Stupid idiot f**ckers LAUGHING at showing of Hotel Rwanda today!

[liberalhistorian]

I went to see Hotel Rwanda today, since I've seen all of the Oscar-nominated movies and I wanted to include it since the lead actor was nominated.

To call it a "powerful and emotional" film is quite an understatement. I was very drained when it was over, also, even though I'd mentally prepared myself for an emotionally difficult experience. I remembered vividly when it all happened and how the U.N. and the world just stood by and did nothing, so I knew it wasn't going to be a piece of cake to watch. But the scene where the "European intervention" team that everyone had been expecting to save them came to save and evacuate only the whites and leave everyone else behind was beyond wrenching.

But what was really unbelievable was the reaction of several people in the audience. For some unfathomable reason, they seemed to think many scenes were funny, when they were anything but. They kept laughing throughout the movie, even in the really emotional scenes, while stuffing their faces with popcorn and hot dogs. I wanted to stand up and scream at them "what is so fucking funny?" Do they have ANY idea of scale of the slaughter and genocide and the horrible suffering endured by both those who were massacred and those who survived? Do they have ANY idea of how we and the west could have done SO much more to prevent it, especially since the U.N. and Clinton had advance warning of what was about to happen? Was it because the victims were black, and from an African country to boot, was racism the explanation as to why they didn't seem to give a shit? Do they have ANY idea how lucky they are to live in a country where that kind of thing isn't likely to happen and where we've never, ever suffered devastation of that kind?

What was especially sickening was when Don Cheadle's character was talking to a man he'd known for years, from whom he'd always bought supplies for his hotel from, and the man was saying how much better they'd all be when the country was rid of Tutsis. Cheadle asks if they honestly think they can kill all of the Tutsis in the country and the man becomes angry and says "why not? We're halfway there already!" (at this point, around 500,000 Tutsis, many women and children, had been massacred, including children from orphanages, NO ONE was safe). When he said that, some people snickered and seemed to giggle, and I couldn't believe it. Just WHAT was so FUCKING FUNNY? Was it funny to them to see blacks being massacred by the hundreds of thousands? Was it funny to them to see the oh-so-humanitarian U.N. and European intervention forces evacuate all the whites from the hotel and leave the blacks behind, including children from an orphanage who were being targeted by the murderers? God in heaven, what the fuck is wrong with people? Do they just not understand at all how horrible this really was?

I remember when it was happening, a local talk show host was discussing it and made the giggling comment that "how can you expect Americans to care about Africans murdering each other when the tribes involved are named the Hutus and the Tutsis? Un-fucking-believable!

[NMDemDist2]

1. some people react to emotional situations with giggling

or it could be too many video games :shrug:

[alphafemale]

5. Laughter evolved out of the startle reflex...didn't it?

Sometimes laughter is still somewhat involuntary.

I'd give the benefit of the doubt.

[liberalhistorian]

14. No, this was real laughter,

not a nervous emotional reaction. I know the difference. And they were stuffing their faces with popcorn and hot dogs while laughing at the massacre of nearly a million innocent people, too many of them women and children. The courage and humanitarianism of the Don Cheadle character was incredible.

[FreedomAngel82]

26. So rude and disrespectful

Why were they even there? They could've gone seen some other movie or something.

[Bigmack]

30. Junior High kids, usually.....nt

nt

[liberalhistorian]

33. No, these were

ADULTS, believe it or not, that's what made it so sickening. Had it been teenagers or junior high kids, that would have been a little more understandable.

[linazelle]

2. Too bad Cheadle didn't win an Oscar...I haven't seen it

but plan to. I only wish you had stood up--I can't imagine what would be funny either. But, the saying is true, ignorance knows no bounds.

[mattclearing]

46. I said the other day that the fact that either Cheadle or Foxx

will walk away without an Oscar simply because their movies came out in the same year kinda invalidates the whole thing.

[Taxloss]

3. The gigglers

Were probably the same crowd complaining that the tsunami-hit nations hadn't donated to the USA the last time Florida was hit by a hurricane. They just don't get it. And thy wonder why people hate America.

[liberalhistorian]

15. That's a good point!

I remember hearing things like that after the tsunami with total disbelief that people could be that stupid. Some local idiot also wrote in to our paper that we shouldn't do a "damn thing" for the tsunami victims because most of them were Muslims and Muslims had all danced in the street after 9/11, so he basically said the hell with them. Fortunately, there were several letters denouncing him for it after it appeared.

[ryan_cats]

47. What burns me up...

What burns me up is when the people that say such things also claim to be Christians. As a Christian, I hate it when the most intolerant people claim to ge their intolerance and hatred from the Bible. They must read a different translation. Who cares what religion or race these vicitms are, they are human beings.

I'm glad people wrote in to denounce such idocy.

[diamond14]

4. are you in a RED state?

when I saw the movie, it was deadly silence, with an occasional sob from those who were quietly crying....


my only idea is that you were sitting in a theatre with a whole bunch of those 'compassionate conservative' reTHUGlicans.....


bush* is the same....he laughed while the twin towers were falling...cracking jokes at an elementary school, while he SAT THERE, reading a goat book....and bush* frequently laughs and cracks jokes at very very solemn events...


people who LAUGH at massacres are truly psychotic, like bush*...they ENJOY and AMUSE themselves with KILLING....

[liberalhistorian]

10. I'm in Ohio,

near Cleveland. While Cleveland itself is pretty liberal, the suburbs, where I am, are far more conservative. The conservatives I've known who've seen it, however, didn't have that reaction at all.

[FreedomAngel82]

27. Were they young?

Maybe that's why? :shrug: Sometimes young teenagers are just immature.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

6. I can sympathize

I saw Million Dollar Baby last night and there was a group of about eight seventh graders there, laughing, making fart noises, talking loudly,etc. Finally, towards the end, the ushers escorted them out. The theater burst into applause.

[ultraist]

11. They were either distracted 7th graders or some very demented people

Only a very mentally disturbed person would find that type of scene funny.

Maybe they were just distracted adoloscents. Let's hope so.

[liberalhistorian]

17. I'd cut the 7th graders

some slack, they are young adolescents, after all, and they really, in all likelihood, just did not understand. I know I sure wouldn't have at that age. But these were ADULTS I'm talking about.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

24. These were adults?

What a bunch of heartless bastards! I'd have been tempted to do something that would have landed me in jail.

[FreedomAngel82]

28. I don't get why they were there

Unless it was something for school? :shrug: Why would you waste money like that?

[Hissyspit]

7. What did they buy tickets for? n/t

[bpilgrim]

8. did they show how talk radio played a large role in stirring up the hate

and ultimately the violence.

that is what scares the shit out of me about our own version of the brown shirts :scared:

it is unconscionable to allow these fools to spread their RACISM all day long 5 days a week on hate radio :puke:

peace

[liberalhistorian]

18. Yes, they did, actually, they showed

how radio was an integral part of the lives of all of the Rwandans, and how the Hutu rebels used it to whip up the fervor and hate against the Tutsis.

[bpilgrim]

32. i am very glad they did and i hope people become motivated to raise their

collective voices against our own racist agitators and promoters of hate and violence on talk radio.

thanks for the info :toast:

peace

[Sapphire Blue]

9. Revisiting the Passion of the Christ

Revisiting the Passion of the Christ
by Brian D. McLaren


An excerpt:


Maybe it's because I spent time last summer in Burundi, the poorer twin sister of Rwanda that shares a similar history, tribal makeup, geography, culture, and terrifying undercurrent of genocide. Maybe it's because while I was there, I met Anglican priests serving in Rwanda who told personal stories of the tragedies there - and their efforts to bring healing and reconciliation in the aftermath. Maybe it's because (some readers may be tempted to write me off after reading this sentence) I was so frustrated by last year's promotional hype surrounding Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ - and I was so frustrated by the movie itself, though I know many found it moving and spiritually edifying. Maybe it's because I have deep concerns about the alignment of major sectors of Christianity with "red-state Republicanism," and I worry that a kind of modernist, nationalist neo-fundamentalism is trying to claim all Christian territory as its sovereign domain.

For whatever reason, when I walked out of the 2005 film Hotel Rwanda this thought wouldn't leave me: If we really had the mind and heart of Christ, this is the movie we would be urging people in our churches to see. In fact, I can't think of a more worthwhile experience for Christian leaders than to watch Hotel Rwanda and then ask themselves questions like these:

Which film would Jesus most want us to see, and why?

Why did so many churches urge people to see Gibson's film, and why did so few (if any?) promote Terry George's film? What do our answers to that question say about us?

What were the practical outcomes of millions of people seeing Gibson's film? And what outcomes might occur if equal numbers saw Hotel Rwanda - as an act of Christian faithfulness?

In what sense could Hotel Rwanda actually be titled The Passion of the Christ?

What do we make of the fact that a high percentage of Rwandans who participated in the 1994 genocides were churchgoers?

What do we make of the fact that a high percentage of the Americans who ignored the 1994 genocides (then and now) were and are churchgoers?

What kind of repentance does each film evoke in Western Christians? Why might the kind of repentance evoked by Hotel Rwanda be especially needed during these important days in history?

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_archives&mode=current_opinion&article=CO_050209_mclaren

[liberalhistorian]

12. WOW! What a powerful

and truthful piece of writing, thanks for posting it. And that is, indeed, an excellent point and I've often wondered how people who claim to be Christian can have that kind of indifferent attitude toward things like this.

I left my own church of ten years a few months ago, not only because it was getting far more right-wing than I was comfortable with and the results of the election caused a real rift in the church, but because of just the kind of attitude from "Christians" that he describes. I remember reading that even native Rwandan Catholic priests became involved in the genocide, and being shocked that the church didn't do more to deal with that.

[Sapphire Blue]

19. And as I write this....

the genocide of our brothers & sisters in Darfur continues.

May God / Allah / the Creator / YHWH / Waheguru have mercy on us and awaken our souls.

http://www.darfurgenocide.org/

[liberalhistorian]

21. Amen!

And may we awaken soon and may we be forgiven for our past and current apathy and indifference.

[FreedomAngel82]

29. I know what you mean

My church isn't so bad and politics haven't come up luckily. Whew. But I'm going to try to promote this movie if I can if the opportunity comes up. I saw the main actor on the "Daily Show" and they showed a clip and it looks like a great movie. I'm not a theatre person so I'll probably wait till it comes on HBO or something. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

13. In a way, I was hoping "Hotel Rwanda" was the winner for best picture.

Imo, it deserves it.

[dsc]

16. I don't think it was nominated

Million Dollar Baby, Aviator, Ray, Neverland, and Sideways were.

[liberalhistorian]

20. It only got nominations for acting;

Don Cheadle as the main character, the hotel manager who shelters over a thousand people in his hotel, and the actresss who played his wife. Neither one of them won. It also got a nomination for best original screenplay, but lost to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Go figure.

[dsc]

22. Eternal Sunshine probably deserved it

Given the amount of this story which came from events, it was probably much easier to write.

[paineinthearse]

23. a local talk show host was discussing it

Deja vu???

You say "local", but I remember hearing that from some source or another, perhaps it was a news account.

No excuse for the theatre or the radio morons.

[Elidor]

25. Their laughter may have been unrelated to the film.

Many people seem to go to theaters with little regard for what they're watching. It's almost a social occasion for some. (Annoying, but true.)

[liberalhistorian]

34. Well, if they consider

it a "social occasion", they could at least have picked a more "social occasion" movie!

[underseasurveyor]

31. I can't imagine laughing at genocide

Even if it were a fictional story I couldn't laugh at such horror. But since this is a true story and a desperately sad event in human history the laughter is all the more disturbing.

People are so bassackwards any more. They believe fictional stories and characters as real-life events/ people and the true life events and facts as preposterous nonsense:crazy:

I may not stand up and scream but knowing me as I do I'd say something to my SO like, what kind of sick bastard laughs at genocide and murder, loud enough to be heard by.....well, not just my SO :-)

I haven't seen Hotel Rwanda myself. I don't know that I'm strong enough. I've read of many horrific tales of brutal rapes, indiscriminate mass slaughter and unimaginable survival and maybe I make it out to be worse in my head, but I don't think so :-(
Not this time :cry:

[love wins]

35. thank you

Thank you for this thread, and for all the well spoken replies, particularly the person who posted what that minister said in regards to the movie Passion of Christ.

I would like you to reconsider one sentence of your original post:

"Do they have ANY idea how lucky they are to live in a country where that kind of thing isn't likely to happen and where we've never, ever suffered devastation of that kind?"

My mother's tribe had 4 survivors. we are Native American.


This is not to criticize you for what you incorrectly said, but to help please remember, that it CAN happen "here".

Thank you again.

[Sapphire Blue]

40. And this country celebrates Columbus Day

Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress
excerpted from a
People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn


An excerpt:



Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold. They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor.

Now, from his base on Haiti, Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend. In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, who reported that, although the slaves were "naked as the day they were born," they showed "no more embarrassment than animals." Columbus later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.

The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.
Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.

When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html

[underseasurveyor]

44. South Dakota doesn't recognize columbus day

Much less celebrate it :thumbsup:

Third World Traveler's a great website isn't it :-)

[Judi Lynn]

58. Thanks, Sapphire Blue,for the Howard Zinn excerpt.

Prompted me to buy the book at Amazon immediately after reading. I had NEVER heard before that Columbus started trying to ship the native Americans back to Europe as slaves.

Isn't it funny how much information has NOT been included in our standard school history classes? It's definitely vital to get the real story, no matter how long it takes.

[Sapphire Blue]

62. Columbus as the 'conquering hero' that 'discovered' America

is just a part the historical fiction that children are brainwashed with in school. Yeah, I was taught all that propaganda, too. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the rabbit hole! I have given copies of "A People's History" to my grandkids to help ensure that they don't live in the rabbit hole. Also gave them copies of "A Problem From Hell - America and The Age of Genocide" by Samantha Power, among other books. Much better than video games.
And they actually read these books.... there is hope in the next generation.

[newyawker99]

43. Hi love wins!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[liberalequestrian]

36. ReTHUG had similar, "doesn't matter" response

Was at an event this weekend with a Rethug... Had already listening to complaining about California being so 'left wing' and his gun rights. Despite my avid gun control beliefs, I kept silent as I do need to 'keep the peace'.

Anyway, a woman at said event was wearing a button that said "Ask me about Rwanda". The rethug brought this up- "I already know everything I g--da-n want to know about Rwanda and where does she get off thinking she can tell me anything! I don't want to know any more!"

The ignorance... just slays me.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. Yeah, well, that meth will eat holes in your brain.

Other than that, I don't have any explanation whatsoever.

[KT2000]

38. Sounds like they were loaded

stuffing their faces and laughing? They probably could not figure out what the movies was about and quit paying attention.

[Swamp Rat]

39. I would've shouted "shut the fuck up you racist bastards!"

There's no way I would have let them "enjoy" the rest of that movie in that manner. :grr:

[alphafemale]

41. hotel rwanda gogglers

This is not alphafemale, but her spouse Robert. I could not
help but respond. We missed the opportunity to see this film
yesterday, and I am curious what kind of experience our
friends that did go had. It is now a priority for me to see
this film, though I am already concerned about how I might
react to the situation you described.Those who know me will
understand when I say that I would probably have confronted
the gigglers and ended up being escorted from the theater, and
that's the best case scenario.
While I certainly don't defend the actions of audience members
described,I think there is a plausible explanation. Horror,
terror and naked fear often bring about an inappropriate
response. I remember when Jeffrey Dahmer was all over the
news, and jokes were being made about "charging an arm
and a leg" or saying he enticed his victims over by
asking them to "give him a hand" and people would
laugh uproariously, because how else does one process the fact
that someone who looks, acts,walks, talks etc,like us, how
could one of us perform such sickening acts. It points to the
fact that anyone of us, in a given set of circumstances, might
be capable of such acts, and in our turning away from that
knowledge, we react  inappropriately, subconsciously, and
humanly.

[Sapphire Blue]

42. Again, I say....

May God / Allah / the Creator / YHWH / Waheguru have mercy on us and awaken our souls.

[Julius Civitatus]

45. There were people laughing and hooting when I saw "Saving Private Ryan"

in a theater, 6 years ago.

They had such a good time. It was like they were playing a videogame. Every vivid shot, every gut-wrenching scene of carnage just produced hollers and laughter. They would scream out loud expletives and even clap at the most morbid of battle scenes.

I felt tempted at times to throw something at them. It took great restraint. Overall, they ruined the movie for me and many of the sensible people at the theater.

I wonder if they would laugh that much if the draft comes. I wonder how many of those wanna-be gangsta punks are now serving in Iraq.

[Blue Wally]

48. When I was a kid

back in the late 40s and early 50s, the movies in the evening were like symphonies, ballets, or live theater when it came to decorum and behavior. You had to keep in line or you were out of there (also no unescorted kids under 12 allowed). I think that watching TV as a group converted peole, to having a conversation while watching a movie that carried over to the theater.

Saturday matinees, however, were for kids with kid's fare featured. there was a lot of conversation and yelling. When the cowboy was standing there oblivious to the bad guy or the indians sneraking up on him, there would be shouts of "watch out!" or "turn around!" from the audience. As the cavalry rode in to the rescue, there would be loud cheers. The ushers cut a lot of slack to kids at Saturday matinees. Teenagers went to drive-ins to enjoy a social night out and not to movie theaters.

[Dorian Gray]

49. Wow...

I saw this movie on Martin Luther King Day (back in January), in Forrest Hills, Queens. The audience was about 50-50% White/Black. There was absolutely no laughter. The whole audience was in tears the whole time. There were loud sobs at particular times, but DEFINITELY no laughter. I don't know who could have possibly laughed at this film.

I loved it. It was my favorite of the past year, and I wish that this had won the Oscar. (For any of the categories!)

[liberalhistorian]

50. Indeed, it should have garnered far more

attention from the Academy and won some Oscars. I don't understand why it didn't, it was far more important than stupid boxing or a millionaire's OCD and obsession with aviation, etc. Not that those movies weren't good, also, but Hotel Rwanda eclipsed them all, I think.

I think the West is still uncomfortable with stories like this and with the fact that we didn't do shit other than evacuate WHITES from the country and leave the blacks behind.

[E_Smith]

51. i saw it last night

I thought it was great. I wonder what Clinton feels like watching that movie. The only time anyone laughed in the theatre were at a couple of the intended comic relief parts--like when the wife is holding the shower head out and Cheadle says "what were you going to do with THAT?" I was glad they threw in some humor because the movie really was gut wrenching.

One of my friends at the movie though votes Repub, and guess what, he found the movie BORING and too melodramatic!

I think most Repubs just have cold hearts.

[theboss]

52. Odd story.

I really doubt anyone spends $10 to see a movie to make fun of it.

[theboss]

53. Reminds me of the Seinfeld with "Schindler's List"

Remember where Jerry and his date made out during the movie?

[reorg]

54. I'd take a somewhat different view

I watched the movie, too, and thought it was well done, and especially liked the impressive performance by Don Cheadle. He seems to be a quite talented guy - I remember his perfect rendition of some evil black gangster in "Out of Sight" - the type that Elmore Leonard likes to portray (always overdoing it a bit, however in a comical way).

When his character in Hotel Rwanda asks the rebel kingpin if he really thinks they can kill all the Tutsis, you have to keep in mind that this well-educated and well-informed hotel manager only seems to realize in this very moment that genocide is what the rebels are up to.

Even though he becomes sort of a hero in the course of the story, I wouldn't say he is exactly that from the start. He is one of those who would rather look the other way if they or their family are not directly affected, remember? They took away his neighbor, and he didn't do anything, despite being prodded by his wife - and there are other scenes making clear that he is supposed to be your typical well-connected, self-absorbed, corrupt member of the African "middle class" which comprises only the tiniest percentage of people south of the Sahara with living standards comparable to our own.

So the answer of this warlord is a signal that he finally has to take a stand - either cooperate and consort with the genocidal killers (as he does up to this point, however "innocently": ignoring the boxes with knifes, accepting, even using the rebel "uniform", and paying the Tutsi bosses their "dues") or realize that you have to fight them. Or at least run away as fast as you can, the latter of which he is lucky enough to accomplish in the end.

There is an element of surprise in this answer, which may make him realize that his usual wiggle and twist will not suffice this time. And this may by the reason why some people react to this scene with a giggle.


I liked this movie, and especially this character, which I found convincing because it is not painted in black and white.

I'm not so sure if I find the main message of the story, if I understand it correctly, equally convincing: The Africans, left to their own devices, will on occasion recklessly kill off each other if we don't intervene.

This, and the complete lack of historical / political background to the story, as well as the "priviledged" setting - typical, maybe unavoidable, for a Hollywood movie. I guess we have to watch movies from Africa itself to learn about those people who are not hotel managers or white tourists and are usually the victims in the African killing fields?


Some interesting info on what may really have happened in Rwanda:

Second Thoughts on the Hotel Rwanda
Boutros-Ghali: a CIA Role in the 1994 Assassination of Rwanda's President Habyarimana?
By ROBIN PHILPOT

http://www.counterpunch.com/philpot02262005.html

[E_Smith]

55. just to correct you

it was not the "rebels" that were committing genocide, it was the Hutus in power killing the Tutsis. the character he asks that question to is a Hutu importer.

I agree with your analysis of the character, he changed from being an ass-kisser to realizing the euros didn't give a crap about Africans, including himself... he probably thought of himself as special and respected by his rich bosses--but when push came to shove they let him twist in the wind. At least for a while.

[reorg]

60. not sure about that

I just used common terminology - without any claim that this would be the "correct" one ...

If you do a search on "hutu rebels" you will find any number of links to newspaper articles labelling thus the:

>> The Interahamwe, who led the genocide of more than 500,000 Rwandan Tutsis in 1994 (...)

Who are the Interahamwe?

A Hutu militia involved in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
The name means: 'Those that attack together'.
Many have fled into exile in the DR Congo.

(...) <<

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/290143.stm

I think it is clear that the "importer" in Hotel Rwanda is meant to belong to this militia, and is obviously some kind of boss, supplier and profiteer at the same time.

The movie does a pretty good job in deconstructing the meme that this was an "ethnic" conflict, BTW: remember the remarks on differences between Hutus and Tutsis at the beginning? And the focus is on a Hutu who is being victimised for NOT joining the killing spree ...

There are theories and calculations that a similar number of "moderate Hutus" were killed by the militia as were Tutsis - and there are many stories of revenge mass killings by "Tutsi rebels" of Hutu refugees later. And if I remember correctly, one of the first militia victims after the "moderate Hutu" president Habyarimana's plane had been shot down was another "moderate Hutu" government member.


>> COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Ten years after the Rwandan genocide, perhaps the worst mass killings of recent times, the historical record and basic facts need major correction, according to new research from the University of Maryland.

The study, which international prosecutors are using, concludes that many of those killed may not have been minority Tutsis, as commonly believed, but majority Hutus. "Beyond the ethnic slaughter that ravaged Rwanda, there was a totalitarian purge, a politicide, going on at the same time that accounts for many of the victims," says University of Maryland political scientist Christian Davenport, (...)

"Our research strongly suggests that many of the victims, possibly even a majority, were Hutus - there weren't enough Tutsis in Rwanda at the time to account for all the reported deaths," Davenport says. "Either the scale of the killing was much less than is widely believed, or more likely, a huge number of Hutus were caught up in the violence as inadvertent victims. The evidence suggests the killers didn't try to figure out who everybody was. They erred on the side of comprehensiveness."

Davenport's research shows that the killings began with a small, dedicated cadre of Hutu militiamen, but quickly cascaded in an ever-widening circle, with Hutu and Tutsi playing the roles of both attackers and victims. "When you add it all up, it looks a lot more like politically motivated mass killing than genocide," he says. "A wide diversity of individuals, both Hutu and Tutsi, systematically used the mass killing to settle political, economic and personal scores."

...

Christian Davenport - professor, government and politics; director, Radical Information Project, University of Maryland.
Expertise: Rwandan genocide; political violence; human rights violations; state repression; radical politics and fringe groups; media and politics

<<

http://newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=898


on edit: quote added

[reorg]

65. correction

now I see what you probably meant: I said "paid Tutsi bosses" instead of "Hutu bosses" somewhere. Sorry about that. Still confused, apparently by too many uhs.

Don't remember anything about the Tutsi rebels (as opposed to the Hutu rebels) in this movie, except in the last scene or so.

[AngryAmish]

56. Who the hell eats hot dogs at the movies?

Those things are gross.

[tanyev]

57. Maybe it's the "action movie-ization" of our society.

Macho hero blows away bad guy(s), makes wisecrack. Laughs all around. This formula repeats itself countless times through nearly all action movies, which usually do pretty well at the box office, though I personally don't understand why. Our president is a fan of the genre. I'm sure he sees himself as a macho action hero and that could explain in part the inappropriate comments he constantly makes when talking about evil or the enemy.

Maybe the people who laughed at Hotel Rwanda are so desensitized to real atrocities that they didn't even understand the point of this movie.

[roguevalley]

59. they did this during Schindler's List. Dumb fucks. They are ignorant

it freaked spielberg out and he had people come in and make it real. some asses need to hear it from survivors to get that its real.

[journalist3072]

61. Two things that stand out in my mind....

1. When Susan Sarandon was on AAR, and she said as she left the theater after viewing Hotel Rwanda, she turned to her friend and said "Do you remember what we as a country were talking about while this was going on? OJ Simpson!" And I thought, wow, she's so right. While genocide was going on, we were too busy focusing on OJ and his Bronco!

2. After the tragedy in Rwanda, the international community basically said "never again." Many countries said they would never again turn a blind eye to genocide. Well hello, it's happening again, this time in Sudan. And surprise, the international community has basically turned a blind eye. Sad!

[Vox_Reason]

63. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm not surprised.

Let's face it--many conservatives derive great enjoyment from portrayals or reports of suffering by minorities that they hate. How many tasteless jokes came out of the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases in NYC?

And be honest now--how would the Newt Gingrich congress have reacted if Bill Clinton announced that he was going to intervene in Rwanda? Behind closed doors, they would have been completely indignant about tax dollars going to assist "a bunch of primitive porch monkeys with no oil", to put it much more tamely than they would have.

The people in the theater laughed because they like the idea of lots of dead black people. Simple as that. This is the conservative mindset that we are up against, and the sooner we recognize the depth of the sickness, the sooner we will be able to respond appropriately.

"Moral values", my ass.

[Kat45]

64. Wes Clark wanted the US to do something in Rwanda

When he found out what was going on, he was aghast and thought we should be doing something. Nobody was interested.

[Geek_Girl]

66. Maybe they were stoned

:shrug: