So I haven't posted any tidbits about important news events lately so here goes:Milosevic died the other day and I couldn't be happier. Does that make me a cold individual? Maybe, but if you were around when Stalin passed on would you not feel a tinge of happiness?
His death though brings about some interesting questions. My first one is how will history remember him or will it at all? I imagine he'll actually become a blurb in American history considering that hasn't been any images or strong evidence of mass graves. If we would have seen the carnage he created it would've hit home more with the collective conscious.
The same goes with Stalin really. When we think of terrible genocidal dictators Hitler comes first to mind, but Stalin, who reportedly is responsible for more deaths than Hitler, is not well known for his tyrant ways. Come to think of it I've never seen an American film dedicated to the tragedy that was the gulags. They may be out there.
I think Milosevic, like Pol Pot, will be largely forgotten and that's really sad. The lessons of genocide still have been ingored throughout the world. West Africa is a good example.
"Yugoslavia is a multinational community and it can survive only under the conditions of full equality for all nations that live in it." - Slobodan Milosevic
MilosevicÂ’s son: Belgrade funeral not allowed
2 comments:
I think he will be remembered as a murderous tyrant in a small country (or a few countries) few in the West cared about. You called it right about him being like Pol Pot, but I think you're wrong about the attention both will get in history.
Pol Pot was in history books already when I was in school, and I'm sure he still is. Many know who he is, and at least have an idea what he did. While neither Pot nor Milosevic will be the great bogeyman that Hitler is in our culture, I don't think they'll be forgotten or relegated to a footnote.
See I disagree with the whole Pol Pot being remembered. Most people I know, at least in my generation, have no clue who Pol Pot was or if they did they learned all they know from watching 'The Killing Fields'. Maybe this is more telling of the crowds we hang out and the difference in education we received, but I'm one of the few of my friends who know Pol Pot's regime even moderatley well.
I hope you're right and I'm wrong on this.
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