All part of the culture of fear are the constantly updated travel advisories for each country worldwide. In the present day, it is clear that caution must be taken wherever you choose to travel, moreso than you might have 10 or 20 years ago. The increasing threat of terrorism scares us all, and not only on our own soil, but the threat to travelling Australians. More than 5 years on from the Bali bombings, it is still a popular travel destination.
Even from 2 years ago, the number of Australian tourists choosing to travel to Bali has increased significantly. Are we all sick of the never ending travel warnings? Are Australians more fearless than other nationalities? Do we believe that now Bali has had a terrorist attack, that the chances of another are slim?
Tourists flock to Bali despite new travel warnings
June 19, 2007
Bali, the lush Indonesian island famous for its sun-kissed beaches, is drawing tourists in droves, and travel warnings that Islamic militants might strike again has done little to dampen the spirit.
Almost five years after 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed in the bombing of a Bali nightclub, tourists are back enjoying the island's nightlife and soaking up the sun on Bali's palm-fringed beaches.
"That was a sad event but Bali is too beautiful to resist. The place is bouncing back," said 23-year-old Australian Josh Donnelly as he walked past the now razed Sari Club, which was blown up in the 2002 bombing.
After the attack, Bali suffered a dramatic slump in tourism and locals such as taxi driver Gede Widiada found they could barely make ends meet.
"I have been selling my wife's jewellery in the past four years to run my family. But my income now is much better," said the taxi driver as he waited for tourists outside a resort.
Like Widiada, many shops, restaurants, and hotels on this island are finally seeing their fortunes revived.
Dubbed the "Island of Gods" for its myriad Hindu temples and religious rituals, Bali suffered another blow in 2005 when suicide bombers blew themselves up at three restaurants, killing 20 people.
The attacks in 2002 and 2005, aimed at Western targets, killed a total of 92 Australians.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued an upgraded travel advisory on July 8, warning Australians that terrorists were actively planning attacks, including on Bali.
But despite these warnings, Australians who make up more than 15 per cent of the total foreign tourist arrivals in Bali, are flocking to one of their favourite destinations.
"I am not afraid of coming back to Bali. You could die in a road accident tomorrow," said Donnelly.
Indonesian police say the security situation in the country at the moment is favourable.
Tourism in Bali, a predominantly Hindu region in Muslim Indonesia, provides a livelihood for 70 per cent of the three million people living on this island of surfing beaches.
Shops selling batik clothing, carvings and silverware near the famous Kuta beach reported increased sales since this year, although they have still not reach pre-2002 levels.
"We have probably reached just 60 or 70 per cent of that level. Two years ago, it was just 30-40 per cent," said Tina, an assistant at a shop selling paintings to tourists.
Middle-aged women providing foot and shoulder massages on Kuta beach still hurl abuses at the bombers.
Bagus Sudibya, an adviser at the Bali Tourism Board, said the industry and the government had jointly spent nearly $US10 million ($A11.47 million) since last year to revive tourism to the island.
The island saw a 34 per cent jump in foreign tourist arrivals in the first five months of 2007 compared to the same period last year. Tourism figures show the average hotel occupancy in Bali so far in July was between 70 and 90 per cent, compared with 50-70 per cent in July 2006.
"It's the holiday season now and it's nice to see there that our rooms are fully occupied," said Made Kardana, resort assistant manager at Intercontinental Bali Resort.
While Jakarta has been aggressively promoting the island by holding major governmental meetings, hotels have been providing attractive packages to private business conference organisers.
"Business delegates are visiting the region and seeing it for themselves," Sudibya said.
Bali will also host the high profile Kyoto Protocol meeting in December, which will give a boost to arrivals this year.
In June Indonesian police arrested two alleged top Jemaah Islamiyah leaders. Among them was Abu Dujana, who admitted to heading a military wing of the network and is suspected by police of being involved in the first Bali bomb among other attacks.
"There is stepped-up security everywhere in Bali and the arrest of militants will also add to the region's confidence," Sudibya added.
Guards still frisk customers at doors of pubs and cars at the gates of hotels and resorts, but the mood is upbeat.
"The spirit of Bali never dies," said a discotheque manager Putu Budiasa as tourists bopped to hip-hop music.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Backlash: Governments anti-terror work 'may spur radicals'
After posting my previous blog last night, I awoke to this news and new findings about the governments anti-terror work to 'Help protect Australia from terrorism'
Anti-terror work 'may spur radicals'
Monday Oct 15 07:28 AEST
The federal government's hardline approach to terrorism prevention may spur on radicals, a new report compiled by Melbourne academics for Victoria Police says.
The Counter-Terrorism Policing and Culturally Diverse Communities report, the result of a three-year project initiated by Victoria Police and researched by Monash University terrorism experts, is expected to be released on Monday, Fairfax newspapers say.
It warns that the federal government's approach could fuel radicalisation and undermine Victoria Police efforts to build links with communities.
"The Australian government's approach to prevention of terrorism fits with the major policy approach being applied in the United States, and is at odds with the best available knowledge on the threat of terrorism and the way that threat is best countered," the report says.
Credible anecdotal evidence exists that extremists were already probing Victorian society for alienated individuals to recruit, it says.
Tough counter-terrorism laws catches up more innocent people than traditional anti-criminal approaches, the report says. "Evidence from the UK and US suggests the impact of this may be significant in terms of fuelling a process of alienation, social exclusion and, ultimately support for terrorism."
A better way would be community policing that emphasises social cohesion and human rights, the report says, as it is more likely to win the trust of communities, including Muslim communities.
Or read it here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=63661
Anti-terror work 'may spur radicals'
Monday Oct 15 07:28 AEST
The federal government's hardline approach to terrorism prevention may spur on radicals, a new report compiled by Melbourne academics for Victoria Police says.
The Counter-Terrorism Policing and Culturally Diverse Communities report, the result of a three-year project initiated by Victoria Police and researched by Monash University terrorism experts, is expected to be released on Monday, Fairfax newspapers say.
It warns that the federal government's approach could fuel radicalisation and undermine Victoria Police efforts to build links with communities.
"The Australian government's approach to prevention of terrorism fits with the major policy approach being applied in the United States, and is at odds with the best available knowledge on the threat of terrorism and the way that threat is best countered," the report says.
Credible anecdotal evidence exists that extremists were already probing Victorian society for alienated individuals to recruit, it says.
Tough counter-terrorism laws catches up more innocent people than traditional anti-criminal approaches, the report says. "Evidence from the UK and US suggests the impact of this may be significant in terms of fuelling a process of alienation, social exclusion and, ultimately support for terrorism."
A better way would be community policing that emphasises social cohesion and human rights, the report says, as it is more likely to win the trust of communities, including Muslim communities.
Or read it here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=63661
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Why are so many fears in the air, and so many of them unfounded?
We have a virus called fear that is rapidly infecting Australian society, we are afraid of a threat yet to happen on our soil, a threat costing our government millions of dollars and a threat that will never kill as many Australians as smoking or obesity.
There seems to be no shortage of things that people are fearful of these days.
We fear for global warming. We are afraid of avian flu. We were petrified of SARS.
Many thought the world would end upon the new millennium.
We are fearful of the Equine influenza (Horse flu) and what will happen to Melbourne Cup Day 2007.
We dread future terrorist attacks. We are terrified about airline safety.
This topic of a ‘culture of fear’ interests me greatly and some key points I plan to focus on for my 2nd blog include:
Who fears what—and to what degree?
Is our culture becoming increasingly fearful, risk-averse, suspicious, even paranoid?
To what extent do these fears vary across various social groups?
How do fears shape identities, behaviours, morals, willingness to sacrifice freedoms, and other emotions?
What are the current trends by social groups such as the government, media etc that bring attention to specific fears in order to gain greater social control?
One reason I chose this topic was due to the fact that I have had numerous people from numerous countries tell me how paranoid they think the Australian government is. Upon hearing the first suggestion of this, I casually shrugged it off. However, the comments were becoming more and more frequent, so when a British friend of mine came around to my house to say hello and ask about travel advice for Thailand, he was absolutely gobsmacked when I showed him our governments travel advice website <http://www.smarttraveller.gov.au/>
He said to his knowledge the British government had nothing of the sort, and he was stunned at how comprehensive and detailed the information was. For every single country, there is a rating of precaution, ranging from ‘Be alert to own security’ right up to ‘Do not travel’
He also made a few interesting points such as ‘doesn’t this discourage you from travelling all together?’ and ‘if you completely abided by this website, where could you actually travel to?’
Each month up to half a million Australians travel overseas and this website, although it was made to protect and help travelling Australians, could have possibly done more harm than good for some.
On top of this, we also have a National Security Hotline:
National Security Hotline 1800 123 400, National Security Australia
This is a TV ad for the National Security Hotline http://youtube.com/watch?v=0x9vXEaGsL8
This 1 800 number attracted 500 calls in its first day - an early warning sign of how paranoid and suspicious we already are????
We also have a National Security Website http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/
We have new laws to stop ‘home grown terrorism’:
http://www.afp.gov.au/national/fighting_terrorism/home_grown_terrorism.html
Did you know we even have an Australian Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism?????
Is this all a bit much?? Where is the line between very cautious and paranoid??
Sunday, September 2, 2007
How it happened: Genocide in Rwanda
During the 100 days between the 4th of April when President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down and the successful take-over by the Rwanda by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) an estimated one million people were massacred (Smith, 1998), mostly members of the Tutsi tribe whom the Hutu tribe sought to be exterminated (Parkes, 1996). For such a massive amount of people to be killed in such a short space of time and under such a horrific circumstances, it is clear that numerous social psychological variables were influential and those variables and theories on how genocide occurs will be identified and discussed.
To begin with, prejudice and stereotypes intensify and become ethnic and cultural distinctions forming dangerous ‘in group’ and ‘out group’ patterns of thinking. In the case of Rwanda, many believe the colonial rulers from Belgium can be seen as introducing this way of thinking, by projecting their own cultural divisions and racist ways of thinking on Rwanda (Smith, 1998). When they arrived in Rwanda, they gave Tutsis special privileges based on earlier reports by missionaries and researches claiming that the Tutsis were ‘the most intelligent’. Creating such a strong social stratification and division between ethnic groups can lead to an ideology of hatred being formed. The group who feels underprivileged then starts to blame not only their own problems and their groups problems, but the problems of society on the ‘out group/aliens’ and a frame of mind forms that those problems will only be resolved if the group is eliminated (Eltringhame, 2006; Parkes, 1996; Zimbardo, 2007). Tension therefore increases along with rivalry and this can drive the group from just feeling this way, to actually doing something about it. In the case of the Rwandan genocide, it can be seen that this strong hatred and destructive ideologies held by the Hutus were the strong driving force that pushed them from feelings of strong hatred to acts of strong hatred carried out on the Tutsis (Smith, 1998).
Once these patterns of thought are in motion, uncertainty and destabilization of the government at national and local levels can create an opening for others to take control (Eltringham, 2006; Parkes, 1996). In the case of Rwanda, after the president’s plane was shot down, by which party is still to this day unknown, it created insecurity and instability at both national and local heights, ultimately creating opportunity for some Hutus to rally to take control.
After meticulous planning and the decision to take control has been put in motion, the group must rally to take control (Eltringham, 2006), using and spreading propaganda to acquire as many participants as they possibly can. This propaganda needs to intelligently justify their proposed actions and in the case of the Hutus, it can be seen that their propaganda was incredibly well crafted, using radio broadcasts to reinforce the needed ingredient of divisionism and social pressure in order to gain mass participants (Smith, 1998). In order to reach their genocidal goals, they realized they had to make the message clear that it was ‘us’ versus ‘them’, Hutus versus Tutsi with no room for anyone in between. Furthermore, the influential leaders seeking to gain control use various methods in order to gain mass participants. For example, studies of past genocides have shown threats (Suedfeld, 2000), force, desirable incentives (Parkes, 1996), widespread indoctrination, coercion (Eltringham, 2006), intimidation and rationalization of their behavior are commonly used tools. Many of these were present within the influential Hutu extremists techniques, who threatened that those who worked together with Tutsis for reconciliation would be considered ‘traitors’ and would consequently be ‘marked for death’; potential participants were given new incentives to loot houses and properties; they wanted to avoid suspicion they were hiding the enemy in their home and fear of negative consequences such as death and torture. These mass murdering individuals are able to commit these horrifying acts due to dissociation (Parkes, 1996; Zimbardo, 2007), whereby the victims were dehumanized and devalued, making the killings easier and making empathy with them unlikely. The Hutus dehumanized the Tutsis, referring to them as ‘inyenzi’ meaning cockroach, in their minds reducing them to animals (Barker, 2004), making it easier to kill them. Reversal of morality is also commonly present in genocides (Suedfeld, 2000; Staub, Pearlman, Gubin & Hagengimana, 2005), whereby killing the victims ‘becomes the right, moral thing to do’ and it can be seen as a ‘racial cleansing’ for the good of the country (Mamdani, 2001).
To explain how people can turn into these evil, mass killers with no sense of remorse or understanding of what they have done (Finzch, 2005), the perpetrators must be examined on an individual level, as well as within the group. In the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda the perpetrators were described as ‘not human’, ‘pure evil’ and ‘killing machines amongst others (Barker, 2004). Some reasons put forward for their participation include they were conforming to the group, saying they were just ‘doing what others around them were doing’, they wanted to avoid suspicion they were hiding the enemy in their home, obedience to authority (Zimbardo, 2007), the knowledge of how to kill, with many Hutu members had already been given the opportunity of lessons on how to kill (Parkes, 1996), and Zuckerman (1994) proposes the individual trait of sensation seeking as an explanation, that these perpetrators were looking for a thrill and the perpetrators realized they received excitement out of killing. In the documentary, it was also stated that once these perpetrators made the first killing, it was easier to commit the second, and then once they had killed dozens of people, killing dozens more became insignificant and ‘normal’. During the day, they were had either ‘just killed and were looking to kill again, or hadn’t killed yet and needed to quench their thirst for a kill which they hadn’t done yet that day.’ Skinner (1968) also proposes a reinforcement theory, stating that rewards given for consequences will increase a behavior and the way to successfully and efficiently increase a behavior is to make the behavior ‘more frequent, more intense, more likely’. All of these influencing factors resulted in the mass participation of perpetrators and lead to a successful genocide in Rwanda.
Country factors: Rwanda
Other factors which can be seen to have aided the Hutus towards a successful genocide include Rwanda’s dense geographic settlement (Staub et al., 2005), a country history of institutions geared towards mass participation, the structure of their political system, in that the more power those who rule have, the less human rights and civil liberties of their people, then the more likely the rulers will commit genocide and mass murder (Parkes, 1996). All of these factors acting simultaneously on the Hutu tribe lead to the unfortunate and horrific but successful genocide that occurred in Rwanda.
It is clear that many impacting social psychological variables were present within Rwanda, and when they reach a ‘perfect storm’ or optimal level, genocide is highly likely. There have been many theories put forward for the explanations of genocide, but current thinking is that genocide includes a combination of all of them. Genocide ultimately begins with ethnic division and ‘us versus them’ patterns of thinking, which commonly stem from long held stereotypes and prejudices. With psychology’s contributions into genocide and their causes, warning signs and social psychological variables which could result in genocide can therefore hopefully be detected and future genocides prevented.
References
Barker, G. (2004). Ghosts of Rwanda [video recording]. United States of America: Public Broadcasting Services, (frontline). Viewed during Week 4 Lecture.
Eltringham, N. (2006). 'Invaders who have stolen the country': The Hamitic Hypothesis, Race and the Rwandan Genocide. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 12(4), 425-446. Retrieved from Ebsco host database on the 30th of July, 2007.
Finzsch, N. (2005). 'It is scarcely possible to conceive that human beings could be so hideous and loathsome': Discourses of genocide in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America and Australia. Patterns of Prejudice, 39(2), 97-115.
Mamdani, M. (2001). When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Parkes, C.M. (1996). Genocide in Rwanda: Personal reflections. Mortality, 1(1), 95-110.
Skinner, B. (1968). The technology of teaching. New York: Appleton-Crofts.
Smith, D. N. (1998). The Psychocultural Roots of Genocide: Legitimacy and Crisis in
Rwanda. American Psychologist, 53:7, 743-753. Retrieved from Psychinfo database on the 7th of August, 2007.
Staub, E. (2003). The Psychology of Good and Evil. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Staub, E., Pearlman, M.A., Gubin, A. & Hagengimana, A. (2005). Healing, Reconciliation, Forgiving and the Prevention of Violence After Genocide or Mass Killing: An Intervention And It's Experimental Evaluation in Rwanda. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 24(3), 297-334.
Suedfeld, P. (2000). Reverberations of the Holocaust fifty years later: Psychology's contributions to understanding persecution and genocide. Canadian Psychology Psychologie Canadienne, 41(1), 1-9. Retrieved from Ebsco host database on the 11th of August, 2007.
Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House.
To begin with, prejudice and stereotypes intensify and become ethnic and cultural distinctions forming dangerous ‘in group’ and ‘out group’ patterns of thinking. In the case of Rwanda, many believe the colonial rulers from Belgium can be seen as introducing this way of thinking, by projecting their own cultural divisions and racist ways of thinking on Rwanda (Smith, 1998). When they arrived in Rwanda, they gave Tutsis special privileges based on earlier reports by missionaries and researches claiming that the Tutsis were ‘the most intelligent’. Creating such a strong social stratification and division between ethnic groups can lead to an ideology of hatred being formed. The group who feels underprivileged then starts to blame not only their own problems and their groups problems, but the problems of society on the ‘out group/aliens’ and a frame of mind forms that those problems will only be resolved if the group is eliminated (Eltringhame, 2006; Parkes, 1996; Zimbardo, 2007). Tension therefore increases along with rivalry and this can drive the group from just feeling this way, to actually doing something about it. In the case of the Rwandan genocide, it can be seen that this strong hatred and destructive ideologies held by the Hutus were the strong driving force that pushed them from feelings of strong hatred to acts of strong hatred carried out on the Tutsis (Smith, 1998).
Once these patterns of thought are in motion, uncertainty and destabilization of the government at national and local levels can create an opening for others to take control (Eltringham, 2006; Parkes, 1996). In the case of Rwanda, after the president’s plane was shot down, by which party is still to this day unknown, it created insecurity and instability at both national and local heights, ultimately creating opportunity for some Hutus to rally to take control.
After meticulous planning and the decision to take control has been put in motion, the group must rally to take control (Eltringham, 2006), using and spreading propaganda to acquire as many participants as they possibly can. This propaganda needs to intelligently justify their proposed actions and in the case of the Hutus, it can be seen that their propaganda was incredibly well crafted, using radio broadcasts to reinforce the needed ingredient of divisionism and social pressure in order to gain mass participants (Smith, 1998). In order to reach their genocidal goals, they realized they had to make the message clear that it was ‘us’ versus ‘them’, Hutus versus Tutsi with no room for anyone in between. Furthermore, the influential leaders seeking to gain control use various methods in order to gain mass participants. For example, studies of past genocides have shown threats (Suedfeld, 2000), force, desirable incentives (Parkes, 1996), widespread indoctrination, coercion (Eltringham, 2006), intimidation and rationalization of their behavior are commonly used tools. Many of these were present within the influential Hutu extremists techniques, who threatened that those who worked together with Tutsis for reconciliation would be considered ‘traitors’ and would consequently be ‘marked for death’; potential participants were given new incentives to loot houses and properties; they wanted to avoid suspicion they were hiding the enemy in their home and fear of negative consequences such as death and torture. These mass murdering individuals are able to commit these horrifying acts due to dissociation (Parkes, 1996; Zimbardo, 2007), whereby the victims were dehumanized and devalued, making the killings easier and making empathy with them unlikely. The Hutus dehumanized the Tutsis, referring to them as ‘inyenzi’ meaning cockroach, in their minds reducing them to animals (Barker, 2004), making it easier to kill them. Reversal of morality is also commonly present in genocides (Suedfeld, 2000; Staub, Pearlman, Gubin & Hagengimana, 2005), whereby killing the victims ‘becomes the right, moral thing to do’ and it can be seen as a ‘racial cleansing’ for the good of the country (Mamdani, 2001).
To explain how people can turn into these evil, mass killers with no sense of remorse or understanding of what they have done (Finzch, 2005), the perpetrators must be examined on an individual level, as well as within the group. In the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda the perpetrators were described as ‘not human’, ‘pure evil’ and ‘killing machines amongst others (Barker, 2004). Some reasons put forward for their participation include they were conforming to the group, saying they were just ‘doing what others around them were doing’, they wanted to avoid suspicion they were hiding the enemy in their home, obedience to authority (Zimbardo, 2007), the knowledge of how to kill, with many Hutu members had already been given the opportunity of lessons on how to kill (Parkes, 1996), and Zuckerman (1994) proposes the individual trait of sensation seeking as an explanation, that these perpetrators were looking for a thrill and the perpetrators realized they received excitement out of killing. In the documentary, it was also stated that once these perpetrators made the first killing, it was easier to commit the second, and then once they had killed dozens of people, killing dozens more became insignificant and ‘normal’. During the day, they were had either ‘just killed and were looking to kill again, or hadn’t killed yet and needed to quench their thirst for a kill which they hadn’t done yet that day.’ Skinner (1968) also proposes a reinforcement theory, stating that rewards given for consequences will increase a behavior and the way to successfully and efficiently increase a behavior is to make the behavior ‘more frequent, more intense, more likely’. All of these influencing factors resulted in the mass participation of perpetrators and lead to a successful genocide in Rwanda.
Country factors: Rwanda
Other factors which can be seen to have aided the Hutus towards a successful genocide include Rwanda’s dense geographic settlement (Staub et al., 2005), a country history of institutions geared towards mass participation, the structure of their political system, in that the more power those who rule have, the less human rights and civil liberties of their people, then the more likely the rulers will commit genocide and mass murder (Parkes, 1996). All of these factors acting simultaneously on the Hutu tribe lead to the unfortunate and horrific but successful genocide that occurred in Rwanda.
It is clear that many impacting social psychological variables were present within Rwanda, and when they reach a ‘perfect storm’ or optimal level, genocide is highly likely. There have been many theories put forward for the explanations of genocide, but current thinking is that genocide includes a combination of all of them. Genocide ultimately begins with ethnic division and ‘us versus them’ patterns of thinking, which commonly stem from long held stereotypes and prejudices. With psychology’s contributions into genocide and their causes, warning signs and social psychological variables which could result in genocide can therefore hopefully be detected and future genocides prevented.
References
Barker, G. (2004). Ghosts of Rwanda [video recording]. United States of America: Public Broadcasting Services, (frontline). Viewed during Week 4 Lecture.
Eltringham, N. (2006). 'Invaders who have stolen the country': The Hamitic Hypothesis, Race and the Rwandan Genocide. Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 12(4), 425-446. Retrieved from Ebsco host database on the 30th of July, 2007.
Finzsch, N. (2005). 'It is scarcely possible to conceive that human beings could be so hideous and loathsome': Discourses of genocide in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America and Australia. Patterns of Prejudice, 39(2), 97-115.
Mamdani, M. (2001). When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Parkes, C.M. (1996). Genocide in Rwanda: Personal reflections. Mortality, 1(1), 95-110.
Skinner, B. (1968). The technology of teaching. New York: Appleton-Crofts.
Smith, D. N. (1998). The Psychocultural Roots of Genocide: Legitimacy and Crisis in
Rwanda. American Psychologist, 53:7, 743-753. Retrieved from Psychinfo database on the 7th of August, 2007.
Staub, E. (2003). The Psychology of Good and Evil. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Staub, E., Pearlman, M.A., Gubin, A. & Hagengimana, A. (2005). Healing, Reconciliation, Forgiving and the Prevention of Violence After Genocide or Mass Killing: An Intervention And It's Experimental Evaluation in Rwanda. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 24(3), 297-334.
Suedfeld, P. (2000). Reverberations of the Holocaust fifty years later: Psychology's contributions to understanding persecution and genocide. Canadian Psychology Psychologie Canadienne, 41(1), 1-9. Retrieved from Ebsco host database on the 11th of August, 2007.
Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House.
Links
Orphans of Rwanda – make a donation
http://www.orphansofrwanda.org/
General information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide
Official coordination site provides information on the activities and progress of the UN agencies working in Rwanda
http://www.unrwanda.org/
http://www.orphansofrwanda.org/
General information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide
Official coordination site provides information on the activities and progress of the UN agencies working in Rwanda
http://www.unrwanda.org/
Choice of topic
Well, I have to admit, that I have not only never been faced with so many choices for an essay topic, but so many interesting topics! I have found this semester of social psychology extremely interesting and now I am able to observe very easily and be reminded of a lot of different social psychological variables and factors each day. Although other psychology subjects I have studied have allowed me to do this, I find I that I can observe examples of social psychology every day, with so much ease and find my friends trying to snap me out of it a lot when we go to coffee or shopping or to parties and I find myself unknowingly observing and staring at others.
I found the choices for this blog particularly hard, and spent a substantial period of time actually trying to choose one. In the end I had to put all the topics in a hat and pick one out, and when I did so, it finally dawned upon me when doing so, that there was one in particular that I was hoping I would pull out of the hat, and so thatbecame my topic for this mini blog.
I have decided to focus on genocide for this blog, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am very interested in not only how a group of extremists could actually pull off a mass killing that is worthy of being labelled as a genocide, but also how normal people can turn into horrible, evil, killing machines. Also, as a child when we living in New York, my dad was working for the UN and did some peace keeping work in Rwanda, in the years leading up to the genocide, and he was always very reluctant to give me much detail into his time and experiences there, having now researched and studied the Rwandan genocide, and watched Ghosts of Rwanda in the lecture, I can now see why.
Although in this blog I have decided to focus on the genocide in Rwanda, I would be interested to study the contributing factors in the Holocaust in depth one day too.
I found the choices for this blog particularly hard, and spent a substantial period of time actually trying to choose one. In the end I had to put all the topics in a hat and pick one out, and when I did so, it finally dawned upon me when doing so, that there was one in particular that I was hoping I would pull out of the hat, and so thatbecame my topic for this mini blog.
I have decided to focus on genocide for this blog, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am very interested in not only how a group of extremists could actually pull off a mass killing that is worthy of being labelled as a genocide, but also how normal people can turn into horrible, evil, killing machines. Also, as a child when we living in New York, my dad was working for the UN and did some peace keeping work in Rwanda, in the years leading up to the genocide, and he was always very reluctant to give me much detail into his time and experiences there, having now researched and studied the Rwandan genocide, and watched Ghosts of Rwanda in the lecture, I can now see why.
Although in this blog I have decided to focus on the genocide in Rwanda, I would be interested to study the contributing factors in the Holocaust in depth one day too.
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