12-21-11 Is Syria a genocide?

In my opinion, the conflict in Syria right now isn't a genocide. Following the definition of genocide, there is no evidence of racial purging. The government isn't targeting a specific group, religion, or social class. They are simply just trying to keep their power. If politics was included for a reason for genocide, then this could be considered genocide.

12-19-2011 Whose to blame? (Humanity)

Even though the massacres that occurred in Rwanda included only a few different groups, humanity as a whole is to blame for the atrocities. The international community failed to react and to assist in the genocide occurring in Rwanda. No one stepped up and said: "This is wrong, and we need to put a stop to this." The Tutsi and the Hutu were the ones who were involved in the genocide, but the rest of the world didn't try to put a stop to it.

12-3-11 Responsibility

"After watching the movie Defiance and then seeing what the US response to the Holocaust was at the time, describe what you think the proper response of one of the individuals that you labeled as "guilty" on your worksheet should have been to what was happening. Next, describe what the proper response of the US to the Holocaust should have been as it was occurring and while we were fighting Nazi Germany during WWII. Finally, describe your views on how the international community should respond to genocide when it happens today (for example, in Syria)."


The proper response to someone who was labeled as guilty was to stand up for what was right. The person who was making the Zyklon B gas could have protested and stopped making the gas. The USA should have had more of an initiative to help out the Jewish population and should have put more of are effort at sabotaging the Nazi campaign, like infiltrating and destroying death camps. Today, people who are in the international community should not only disapprove the genocides, but should try and show any support the can. The many can overcome the few. 

Editor's Choice 12-1-11

Imagine that YOU are the editor of “Defiance,”
creating a film that reflects your own ethics.
How would you choose to portray the scene where the partisans are beating the scout who is spying on their location?

A. The group kills the scout and gets on with their
lives afterwards
B. The group starts to beat him, and then stops
itself before it is too late
C. The group starts to beat the scout, and then
Tuvia stops them
D. The group kills the scout and then can't believe
what it has done
E. The group kills the scout, and when Tuvia walks
by they are angry at him for not stopping them
F. Another alternative

• Why would you portray that scene in the way that
you've chosen? Why did you choose your answer
over the other answers?
• Describe how your choice connects to your own
personal sense of ethics.


In my choice, I would pick: A. The group kills the scout and gets on with their lives afterwards.  I would pick this decision because those who are viewing the video need to know what kind of a situation that they were in. The Jewish community had to do what they had to do in order to survive. My ethics is that in a time when my life and existence is being threatened, then I have to do whatever I can in oreder to survive, no matter what that may be.