I was born in America to a traditional family make me a better person than a Tutsi living in Rwanda? In a simple answer to this question--NOTHING.

In the end, we need to all understand that as a race, we are all EQUAL!!!! I cannot, no matter how I try, to put myself into the position of anyone who feels superior to another human being and I honestly would like to know what makes a person do so. For the sociologists and psychologists out there that deal with oppression and discrimination, I ask and beg you to help me understand. I need to know what makes these people feel so superior to others that extermination, expulsion, and discrimination toward a fellow human being can be justified.

These are my thoughts and if I were any sort of god that people could believe in, I would be sure to instill an understanding of humanity, humility and understanding of differences between all living beings. If, on the other hand, there were no one god that actually existed or to believe in, I can see how such discrimination could exist. In the end, God cannot possibly exist in light of these facts that overwhelm and consume humanity.

Of course, these are my humble opinions and I welcome any and all discussion.