Was 9/11 genocide ?

[Red Stranger]

Do you believe that the terrorist attacks on 911 was an act of genocide? It's the systematic killing of Americans solely based on the fact that they're Americans.

 

[Turner]

Genocide is when all of that ethnic, political, or ethnic group is killed off. Since we're still here, no, it wasn't genocide. I wouldn't even call it attempted genocide, as there was no way that the attacks on 9/11 could have brought about the systematic destruction of the US.

 

[Red Stranger]

So the Holocaust was not a genocide because there are still Jews left?

 

[bhsup]

Mass murder, but not genocide.

EDIT: Directed to the original question, NOT directed to the post above.

 

[Turner]

That was a genocidal attempt, because the intention was to cleanse the planet of the Jewish faith/religion/ethnic group.

Really, you can't compare the 9/11 attacks with the Holocaust.

 

[Irish Caesar]

It was a terrorist attack. Don't make it more than what it was.

 

[Red Stranger]

So there was never a time in history when there was a genocide? Since no campaign every completely wipe out a people.

 

[Turner]

Tell that to the American Indians.

 

[Fifty]

Tell that to the American Indians.

I know tons of American Indians. Are we talking about cultural genocide or actual genocide?

 

[Inqvisitor]

Do you believe that the terrorist attacks on 911 was an event of genocide? It's the systematic killing of Americans solely based on the fact that they're Americans.

But what makes them "Americans?" Certainly there were no specific ethnicities being targeted to qualify as genocide, just people who live under a common political system.

 

[Irish Caesar]

It's the systematic killing of Americans solely based on the fact that they're Americans.

I wouldn't call it systematic. aQ has made a few efforts over the years to kill some Americans every once in a while. If you can point out his system, there's some people in Washington who would love to hear from you.

 

[sanabas]

So there was never a time in history when there was a genocide? Since no campaign every completely wipe out a people.

Google 'chatham islands' or 'tasmanian aborigines'. Both examples of the complete wiping out of a population.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Tell that to the American Indians.

What happened to the natives, abhorrant and tragic as it was, is ethnic cleansing, not genocide. Despite Sherman's favorite quote, at no point was the total elimination of all American Indians official government policy. What was policy was the removal of Indians from the ever-expanding borders into more and more marginalized lands, with the odd massacre thrown in.

Genocide is the attempt to wipe out a complete cultural/ethnic/racial group. It can leave a larger percentage than an attempt at ethnic cleansing, but what matters is intent.

The terrorist attacks aren't even close. They are not trying to kill all Americans or remove us from where we are (the definition of ethnic cleansing) but to force us to change our policies and actions.

 

[Turner]

What happened to the natives, abhorrant and tragic as it was, is ethnic cleansing, not genocide. Despite Sherman's favorite quote, at no point was the total elimination of all American Indians official government policy. What was policy was the removal of Indians from the ever-expanding borders into more and more marginalized lands, with the odd massacre thrown in.

Genocide is the attempt to wipe out a complete cultural/ethnic/racial group. It can leave a larger percentage than an attempt at ethnic cleansing, but what matters is intent.

The terrorist attacks aren't even close. They are not trying to kill all Americans or remove us from where we are (the definition of ethnic cleansing) but to force us to change our policies and actions.

Ethnic cleansing is just another term for genocide. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day it's the same answer.

As for 'Official US Policy', Official US Policy was "Indians have what we want. Take it away from them." Be that from 'ethnic cleansing', 'assimilation', or the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

 

[puglover]

That was a genocidal attempt, because the intention was to cleanse the planet of the Jewish faith/religion/ethnic group..

Sorry for threadjacking but...

You have to remember that the Holocaust did not affect only Jews. While they are most associated as victims of the Holocaust, more Slavs were killed in concentration camps than Jews. Hitler wanted to genocide pretty much every non-European race, not just the Jewish people.

Ethnic cleansing is just another term for genocide. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day it's the same answer.

Genocide or not, that's for another time. Really though, we pretty much kicked the Indians off any piece of land we wanted and left them for dead in the wilderness or on the harsh marches to reservations. While we didn't actively want to destroy the Native American races, the Americans cared only about monetary profit, not about human life.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Ethnic cleansing is just another term for genocide. You can call it what you want, but at the end of the day it's the same answer.

As for 'Official US Policy', Official US Policy was "Indians have what we want. Take it away from them." Be that from 'ethnic cleansing', 'assimilation', or the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Actually, according to historians, they are distinct terms; ethnic cleansing is not just a euphemism for genocide. Ethnic cleansing is forcibly removing a group from an area without regard for that group's rights, but does not imply their total extinction as does genocide. The US government said, "Indians have what we want. Take it away from them." You are right about that. But they didn't say, "And we need to make sure that every last Indian is wiped off the face of the earth." The problem was that we would say, "We will take up to here, the Indians have the rest." Then a few decades later we would say the same thing, and so on until there was nowhere left for the Indians. We killed any who resisted too forcefully but usually if they went, we let them go. I know, real charitable, right?

 

[ainwood]

Google 'chatham islands' or 'tasmanian aborigines'. Both examples of the complete wiping out of a population.

There are still a few Moriori's (chatam island natives) alive. But very few.

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

Do you believe that the terrorist attacks on 911 was an event of genocide? It's the systematic killing of Americans solely based on the fact that they're Americans.

Genocide is the (successful or unsuccessful) attempt to eradicate an entire group of people. The attacks of 9/11, while they may be part of a bigger plan, were not in themselves genocide.

 

[The Yankee]

How could it be a genocide if the victims were indiscriminantly targeted?

 

[Cu Chulainn]

Of course not, the towers themselves were more the target than the actual people. Had they been trying to kill the maximum number of people there's no way they would have sent a plane at the Pentagon. The purpose was to target icons representing American power and to make sure everyone on earth knew that they could hit us. The people were merely collateral damage.