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  • 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.

      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.

      • 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.

        • "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.

          • 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.

            • 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 (c) of the definition.

              • 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.

78 comments