“Evil that arises out of
ordinary thinking and is committed by ordinary people is the norm, not the
exception.”
--Ervin Staub
Holocaust Survivor
Today Dr. Staub is a noted psychologist who is devoted to the study of bystander behavior both during the Holocaust and in everyday life. His work shows that bystanders who do nothing not only embolden the perpetrators, but also points out that the perpetrators will become more violent.
What about the nations of the world who have become "bystanders" to some of the worst atrocities since Hitler's Nazi Germany?
The United States, due to an environment during the 1930s and 1940s of anti-Semitism, isolationism, and xenophobia, was late in committing to help the plight of the Jews. They joined with the Allies in December 1942 in issuing a Proclamation condemning the extermination of the European Jews, and declaring that they would punish the perpetrators. It was not until the end of the war that the United States moved in to free the victims in the Nazi concentration camps, even though they knew of the gassings at Auschwitz-Berkenau since the spring of 1944.
The Nazis exterminated an estimated 11 million people, including 6 million of whom were Jews. The remaining 5 million consisted of Romanis, Slavs, homosexuals, various minorities and disabled people, as well as those considered Nazi political enemies. (Wikipedia)
We think of the United Nations as protecting the world from such criminal exterminations today. However, the U.N. failed to prevent:
- genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s
- a chemical attack on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s
- the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims in 1992 by the Serbians
- the 2003 attack on hundreds of Darfur villages and civilians by Sudanese and Janjaweed militia that resulted in 400,000 lives lost and over two and a half million people displaced.
Who can forget the movie, "Hotel Rwanda"? It documented the 1994 Hutu slaughter in 100 days of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis, after the United Nations was warned of the impending genocide by a U.N. peace-keeping team. The U.N. withdrew resources and warned the team not to intervene.
Yes, I agree, the United States should not be "police" of the world. But how much more has to happen to the innocents in Syria before we, along with our Allies, agree that we must do something to put a stop to it? Is there something akin to anti-Semitism going on here? Maybe anti-Islam? Surely enough nations can come together and put pressure on this evil regime, so reminiscent of the worst dictatorships throughout history. If we do nothing, what will come next? The above-mentioned Ervin Staub has spelled out what happens to us as individuals when as bystanders we do nothing. Please read his study:
http://www.southerninstitute.info/holocaust_education/ds9.html
It will take brilliant minds to come up with a solution to the situation in Syria. It will take more than TWO nations to put a stop to the slaughter of innocents taking place there. So what if Russia, China, and Great Britain don't want to intervene? What about the rest of the world? If we all came together and were serious about intervention of some kind -- stricter sanctions.. blockades of arms for the Syrian government.. or even limited air strikes.. Maybe if it's strong enough, other countries who think of using weapons of mass destruction may realize they will have the wrath of the world upon them. We cannot wait until the chemical stockpiles in Syria fall into the hands of terrorists. And we can no longer wait for the United Nations Security Council members Russia and China to block the taking of any action.
I cannot believe that our Congressional representatives who were hawking and blaming Obama for not taking a stand against the Syrian regime are now the same ones putting the brakes on and demanding that they have a say in the matter. Poor President Obama. He's damned if he doesn't, now damned if he does!
Oh, Lord, let there be peace on earth.
Marilyn
P.S.
As I finished writing this, I got an email from the government that said President Obama has announced his decision to take targeted military action against Syrian regime targets. He has agreed that Congress should debate the actions he wishes to take. This will be done as soon as Congress reconvenes. I listened to his speech, and felt great emotions for this man who has such strong feelings about war, and wants to end the wars going on when he came into office. One can see him aging as the stress of this decision making wears on.
May God bless America through these difficult times, and help us to make wise decisions.
http://www.southerninstitute.info/holocaust_education/ds9.html
It will take brilliant minds to come up with a solution to the situation in Syria. It will take more than TWO nations to put a stop to the slaughter of innocents taking place there. So what if Russia, China, and Great Britain don't want to intervene? What about the rest of the world? If we all came together and were serious about intervention of some kind -- stricter sanctions.. blockades of arms for the Syrian government.. or even limited air strikes.. Maybe if it's strong enough, other countries who think of using weapons of mass destruction may realize they will have the wrath of the world upon them. We cannot wait until the chemical stockpiles in Syria fall into the hands of terrorists. And we can no longer wait for the United Nations Security Council members Russia and China to block the taking of any action.
I cannot believe that our Congressional representatives who were hawking and blaming Obama for not taking a stand against the Syrian regime are now the same ones putting the brakes on and demanding that they have a say in the matter. Poor President Obama. He's damned if he doesn't, now damned if he does!
Oh, Lord, let there be peace on earth.
Marilyn
P.S.
As I finished writing this, I got an email from the government that said President Obama has announced his decision to take targeted military action against Syrian regime targets. He has agreed that Congress should debate the actions he wishes to take. This will be done as soon as Congress reconvenes. I listened to his speech, and felt great emotions for this man who has such strong feelings about war, and wants to end the wars going on when he came into office. One can see him aging as the stress of this decision making wears on.
May God bless America through these difficult times, and help us to make wise decisions.
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