I saw Hotel Rwanda tonight with Mel, Landon and Tim. It was a fantastic film. Moving and gripping. It shocked me even though I knew what had happened.
I listened to a lot of news reports, and read quite a bit about Rwanda when it happened. Genocide is something I pay careful attention to. What struck me about Rwanda was the way that radio was used as an instrument of mass killing. The talk radio hosts would tell the death squads where to go and whom to kill. This movie captured that very effectively. So it's worth listening to when you see it.
I don't think people realize who the talk radio in Rwanda sounds like the right wing radio we have here. You have talk radio personalities calling the Iraqis savages, subhuman and inferior, and calling for mass genocide in places like Fallujah. They go on to talk about how liberals are idiots, or are inferior, or subhuman.
When you start to comprehend the methodology of genocide (and this movie is a good start), you will see just how perilously close we are here. We use the same terms. Have the same level of extremism. And we have the same tools of communication. Actually we have even better forms of communication, which allow messages of hate to travel further and faster.
I know people must think I'm nuts for talking about the machetes in the night. I'm referring to Rwanda when I say that and this movie makes this threat plain. Watch the movie. Listen to the radio and to what the Hutus say. Then listen to Micheal Savage. It's happening here.
41% of Americans want Muslims in America to register with the government. Why?
Posted by jherr at January 8, 2005 10:53 PMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)