Bruce Miller wrote:
>The moving testimonies of the
> survivors of the Holocaust are sufficient evidence that such genocide
> did occur, and intuitively obvious to all but a political ogre.

> Accurately adressing the
> problem as the role of "The Victim in History" would reduce complex
> particulars to simple patterns and traits. This would allow one to
> perceive formulas regarding the representation of exploited, victimised
> and overpowered populations.

> Tragic as it was, the devastation of a European community isn't any more
> disastrous than the injustices which have been (and still are) suffered
> by the countless Indians of the western hemisphere, indigenous Pacific
> societies, African and Asian tribals, etc.

> Adressing the problem as the role of "The Victim in History" would
> reduce complex particulars to simple patterns and traits.

This thread has been of great interest to me.  I don't wish to jump into
the philosophiical discussion, but I would like to make a couple of
comments  that are relevant to both this discussion and real life as it
sits on the ground in my area of the world.

Firstly, in reference to the comment about there being sufficient
evidence of the Holocaust - in the part of the country that I live there
are large groups of people who don't believe that the Holocaust
occurred.  My daughter, who is a freshman in high school, is taking a
class from an English teacher who has seen so much denial on this topic
that every book she uses in the class is based on the experiences of the
war years and other genocidal movements.  She shows movies too.  I was
amazed and somewhat concerned at the tone of the class (a whole semester
of concentration camps and death) but ultimately supportive.

Secondly, the fact that genocide has occurred throughout history and is
occurring in numerous places today on various scales is obvious to me.
What I am concerned with is the notion of *The Victim in History.*
*Victimness* (forgive me all of you who cringe at my destruction of the
English language) must be and will always be subjective.  I don't mean
to sound hard here, but if it weren't subjective, there would be far
fewer examples.  I am a compassionate person and it is obvious to me
that the rapist, murderer, torturer, etc. doesn't share my point of
view.

I guess I want to make a philosophical point after all.  You referenced
the *hardships and tragedies of all and any peoples* in this discussion.
I sincerely hope that you do not include the effects of natural
hardships in your defintion of victimness.  Natural hardships have wiped
out entire peoples but I distinguish this from genocide - this is
evolution at work.


~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Ginny Cass                                      the usual disclaimer!
Member, Board of Directors
Northern Rockies Heritage Center
P. O. Box 1884
Missoula, MT  59806-1884
phone 406-728-3662 (message)
fax 406-728-5963
email [log in to unmask]
http://www.nrhc.org