Stirring The Bottomless Pot of Hatred: From Rwanda to Boston
After last week’s media coverage of the Boston terrorist attack, I couldn’t help but to think of something I had recently read about the African nation of Rwanda.
In Rwanda, there are two major ethnic groups: Hutus and Tutsis. The Tutsis are thought to have originally come from Ethiopia, and Hutus from Chad. Nevertheless, the two groups have lived side by side for many years, and Rwanda was largely peaceful.
Until….
On April 6, 1994, when a spark of evil fury rocked the entire nation. Here, what transpired was the direct result of hatred fully bloomed as—the Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis.
Human Rights Watch Report “Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda” describes the event:
“The killings were organized nationwide, with one killer for every ten families in the neighborhood. Genocide planners included members of the militia, village mayors, police officers, and many other respected members of society, which led great numbers of Hutus to organize and incite to kill their Tutsi neighbors.”
According to government reports, 1,170,000 men, women, children, and infants were massacred.
Mark Doyle’s “Ex-Rwandan PM Reveals Genocide Planning,” also claims, “One (Hutu) cabinet member said in a planned meeting that she “was personally in favor of getting rid of all the Tutsis. Then all of Rwanda’s problems would be over.”
According to the book “Collapse” by Diamond Jared, “Hutu businessman imported 581,000 machetes for the Hutus to kill the Tutsis.”
“The Rwanda Crisis: History of Genocide” by Gerard Prunier also states, “If any Hutu refused to kill Tutsis, the Hutu would also be killed.”
The moderate Hutus who resisted killing Tutsis were also massacred, and amounted to ten percent of those killed.
From “The Rwanda Crisis History of Genocide”:
“Most of the victims were killed in their own villages or in towns, often by their neighbors and fellow villagers. The militia typically murdered victims by machetes, although some army unit used rifles. The Hutu gangs searched out victims hiding in churches and school buildings, and massacred them. Local officials and government-sponsored radio incited ordinary citizens to kill their neighbors, and those who refused were often murdered on the spot. Either you took part of the massacres or you were massacred yourself.”
This event leaves you and I wondering: How in the world can something like this happen? How was such hatred conceived in the first place? While the conflict mainly stemmed (ironically) from class warfare, the book “They Fired the First Shot” by the Caritas of Birmingham states:
“The Hutu genocide planners knew they could easily incite the people. Easily manipulated, the organizers capitalized on this trait, propagandizing the Hutu people to go savagely tribal against the Tutsis… Hatred toward the Tutsis was promoted constantly through the Hutu-controlled newspaper named, Kangura.
Two different radio stations also worked to build up tensions of hate, suspicion, paranoia, fear, mistrust and victimization to a point that a spark could explode the Hutus hatred and release a fury on the Tutsis…1,170,000 massacred. Seven people killed per minute for just over 100 days.”
The spark that actually triggered the explosion of mass murder was when President Habyarimana’s (the Hutu who actually ordered the 581,000 machetes to kill the Tutsis) plane was shot down on April 6, 1994. That was when the 100-day horror began.
According to “Burundi” by Prevent Genocide International, “While TV, radio, and newspapers blared that the Tutsis were responsible (for Habyarimana’s plane being shot down), a later investigation blamed Hutu extremists for the crime.”
While the Tutsis had nothing to do with Habyarimana’s death, the media continued to blame them anyway (sound familiar?), fueling the hatred and the violence for the next 100 days.
As the Hutus continued their slaughtering…with a half million machetes.
From the International Research Center’s “Hate Media in Rwanda”:
“The Hutu controlled media repeatedly stressed the need to be alert to the Tutsis plots and possible attacks. It warned Hutus to prepare to defend themselves against the Tutsis. After April 6, 1994, authorities used Radio Rwanda to spur and direct killing specifically in areas where killings were initially resisted (Hutus who resisted, who did not want to kill Tutsis). Two radio stations were used to incite and mobilize populations followed by broadcasters’ specific direction for carrying out the killing.”
The Rwandan media was used to stir the pot of hatred, dividing neighbor against neighbor, causing one group to fear the other, resulting in extraordinary bloodshed.
Which brings me to Boston and our pathetic American press. Like the Tutsis, the Tea Party certainly knows what it is like to be blamed for a horrible crime in which they are completely innocent. Like the Tutsis, the Right has also been treated like the public enemy time and time again. The American media has certainly done its job of “pitting” Americans against one another, and wrongfully portraying the Tea Party as a bunch of “racists” and “haters”.
Just because a group of Americans happen to value our Founding principles and cherish our Second Amendment, doesn’t make them a threat to their fellow citizens. In fact, it is just the opposite. They are actually standing up for rights that have been endowed to everyone. Just because the Tea Party doesn’t share the same ideology as the Left-wing media, doesn’t mean they should be “grouped” with terrorists and mass-murders.
In fact, Breitbart reported, “Less than two hours after the horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen was already speculating that ‘right-wing extremists’ could be behind the attack.”
Liberty News Network also reported, “An NPR Journalist claimed: Boston Terrorist Attack Likely Right-Wingers Celebrating Columbine or Hitler’s Birthday.”
And, these are just couple examples….
However, the Boston bombing has certainly not been the first time the Tea Party has been blamed for horrific tragedies.
In fact, I remember right after the 2011 rampage in Arizona (when lunatic gunman Jared Loughner shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords in the head and slaughtered six others), one of my own liberal family members contacted me, regurgitating everything they heard on MSNBC, telling me that “my side” was very dangerous, and somehow responsible for Loughner’s rage (even though “my side” had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting).
At that time, I was mourning the tragedy, just like every other American. But the next thing I knew, I was also being thrown on defense, simply for being a Conservative Republican. I was stunned by the accusations.
Again, after the Colorado movie theater massacre, mainstream media didn’t hesitate to assume that the shooter was a Right Winger.
The Daily Caller reported:
“Brian Ross of ABC News became the latest person to end up with egg on his face after news of the Batman shooting massacre in Colorado broke Friday. On ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday morning, Ross rushed to report that someone with the same name as 24-year-old suspect James Holmes was listed as a member of the Colorado Tea Party Patriots.”
Too bad ABC News didn’t investigate Benghazi like they did to see if the Aurora shooter was a Tea Party member. Just a thought.
There’s nothing like our own American press gleefully jumping to conclusions and assuming the Right is somehow responsible for every bombing and mass shooting that happens in the U.S. All they are doing is building up tensions of hate, suspicion, paranoia, fear, and mistrust among citizens, before they even have the facts.
The Tea Party has been vindicated following every false accusation. Yet, the seeds implying they are violent have already been shamelessly planted by all the speculations. Sadly, those who are easily manipulated (like some of my very own family members) may continue to consume this garbage.
All the while, the American public is being distracted from the real mass-murderers (like baby butcher, Kermit Gosnell), and radical Islamic terrorists who are hell-bent on killing us all.
