Three Examples of Man's Inhumanity to Man

In the sad story of man's inhumanity to man, there are many examples.  For this piece I will concentrate on three such examples:  The Jewish holocaust of World War II and related Jewish oppression, the oppression of blacks in the United States and the outrageous incarceration of Japanese-Americansd by FDR in World War II.

There is no denying that Jews have been one of the most oppressed and brutulized people in our world.  You need look no farther than the Nazi holocaust, in which more than six million of our brothers and sisters were murdered simply for having a religion different than ours.  To put it in perspective, that would be the equivalent of, say, us rounding up all Baptists, or all Catholics in America and sending them to a death camp.  There can be no rationalization of what the Nazis did. The rational person, looking at history, would have to conclude that Jews were and are some of the best citizens any country can have.  They are self-reliant, law-abiding and successful people any country can have.  Look at industry, art and music.  There you will find that Jews are dominant.  Many have considered this as a reason to discriminate against them, but that would be just jealousy and envy.   There are so many examples.  The Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century was one of them.  Many Jews were forced out of their homes and country just for being Jewish.  In my small little home town of Geraci Siculo, Sicily, it is estimated that during the Spanish Inquisition there were 53 Jewish households in a town of about 2,500 people.  They were all ordered deported by the Spanish authorities of the day.  The result being a loss for the country that ejected them. 

Blacks in the United States were legally discriminated against from the beginning of slavery until recent times.  If you were black you could not attend the same church, the same restaurant, the same hotel, the same bathroom, etc. This is akin to, say, doing the same to all people with red hair, or all people that are darker in skin color than you; its so preposterous that it takes your breath away.  Most societies have their own social ladder and  to a certain extent, discrimination.  So, in Italy, for example, the Sicilian is considered lower than the northerner.  This about as equal as saying that your neighbor across the street is lower than you because he/she livers across he street and all who live across the street are not as good as you. Insanity. In England, for example, if you're Catholic you can't be the Prime Minister to this day.  In the United States, up to 1960, if you're Catholic you could not be elected to high political office or belong to a certain country club.  In the academy, if you don't follow Darwinian evolution, you cannot teach there, to this day.  Now, I just heard the other day in the news that unless you have a "woke" world view you cannot apply to a college job.  I know, I know, that this sounds crazy; it is.  Click here for the story.

The third example is the incarceration of innocent Japanese-Americans in World War II by Franklin Roosevelt.  These were the country's best citizens; successful, law abiding, industrious and self sufficient.  How many Japanese Americans are in your state prisons?  Not that many.  How many Japanese Americans are on welfare?  Not that many.  Upon signing of Executive Order 9066, over 110,000 innocent Japanese Americans were rounded up like common criminals, and put in concentration camps. The camps were in the worst part of the country, such as Manzanar in in the cold/hot windy California desert.  I know, I know, relocation camps they called them.  Well that is akin to calling Guantanamo Prison in Cuba a nursery.  In July 2021  I visited Manzanar; the temperature was 105 and the wind so strong I could not stay outside of my car.  Heart Mountain in Wyoming was in the cold, freezing and unforgiving part of the state. Be sure to watch the video documentary of Heart Mountain by David Ono. Most, if not all, lost their house, their business and all they owned.  Very little was returned to them.  President Reagan in the 1980s, over 45 years later, apologized and gave the survivors $20,000 in compensation, a pittance to what most had lost.

The Evil of Religious Hate: Why Can't We Just Get Along?

 England and/or Britain ruled Ireland for over 700  years.  The Irish were their closest brothers in terms of culture or ethnicity.  The British, however, were the most brutal to their Irish brothers; ruling the island with an iron hand.  After the Reformation Penal laws were passed against Catholics in Ireland banning all forms of Catholic worship.  The British were so brutal to the Irish that in the 19th century they allowed the Potato famine.  Over one million Irish perished.  The British Empire, at the time the dominant world power, could have easily stopped the famine but chose to let their Irish brothers die instead.  This is one of the best examples of man's inhumanity to man.  King Henry VIII started this avalanche of hate.  If you study his history, it's not hard to figure out that he was probably clinically insane.  Killing his closest advisors just because he could, as he did to the brilliant Sir Thomas More; two of his wives and many others. Yet the British followed his insanity as if it was handed down by God.  Over 500 years after the crazy Henry VIII, his legacy lives on in Britain.  Catholics are still second class citizens.  Although the monarchy has been defanged, the sentiment started by Henry continues.

On our trip to Ireland in 2011 we had a terrific bus driver who told us Irish stories and played Irish music on our journey.  Some of the stories were so compelling that it brought many of us to tears, especially after hearing the song, such as "The Rose of Tralee."  Stories of people not being able to fish or find other sources of food.  Stories of priests risking their lives by saying Mass in hiding.  You keep asking the question, why?  Why were people so cruel to each other as the British to the Irish?  The short answer is religion.  But why must religion make you hate your brother?  This question has no short answer.  It is a sad tale of our human condition.  

So the question, for me, is why does Northern Ireland choose to stay with its oppressor of old and not join the free Irish state?  Again, religion comes to mind.  Catholics and Protestants.  Both Christians, both follow the same Bible so why the hate?  To this day the British still consider their Catholic brothers and sisters as some sort of enemy, or second class citizens.  When the British Prime Minister was Tony Blair - one of my favorite politicians of all time; he wanted to convert to Catholicism but had to wait to do it until he left office because you cannot be a Catholic and be the British Prime Minister.  Is this insane or what?  Up to 1960, if you were Catholic in the United States you were looked upon as not desirable to hold high office.  

Today we have the Muslim problem with 9/11 and the war on terrorism.  Even inside Islam you have inner struggles and hate among the Sunnis and the Shiites.  Why?  As someone suggested in the 1990s:  Can we just get along?