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The Safety Valve of Discrimination
We have come to consider our behaviours rational and our society civil. We have lost our humanity in the trade and have emerged as practicing capitalists. As we examine the changes inhistory which have allowed our present state of genocide, we notice that genocide is getting far more dangerous and more powerful. Like a boulder rolling down a hill, knocking into trees andflattening bushes, it gains more speed with its size. But in the modification of genocide, in itslearning from past genocides, it has come closer to us. It is no longer something that we fail towitness because it is out of our line of vision. It is closer to us not only because of its calibre but because its ability to affect more people. Each time the name of the invaluable changes, more people are implicated.The poor and destitute are necessary to the functioning of modern society. A class systemis only inevitable. We have examined the past in hopes to find answers on how we came to thismodern capitalism. It seems that it has been mapped out for us, the path through history whichhas led us to this place. This explanation of the past helps to situate the poor and destitute and tocompartmentalize and dissect these methods of capitalism, but it takes twice the energy anddouble the power and commitment to effect change. Certainly this will not happen over night. Itwill take centuries to undo what we have done. It is very likely we will never be human again.We have been robbed of an existence where we all eat at the same table. We have always pushed people to the bottom. We will never know the essence of humanity in modern society because we are incapable of it. There once was a time when we were civil but we have norecollection of a time like this. We have recollection of a time before we learned of this, butnever in our lives have we witnessed true humanity on a large scale.What is a society to do when they have no one to exploit? The practice of emigration as amethod in population redundancy was an acceptable development. But with so many other 
 
methods changing over the years, why have we chosen to continue this practice? The doors toimmigration will never close because we will always need to have a class that is capable of success, and a class that will exist to fail. This failure is systematic, it is comes from such anintense desire and inhumanity. Is it any wonder the poor and destitute retaliate?The masses have no choice. They can drink or smoke their woes away with agovernment cheque. They can engage in escapism to explain and forget their situation. Theycome from a place where they are known, they understand the rules and regulations of thatsociety, they are members. They are transferred to a life where they are needed but not valued.They are non members. They are needed here, but this is bittersweet because of the hostileenvironments they will face in this foreign nation. Their criminal activity is logical in a lifewhere no generosities have been granted. As the criminal activity turns to more severe, viciousacts of violence the criminal is incarcerated and institutionalized once again. They are beingforced to this unremorseful animality because they have nothing left to lose; they are in a countrythat is not their own, speaking a language the host country does not accommodate, in poor livingconditions, receiving a welfare cheque to sit at home. This monthly ‘donation’ of money to thosewho are unable to secure work is to subdue them. They can afford rent, some food, alcohol andcigarettes to get them though the month until their funds are exhausted. Once on welfare, it isnearly impossible to get off it. When the government announces cutbacks, those who receivenear nothing must retaliate. With no money to pay for those luxuries that numb the spirit, thereis no choice but to turn to viciousness. They are only treating others with the same ‘kindness’that they have been treated with.The more we examine history, the quicker we see what we are. Hitler’s Nazi Germany isthe logical extension of what we are today. Hitler is a modern man in this case, because the more
 
modern we become, the more aggressive, the more destructive, the more we are willing to kill.Is this our fate? Is this what my generation has to look forward to? More mass killings? Welook back in history and shake our heads and sigh, “Oh, that’s so sad!” and we are glad to be pastthis time. But I do not agree we have evolved beyond this. This may be pessimistic but why dowe insist that we have changed? Our very own racism has a strong presence in our institutions – granted, small modifications have been made to insist on equal treatment of non-whites, but thefact of the matter is, they continue to receive insufficient treatment, poor living conditions, lower incomes, etc. I fear that the compassion for those “less fortunate” does not extend outside theclassroom. So as we put on our glasses which have allowed us to see the truth, we hang our heads and say, “Oh my, the destruction!” but not enough that will fight to change it. If we are thelucky ones, the ones who have just enough food in our bellies and knowledge of genocide, thenwe have been chosen to step out and start fighting it. Must we educate the malnourished? Mustwe find them food first? This list of where to start seems endless.Freda Adler, President of the American Criminological Society for the 1994-1995 termonce stated, “Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical pretensions, a crime isanything that a group in power chooses to prohibit.” Excuse my negativity. Excuse myfrustration. But if Hitler’s Nazi Germany is what I have to look forward to, then please, countme out. If this is what it means to be Canadian, to systematically exclude those non-worthy, thenmaybe I do not want to be a Canadian. Is this in our blood? I have said before, “We have to ownthis crime.” Does that not also mean, we have to accept who we are? In even asociology/nursing class of our size, how many of us will fight for what we believe outside theclassroom? To whom will we give charity to make ourselves feel better? We bear with us the
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