People Hating People throughout History

Racism is one of the biggest problems today. As we look back, a considerable measure of our history is based on racial discrimination, hatred, and African Americans being treated as slaves. The Shadow of Hate revolves around a history of intolerance in America, and how the origins of race affected American people. The Shadow of Hate was an eye opener as it shows how the native Americans, Japanese Americans, African Americans, Jews, and Hispanics were treated back in the days. In this paper, I am going to summarize the documentary and compose my perspectives on what I think about it.

They have been stripped from everything from material items to culture and humanity. In this section, it is shows how the Nazi’s are trying to strip everything away in a horrible mannerism that the concept is difficult to explain in any language and a new language is brought from the pain and suffering that is happening. Another exampling of the dehumanization in Auschwitz is prisoners being stripped from everything they had, including their identity. “I have learned that I am Haftling. My number is 174517”(pg 13). Haftling in German means prisoner. The final step has been acted on. Those in the prison are officially stripped from their identity and given a number. This not only shows how they are being seen, which is basically nothing since they are just a number now, but also this show the ultimate plan to dehumanize their prisoners. They have been taken away from families, culture and life. Once someone takes away your identity, does one really

In society today many citizens feel violated with the security methods taken by homeland security. “On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States marked the beginning of the global war on terrorism. The methods used are justifiable as they provide protection against possible threats or attacks. This attack on U.S. soil increased surveillance of both American citizens and foreign nationals” (Andrew, C., & Walter,

From then on, I had no other name” (Wiesel 42). The minorities in the concentration camps are no longer individuals, but are dehumanized into empty shells of themselves. The longer they remain in camps, the more they are reduced to a mere physical presence, losing their selves to their self-preservation instinct, and eventually becoming just hungry, nearly dead bodies. Counting the days until his liberation, Elie thought “[He] was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The stomach alone was measuring time” (Wiesel 52). The loss of the right to be an individual confuses Elie, making him question whether he is too weak to survive, giving readers their first glimpse into his change in personality. From a loyal son who fought his father’s battles, he becomes the betrayer, allowing his father to be killed right in front of his eyes. This change in personality is derived from a Level 3 Defense Mechanism of the human mind known as Dissociation. This Defence Mechanism involves the victim modifying their own identity to avoid the suffering accompanied by a traumatic situation. Elie alters his characteristics to be better suited for survival, as seen in how he sacrificed his father, something he claimed he would never do, perhaps as a way of providing a reason for this sudden change in personality. By dissociating himself to overcome trauma, Elie loses his sense of his identity and what he was raised to believe in.

Wiesel and his fellow jews first experience dehumanization when the Hungarian police burst into their homes in Sighet. They were not allowed to keep any items that had meaning to them “A Jew no longer had the right to keep in his house gold, jewels, or any objects of value” (Wiesel 8). The process of stripping them of their identities continues as they get to the concentration camps. When Eliezer becomes a member of Block 17, the first thing to go was his name. SS officers lined up prisoners and Eliezer says “I became A-7713. After that I had no other name” (Wiesel 31). Eliezer refers to himself as a number now rather than his name. As the Jews are stripped of their identity, they are constantly viewed as nothing.

The Jews had been starved while being detained in forced labor camp. Those who weren’t fit to work were killed and cremated. The most eye-opening description of the Jewish peoples’ state in the concentration camp came at the very end of the book. After being freed, Wiesel looked in a mirror for the first since his arrival at the camp. Wiesel described his reflection as a “corpse” and stated “the look in his eyes… has never left me.” (Wiesel 115). Not only had the Nazis carried out a brutal campaign on the Jews’ physical being, but they had also infiltrated deep into their psyche. Upon arrival at camps, all Jews’ were forced to hand over all of their clothes and wearing matching uniforms. After that, the prisoners’ were sent to the barber. Wiesel described the process, stating, “[The barbers’] clippers tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies.” (Wiesel 35). After this process, every Jew was tattooed with a number. This process lead to the ego-death of every prisoner. They were no longer people: they were numbers. Nothing differentiated one Jew from another, besides the numbers tattooed on them. This horrendous act could only be classified as psychological torture, carried out by monsters who had lost control of their own

National security is the ability to protect our borders through homeland security while upholding the rights of nation. Privacy when openly tampered with is distorted. Nobody acts the same knowingly being watched. Information finds another way. There have been studies on lesser issues like workers. There is more productivity when people think they are being watched. The same when our liberties are at stake. What are people to do when it’s done for the wrong reasons? Like when an African American see’s a sign that separates white and color bathrooms. Another would be when the Jews were forced to where a star then live separately in their own projects. The US jokes about our nation being like fraternity. Every new group gets picked on. The Jew’s for being good with money. The Mexicans for being illegal’s and now it’s the Arab’s turn. But Arab’s are all terrorist somehow. We have seen terror before from the Unabomber, the KKK, and columbine shooting. How do we keep up with inflation? The government finds one way to gather information and terrorist adapt. When civil liberties get trampled in the process more anti-American groups rise to the occasion creating more danger inside America and out.

Elie travels into a new camp for newcomers to get their name stripped away from them; They are when a number. On his first day at Auschwitz, The SS officers made the Jews gather in groups of fives and made them march for half an hour. After the Jews got out of the water they had to run again in the shivering cold. The next day the soldiers let treated the Jewish community without brutality, but in the afternoon they had to stand in line and roll up their sleeves. “I became A-7713. After that I had no other name” (p 39). The word “Name” means a word by which a person is addressed by. Elie’s Identity is affected by how the the world (soldier's) view him in the world. When his name is taken, he can’t be addressed like a human being or even a pet animal. The SS soldiers tattooed Elie’s arm to show that they are going through the dehumanization process. Elie’s Identity is also affected when he witnesses the gallowings.

Names are taken from the Jews and replaced with numbers when they enter the camp. This act is an attempt to steal the Jews’ identities; however, they fight against this act of dehumanization. The Nazi’s hoped to kill them mentally by doing this. My arm burns. I look up into the blue eyes of a Nazi guard as he burns the number into my skin. I smell burning flesh and want to barf. All around me irons are being heated up. “You

While the Jewish people were held prisoner, all of their personal identities were taken away. Elie Wiesel writes, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.” Elie and all the other prisoners had a number tattooed on them when they arrived at the concentration camp of Auschwitz. A name is an important part of a person, it makes you, you. With that being taken away, it

The early 1940s, an observant, young boy, and his caring father: the start of a story that would become known throughout the world of Eliezer Wiesel. His eye-opening story is one of millions born of the Holocaust. Elie’s identity, for which he is known by, is written out word for word his memoir, Night. Throughout his journey, Elie’s voice drifts from that of an innocent teen intrigued with the teachings of his religion to that of a soul blackened by a theoretical evil consuming the Nazis and Hitler’s Germany. Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night, examines the theme of identity through the continuous motifs of losing one’s self in the face of death and fear, labeling innocent people for a single dimension of what defines a human being, and the oppression seen in the Holocaust based on the identities of those specifically targeted and persecuted.

In the book The Hate List by Jennifer Brown, the story is told from the point of view of Valerie Leftman, the girlfriend of Nick Levil. Nick shot multiple people in their school and injured more. Valerie unknowingly helped him create the list of victims. I think the book could have been as interesting if it was told from the point of view of Ginny Baker. Ginny Baker was shot by Nick in the face. She had to have multiple plastic surgeries to reconstruct something that even remotely resembled a face. “’I can’t sit here without thinking about… about…’ she sucked in a breath and then let it out with a stream an anguish that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. ‘Why did they let her come back?’” (Brown 69). Ginny is traumatized by the

Night, by Elie Wiesel demonstrates several incidents where the Jewish people are treated like animals simply because of their religion. They were striped of their identities and reduced to little more "things". The first edict that was that was set to diminish them was the decree that "every Jew had to wear the yellow star" (Wiesel, 11). This symbol took away their uniqueness and placed them into a category in which everyone had only one characteristic, Judaism. Another incident of dehumanization against the Jews that is shown in this novel is how they are referred to by numbers. When Elie Wiesel first arrives at Auschwitz he, along with all of the other Jews in the camp are forced to get tattoos of numbers on their arms. "We were told to

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” In America’s society today, some are willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in order to gain protection and security over some potential threat. Especially after the events of September 11th and several attempted bombings in U.S. cities. This sacrifice of individual freedoms such as the freedom of speech, expression, the right to information, to new technologies, and so forth, for additional protection is more of a loss than a gain. Citizens of the United States deserve equal liberty and safety overall, as someone should not have to give up

Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security