How Does One Define Evil?

Genocides are classified by an eight stage process that explains the causes and identifying factors of a genocide. Both the Holocaust and Holodomor are prime examples of genocides, and although the eight stages of genocide are shown through both, they were implemented differently in some aspects. The Holodomor, a genocide in the 1930’s targeting Ukrainians, was similar to the Holocaust through the stages of classification, organization, polarization, and denial, but different in the ways of preparation, extermination, dehumanization, and symbolism.

In the beginning of 1932, the Soviet government had sharply increased the Ukraine's production quotas in the collectivized farms. This ensured that the people would not be able to meet them. This resulted in an even larger widespread of starvation. In the summer of 1932, Stalin ordered a decree that called for the arrest or execution of any person that was caught taking any amount of grain or food item from their place of work. This led to military blockades stationed around many Ukrainian villages, preventing food from coming in and the starving people from going out in search of food. Soviet guards were brought into the villages to confiscate any hidden grain. Eventually all food from any farmer’s home was taken. When news of the Famine reached the outside world, food supplies were sent from the United States and Britain, however through Stalin, the shipments were denied and new policies from the Soviet Union that denied their part in the famine refused all outside aid were instilled. Stalin refused entry even to journalists, as he feared the media would reveal the Soviet Unions’ crimes against the Ukraine.

John Locke has always believed that when you are born, you are born good. What makes someone evil is not inherited as you enter the world but the people and situations that impact you in it. Everyone has an impact on you from your parents to the peers you surround yourself with.

Imagine living with little to no food and the only food source being the people around? The people in Ukraine had no choice but to live without food during the years of 1932 and 1933. Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union caused his own people to die due to starvations. The Soviet Union used starvation to ¨control¨ the Ukraine population so that the peasants did not come above everyone else. In 1933 the citizens were freed but they did not feel free because the whole time they had to please Stalin so they still felt as if they broke the rules they would be killed (Mass). Everything they did was meant to be for Stalin but they felt more as if it was for their survival. Most of the genocide classification requirement were covered excluding symbolization. Holodomor was classified as the crime against humanity and was the man made genocide. There was no escape, only starvation, collective farms, torture, and exterminations.

The Holocaust is something that we must never forget. Its occurrence relied only “upon the indifference of bystanders in every land” (Zukier). Even today we stand by while innocent lives are taken. The recent conflicts in Rwanda or Bosnia, or past conflicts in Cambodia, are merely three examples. Wherever genocide occurs one thing is sure to happen– individual lives become lost in massive numbers and the tolls are so large

Nearly eighty years ago, Ukraine, “the breadbasket of Europe” suffered an awful famine caused by the Soviet Union. The starvation affected nearly every part of Ukraine, but it was most murderous in the south and east regions of the republic. On January 5, 1930, the Communist Party started Collectivization, the most inefficient agricultural system in existence, which is when trouble began to brew. This process forced all peasants to live on different food surrogates. Because they endured communal farming in their past, the Russian peasantry did not revolt against Moscow. The Ukrainian peasants, on the other hand, were used to an independent and individualized farming tradition, so the Russian communism was completely foreign to them, and they opposed Moscow bitterly. The slaughtering of their livestock before joining was one way the Ukrainian farmers showed disapproval to collectivization. The government later passed a death penalty for this kind of action. Although the Holocaust in Ukraine had been just as cruel as the rest of it anywhere else during World War II, many history books overlook the terrible genocide

The Holodomor is a twentieth century “genocide” that was carried out, dismissed by, and hidden from global examination for several years. Although there are theories, but no real explanation as to why and how this atrocity was carried out. It appears this action could only be completed by the leader of a totalitarian government. The Holodomor is used to describe death by starvation and comes from two Ukrainian words “holod,” meaning starvation or hunger, and “moryty,” to inflict death. In the western parts of the world, this macabre famine was little acknowledged. How and why did this happen and who was responsible for the death of these millions? The history of the Famine is still questioned.

The genocide in the USSR is connected with the policies of social engineering carried out under Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s against the Kludks. Kludks are farmers or peasants that were referred to as vampires by the previous leader Lenin. On January 1990 communist party of Ukraine adopted a policy. Stalin felt that Ukrainian nationalism through religion and culture could overpower the people's loyalty to the USSR (Soviet par. 2). Later the law of “Five Ear of grain” was put into act, anyone who was caught stealing would be shot or imposed for stealing from the “socialist party” (par. 3). Quotas for grains were raised and blockades were formed around villages blocking any imports or exports leaving the villages

The atrocities of the Belgian Congo and the Holocaust are two of the main events in history that have been responsible for the mass murdering of millions of people. Although these events significantly changed the course of humanity, and the story behind each one is very different, there are significant factors that make them alike as well as different. Many would agree that comparing two atrocities that affected the lives of so many people and gave a 180-degree turn to each of their countries would be something very difficult to achieve. However, by comparing the behavior of both the perpetrators and the victims of both cases we might be able to further understand the lack of morality and the inspiration that led to these awful events.

Until the twentieth-century, the world was unfamiliar with the newly-named phenomenon known as genocide. The first instance of the mass killing of an ethnic group that proliferated throughout world news was the Holocaust. Under the Nazi Regime, the German government indiscriminately massacred millions of Jewish men, women and children. However, the Holocaust was by no means the first occurrence of a genocide. Historical evidence reveals a pattern of massacre on the basis of ethnicity that is markedly apparent in civilizations dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. While the Holocaust gave birth to the idea of genocide, civilizations throughout history have instituted the cruel methods of mass extermination since the introduction of

Over 62,587,797 and counting innocent people have lost their lives due to past and ongoing acts of genocide. Throughout this research paper you will learn about past genocides, genocide today, and what needs to be done to stop it. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people. Genocide in Darfur today has claimed over 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people. More than 100 people die each day; 5 thousand die every month. It is an unpleasant situation, that has gone on for over 100 years in numerous countries. 5,290,000 people died in the Holocaust death camps, due to Adolf Hitler believing that the Jews were the cause of Germany’s economic crisis and began what was called the “ Final Solution”. Genocide is unacceptable,

For centuries human beings have been questioning the existence of God. This has led to numerous questions and theories. For instance, if God is all-know, all-loving, all-powerful then why does he allow tragedies, natural disasters and overall bad things to occur? Is he willing to remove all evils but not able to? Then he must not be all powerful. The Greek philosopher Epicurus stated: is he able but not willing? Then God must not be all good. Is he able and willing? Then why is there evil? Or is God neither? In that case why is there a being called God? These particular questions lead to the problem of evil argument, which is an argument against the existence of God. Evil is all things that are bad in the world. There are two types of evil, moral and natural evil. This includes physical pain, emotional suffering, unfairness and morally wrong deeds. In this world that God has created his guidance and care has been almost non-existent. There are a large number of kind, innocent people who have experienced tragedy as a result of all the evil in the world, some have even lost their lives.

Husband committing a murder on his wife, father killing his daughter and animals experiencing humans hostile act is most disturbing yet realistic facts of the Dark Romanticism period. Romanticism is best described as a journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination. Dark romanticism is a literary sub-genre of Romanticism. It talks about nature, human nature, and the past. Edgar Allan Poe is called one of the most “brilliant but erratic” authors. He used many gothic elements (i.e. grotesque characters, violence, and abnormal events) in his writings.

The soviet government forcefully confiscated land, livestock and grouped the farmers in what is known as collective farming by which everything is owned and run by the state. They also increased Ukraine’s grain production quotas to such an extent were it was not possible to reach. There were also arrest, deportations and execution of lower class peasant and their families. This event was suppressed

I have long understood that the very idea of evil has ranging definitions, and my own idea has evolved somewhat as I have gained more experience in ministry and in the world. In leading confirmation classes and youth groups, I have sometimes discussed sin as a turning away from God, and evil may be seen as that to which sin leads. Luther affirms this idea, categorizing sin as an evil that inclines us toward evil. Dorothee Sölle seems to agree, though she notes this through the lens of relationship – specifically humanity’s relationship with God. Sölle would state that we as humans are broken and susceptible to narcissism, turning inward when we are called to focus outward. This isolation separates us not only from God but from God’s community and God’s creation.