Genocide PBL Recap

    

     Looking back on all that we have done on this project i can honestly say that i have learned a great deal about World History and i have learned a great deal bout myself.  It was sad to learn about all of the sad events that have taken place around the world, all of the death and destruction, and all of the hatred.  But with that being said i feel very uplifted and empowered through making our public service announcement.    My social studies teacher, Mr C, always says, "We must learn about our history or we are doomed to repeat it," and in this case i finally agree with him.  The only way to learn tolerance and forgiveness is trough taking a close look at historical events where people refused to tolerate or forgive.  Ignorance leads to terrible things as we have seen over these past few days and i am happy to say that i think a few lightbulbs may have gone on in my head.  Overall this project was sad, but fun, and i couldn't be happier with the projects that we created during it!  I hope we can do more assignments like this in the future!

Genocide PBL Day 3 Journal

   
      After hearing all of my classmates give their presentations on their specific genocide events that they researched i cant help but just have an overall feeling of both sadness and anger.  The sadness stemming form the fact that all of these innocent men, women, and children were killed for nothing and the anger stemming from the fact that all of these genocide events could have been stopped much earlier and they simply were not.  Days like today really make me almost embarrassed to be an american citizen.  I say this because, although i am proud of my country and i truly love that fact that i am American, i have this terrible feeling in my gut that if we (USA) had have put our foot down, we could have single handedly stopped these genocides, forget the rest of the world.  All of the power and clout that the US has on an international scale could have been put to good use and could have saved lives instead of wasting them.  Maybe the international community would even celebrate the USA instead of burning our flags and cursing our heritage.  Maybe i am overstating this opinion but i can't help but feel a little bit of guilt for these events, even though i was too young to have even been alive for most of them.

Genocide PBL Day 2 Journal

The Rwandan Genocide


     Through researching the Rwandan Genocide today all i can help but feel is sad.  One of the main reasons why i feel so sad is because this specific genocide events took place less than 20 years ago.  I was alive when this took place.  How could an atrocity like this happen right under the noses of everyone and not be stopped?  When looking back in retrospect there is only one reason why it wasn't stopped and that is because the United Nations and all of the powerful western countries, (USA, Britain, Canada, France, Belgium) were cowards.  After the unfortunate events that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia, many of these western nations were afraid to get involved in another similar conflict, or what they thought was similar.  Once the Belgian UN soldiers were killed then the suspicion became a reality and nobody wanted to get involved.  The sad part of it is, if the United Nations were to just send in a few thousand troops the whole situation could have been thwarted.  That i am very confident in.  I do not know about these other genocide events that my classmates are currently researching, but the Rwandan genocide could have and should have been stopped!  I hope that the global community has learned form this event and will try to change its ways by intervening in the future.

Genocide PBL Day 1 Journal

What is Genocide? 


-Genocide is the systematic killing of a group of people based on their race, religion, ethnic background, or nationality.  Genocide often involves one group of people killing another group that they feel are bad or ruining their country or society.  The example we learned about today with Rwanda involved two different tribes the Hutu and the Tutsi who were at odds with one another based on hundreds of years of tension and rivalry.  The Hutu's were killing the Tutsis because they felt that they were "cockroaches."


Why do you think these horrific events take place? 


-In my opinion i feel that these events take place because of ignorance and a lack of education.  It is inconceivable in my brain to consider the systematic slaughter of another group of people just because we may look different or believe in a different god or government.  I do not know what drives people to this madness but i hope to learn more about the motives of others as we learn more.


Have you ever heard about any examples of genocide that have taken place through history? If so explain what you have learned?
 
-I have learned about the Holocaust in other social studies classes that i have taken and this is a definite example of genocide.  During the Holocaust Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany went about killing 11 million people.  Amongst those 11 million were 6 million jews, along with communists, catholics, physically and mentally disabled, gypsies,  and others who did not fit Hitlers mold of a perfect German citizen.  He blamed these people for all of Germanys problems and went about setting up concentration camps to systematically annihilate them from the world.