Is genocide always bad and can it ever be justified?

Question

To the winners go the spoils I suppose. Most citizens of North America (including me) benefit greatly from the genocide inflicted on the Native Americans. Can that justify it?

Answer 1

suzanne and nhbaritone - please open your minds and learn the difference between a suggestion and a question. If people like you ruled the earth, there would never be any rhetorical questions, no questioning of authority or any thoughtful questions at all.

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Larry N - genocide is definitely the very epitome of evil, the denial of justice, the judging by association as opposed to individual merits.

Interestingly, the Bible has advocated genocide, starting with 1 Samuel 15:3:
"Thus says the Lord of Hosts... Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

...So Saul defeated the Amalekites...
And he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good...

... Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying 'I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands

...So Samuel said to him, 'The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

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This may reflect a style of warfare popular amongst ancient peoples. If the loser could not be pacified, it may have been more expedient to kill the men, enslave the children and rape the women.

While being pure evil, it has the expediency that there is no lingering, low-grade guerrilla war that lasts for generations. As is likely to happen in Palestine, for example. Or many other places in the world where ethnic tensions linger, such as North Ireland, the Basque country, etc.

As you say, to the winners go the spoils, and the winners also get to write the history books. So frequently you will see the role of genocide downplayed in our past.

This is a lesson that many modern leaders have failed to learn. Not that genocide is good, but that many decisive victories in the past were only possible through genocidal tactics.

We and our leaders have conveniently forgotten, for example, the Nazi postwar guerilla actions which we viciously stomped out using means such as collective punishment, instead choosing to believe that we had an easy time de-Nazifying Germany.

We are left with the illusion that decisive victories are easy, which has the unfortunate side effect of making war more likely, because our leaders belive the propoganda of the past.

Answer 2

I don't think genocide can ever be justified. There is no doubt that some people in this country would consider genocide justifiable because of the "progress" that has occurred due to the destruction of the Native Americans' culture.

Certainly there is truth to the idea that I couldn't be here if it weren't for the genocidal nature of this country toward the Native Americans, but does that really justify it? Absolutely not, but you can't change the past, we can only learn from it - and pay tribute to it by reflecting and embracing it.

The progress and the creation of this country is based on genocide but if it wouldn't have happened, we might not be having this discussion. It's bitter-sweet in a way, but it's never too late to try and stop it from happening again.

Answer 3

Under what ethical code are you suggesting that genocide is the best choice? What circumstance can you envision to murder innocent people? Your personal ability to live on your plot of the American grid? What ethical code would then prevent the next invader from wiping out the current residents of the US, Switzerland, Uganda or Laos so they could move themselves in?

Your suggestion has no basis in improving the world, only improving the plot of the robber at the expense of the victim. The same logic could be applied to justify any theft, rape, murder, or lie. Therefore, from any ethical framework with which I am familiar, it is impossible to justify genocide and remain an ethically principled person.

Answer 4

Yes it is bad. No it cannot be justified. Simply because you exist in the place that you are because somebody committed genocide doesn't justify it. The fact is that the human species has always been a violent animal and it would be difficult to go backwards in any person's history and find that it wasn't involved in a conquest or great humanitarian error...maybe you are saying then that NONE of us should exist because we are a flawed animal. That I could much more agree with.

Answer 5

genocide is never good cuz people do die and the ones who live suffer greatly. it can't be justified by anything except for the people that inflict the stupid genocide.

Answer 6

"solid" and "Evil" are philosophically subjective words utilized by ability of politicians earlier an journey and by ability of historians afterwards. the main objective thank you to confirm the moral fee of any journey is to be certain the quantity of abuse it generates as against the quantity of earnings it creates. Genocide, by ability of its very nature, creates numerous abuse. even nonetheless, the guy or the business enterprise that commits the crime (or any crime for that remember) will see some earnings from it. contained with regards to genocide, the earnings is frequently seen from a political perspective. this would not justify the action. This purely explains that there is not any such element as absolute, objective evil.

Answer 7

Our actions don’t need any justification as long as remain aware of their consequences, and take full responsibility there after. So no matter what our justifications might be, we are all liable to face the consequences of our actions. And that is the law of Karma, of pure physics, of action and reaction.

Justifications don’t matter when it comes to experiencing consequences of our choices, only our intents do and rightly so.

Any nation can destroy another or a human being may kill another for any personal motive or justification, but there always are consequences for each and every action of ours. And that is what we have got to keep in mind while making choices at all times.

Answer 8

No genocide is not always bad. Yes it can be justified. No it is not justifiable in the case of Native Americans.

When can it be justified? If you do not restrict the definition to only racial annihilation but include cultures and sectarian delineations then it is clearly justifiable. While one can not choose one's race, ethnic or national origin, one most certainly does choose his/her cultural, moral, religious world view.

I think Jews would be "justified" to annihilate gentiles. Why? Anytime one has suffered a belligerent antagonist for centuries (actually millennia) it is clear that their hostility toward you is insatiable, leaving the realist with no other option than the total elimination of the hostile group. Most gentile cultures have demonstrated their unabated anti-Semitism for centuries. I am only thankful that they are apparently of higher moral character than we.

Secondly, I think just about any non-Islamic group could "begin" to justify genocide toward Islam. It has also expressed a (here-to-date) unrelenting and unrepentant disdain for the lives and welfare of any and all groups outside of its sect. Jews most especially would be justified as Islam openly and unashamedly calls (daily) for the annihilation of all Jews.

No one grieved over the Nazi or other neo-fascist states and cultures when they met their demise. Radical Islam is at least as virulent in its anti-Semitism (and anti-everyone-else for that matter) as were the Nazis. The world united and annihilated them. We will eventually do the same to Islam unless they change their tune soon, or Iran (or other fascist-Islamic states (Syria?)) annihilate us first.

Yeah, I'm in favor of genocide under certain circumstances.

Answer 9

Never, could you justify the genocide of American Citizen's now, no you could'nt, it was never justifiable and never will be. We must learn by history so that we don't repeat it.

Answer 10

Always bad. Never justified.