understood that genocide doesn’ t begin by rounding up a group of citizens. It begins with undirected frustration. This frustration warrants action, and that is when it leads to an anger that is taken out on a convenient group of people( Blair, R. J.). It takes months or years of desensitizing the people of a country until, finally, enough anger has built up where people think that the victims deserve the horrors that they are receiving. Since its birth, America has always been held to a higher standard. It has always been a country that has been able to accomplish things no other country in the history of the world has been able to accomplish. I pray it remains held to this higher standard in the future.
The Holocaust was an evil act of anger and frustration that resulted in the torture and death of six million people. It is important to note the path a country takes in order to enact a genocide. It begins with some form of political or social frustration, and the leaders of that nation eventually chose a group of citizens who are a convenient channel for all the anger that has culminated over the years. After months and years of propaganda, the population becomes desensitized, until they eventually either support or turn a blind eye to any evil that takes place afterwards. This is when the leaders can begin rounding up their victims and truly taking out their anger in the form of torture and murder. Jan Komski, a victim of the Holocaust, preserves and possibly attempts to escape from his memories through his paintings. The painting Murder by the SS depicts men being executed by the chief commander of Auschwitz. Some aspects of the painting include blurry characters to illustrate the multitude of people this happened to, and dull colors to enhance the day to day struggle of being a prisoner. The setting of this painting was the winter, further amplifying the difficulty prisoners had trying to survive. These lessons are applicable today, particularly in America. It seems everywhere one turns there is more frustration and anger building up, but genocide is not an answer or an option. These feelings of animosity towards different groups, whether it be racial, political, or religious, must be prevented from flourishing or spreading. All people in America are endowed the right of life, no matter their situation. Those in power, and particularly the media, must remember this before they use their resources to bring anger onto another targeted group. This tragedy is not one that can even risk happening again; it’ s time people rise up and get to the root of the problem: what is the real cause of our frustration?
10