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Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)
June 3, 2007 Sunday
Final Edition
BOOKS AND IDEAS; Pg. D9
Writer sees genocide as more akin to bullying than conflict
by Sue Montgomery, CanWest News Service
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide by Barbara Coloroso;
Viking Canada; 272 pages; $30
To many parents, the name Barbara Coloroso immediately brings to mind
bibles on how to survive the turbulent and mind-boggling challenge of
raising kids. Best-sellers like Kids Are Worth It, Winning at
Parenting Without Beating Your Kids and Now I Know Why Tigers Eat
Their Young -- her book on surviving the teen years -- have provided
useful, practical advice for years.
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide may at first seem to
be a major departure from her previous work. In fact, this
examination of three 20th-century genocides is a fascinating
extension of Coloroso's books on bullying and on raising ethical
kids. It's also the result of her 30 years of studying how ordinary
people can turn so extraordinarily evil and commit such heinous acts.
For sure, there will be historians skeptical of Coloroso's conclusion
that genocide is simply bullying taken to its extreme; that it's a
slippery slope from the schoolyard scene in which a bully picks on
someone as a growing crowd either joins in or passively stands by, to
hate crimes, to an entire group in a country being exterminated by
another.
But for anyone seeking an explanation as to why humans have behaved
in unimaginable ways throughout history -- and continue to do so (see
Darfur, Sudan) -- her analysis bears serious consideration. Her
experience as a mother of two, parenting expert and former Roman
Catholic nun, combined with years of travelling to places where
genocide has occurred, gives the book a human touch. She somehow
reduces the horror of genocide to digestible terms, making the reader
feel that perhaps he or she does have the power to prevent the
annihilation of entire groups of people.
"When individuals, families, communities and nations stand up to it,
leaders will no longer find support for the complicity that enables
it," she writes.
A big mistake the international community makes in dealing with
genocide is equating it to conflict and using the same tools to deal
with it, she says. Conflict is normal and is susceptible to reason,
genocidal behaviour has at its heart cold or contempt. Conflict
doesn't escalate into genocide; bullying can.
Like her parenting books, this is well-written and well-organized. It
doesn't bog down in historical facts, although she does include some
little-known ones, such as that only in 1982 Germany formally
recognized the genocide during the Second World War of the Sinti and
Roma, who had been killed along with 6 million Jews.
The book examines three genocides of the 20th century: that of the
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Jews and others in the Second World
War and Tutsis in Rwanda by the Hutus in 1994. Coloroso argues that
all three tragedies had a common theme and formula, with each group
of "genocidaire" learning tricks of the trade from those who killed
before.
What's particularly compelling is the former nun's call for a serious
discussion -- in our homes, schools and communities -- about the
complicity of religious institutions in hate crimes and crimes
against humanity, especially genocide. Tutsis in Rwanda, for example,
fled to churches, seeking sanctuary only to be hacked to death by the
thousands. The Nazis saw Jews as the evil "Christ-killers" and the
Young Turks wanted to do away with the Armenians Christian minority.
One of the similarities between the genocide of the Armenians and the
genocide of the Jews was an intolerance toward the elements resisting
assimilation, and the incitement of public hostility toward the
targeted group.
The rights of minorities to maintain a separate culture is an
often-debated topic in this country.
Sue Montgomery writes for the Montreal Gazette.
June 3, 2007 Sunday
Final Edition
BOOKS AND IDEAS; Pg. D9
Writer sees genocide as more akin to bullying than conflict
by Sue Montgomery, CanWest News Service
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide by Barbara Coloroso;
Viking Canada; 272 pages; $30
To many parents, the name Barbara Coloroso immediately brings to mind
bibles on how to survive the turbulent and mind-boggling challenge of
raising kids. Best-sellers like Kids Are Worth It, Winning at
Parenting Without Beating Your Kids and Now I Know Why Tigers Eat
Their Young -- her book on surviving the teen years -- have provided
useful, practical advice for years.
Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide may at first seem to
be a major departure from her previous work. In fact, this
examination of three 20th-century genocides is a fascinating
extension of Coloroso's books on bullying and on raising ethical
kids. It's also the result of her 30 years of studying how ordinary
people can turn so extraordinarily evil and commit such heinous acts.
For sure, there will be historians skeptical of Coloroso's conclusion
that genocide is simply bullying taken to its extreme; that it's a
slippery slope from the schoolyard scene in which a bully picks on
someone as a growing crowd either joins in or passively stands by, to
hate crimes, to an entire group in a country being exterminated by
another.
But for anyone seeking an explanation as to why humans have behaved
in unimaginable ways throughout history -- and continue to do so (see
Darfur, Sudan) -- her analysis bears serious consideration. Her
experience as a mother of two, parenting expert and former Roman
Catholic nun, combined with years of travelling to places where
genocide has occurred, gives the book a human touch. She somehow
reduces the horror of genocide to digestible terms, making the reader
feel that perhaps he or she does have the power to prevent the
annihilation of entire groups of people.
"When individuals, families, communities and nations stand up to it,
leaders will no longer find support for the complicity that enables
it," she writes.
A big mistake the international community makes in dealing with
genocide is equating it to conflict and using the same tools to deal
with it, she says. Conflict is normal and is susceptible to reason,
genocidal behaviour has at its heart cold or contempt. Conflict
doesn't escalate into genocide; bullying can.
Like her parenting books, this is well-written and well-organized. It
doesn't bog down in historical facts, although she does include some
little-known ones, such as that only in 1982 Germany formally
recognized the genocide during the Second World War of the Sinti and
Roma, who had been killed along with 6 million Jews.
The book examines three genocides of the 20th century: that of the
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Jews and others in the Second World
War and Tutsis in Rwanda by the Hutus in 1994. Coloroso argues that
all three tragedies had a common theme and formula, with each group
of "genocidaire" learning tricks of the trade from those who killed
before.
What's particularly compelling is the former nun's call for a serious
discussion -- in our homes, schools and communities -- about the
complicity of religious institutions in hate crimes and crimes
against humanity, especially genocide. Tutsis in Rwanda, for example,
fled to churches, seeking sanctuary only to be hacked to death by the
thousands. The Nazis saw Jews as the evil "Christ-killers" and the
Young Turks wanted to do away with the Armenians Christian minority.
One of the similarities between the genocide of the Armenians and the
genocide of the Jews was an intolerance toward the elements resisting
assimilation, and the incitement of public hostility toward the
targeted group.
The rights of minorities to maintain a separate culture is an
often-debated topic in this country.
Sue Montgomery writes for the Montreal Gazette.