• Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    8 days ago

    Indian Schools were boarding schools that forced kids to use English. That is not the same.

    I gave two scenarios here: Public schools not teaching Russian in Ukraine and a hypothetical scenario where the very real American enclaves in Mexico were prevented from celebrating U.S. independence day if Mexico were invaded and asked if those were genocide. Neither of them fit that list and yet I have been told the former is genocide and, despite three responses, the latter has yet to be even responded to.

    So I will ask both again, rephrasing one of them:

    1. There are lots of Chinese-Americans in the U.S. If no U.S. public school taught Mandarin, would that be genocide?

    2. There are American cultural enclaves in Mexico. If the U.S. invaded Mexico and Mexico told those cultural enclaves they couldn’t celebrate the 4th of July, would that be genocide?

    I would really appreciate an answer. Because if the answer to both questions, especially the first one, is ‘yes,’ the genocide is, as I said, not all that horrific.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 days ago
      1. No, because in that scenario there’s a choice. Chinese Americans have the choice of attending schools where their language and culture is taught.

      2. Absolutely. Because it’s attempting to stamp out a language and culture with no alternative.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        8 days ago

        Isn’t that similar to celebrating Russian Independence Day on June 12th in Ukraine? Or celebrating Hitler’s Birthday in Britain after they joined the war? I just don’t see how that’s genocidal. It’s not allowing people to celebrate the enemy.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 days ago

          “Enemy” is a relative term. Imprisoning the Japanese in internment camps was a genocidal act. It was an attempt to eliminate a culture because of a perception that they were “the enemy” when they were not.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            8 days ago

            But I am not talking about Japanese internment camps nor am I justifying them. Again, I am talking about celebrating the independence day of the country invading yours. I just don’t see how banning that is genocide.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              8 days ago

              You’re talking about “the enemy” which, as noted, is a relative term.

              Actively quashing a culture with the intent to eliminate it is genocide. That’s item © of the definition.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                8 days ago

                I gave a specific scenario. A country refusing to let people celebrate the independence day of the invading force. Which is who I was defining as “the enemy,” and I’m not sure how you weren’t clear on that. In this case, “the enemy” is Russia, which I think you agree with me about.

                And I just do not see how Ukraine banning the celebration of Russian independence day counts as genocide.