Memoir Project: Human Nature

Who participates in genocide, and why? What does the commonality of genocide lead you to believe about humanity?
Genocide is an organized, immoral act of potential slaughter of specific ethic, racial, religious, or national group. It is the ultimate level of pure discrimination and hate. Anyone has the true ability to participate in a genocide despite their individuality. The question is, what makes them do it in the first place? There's multiple ways to answer this in a number of different perspectives.

One would believe the participators are simply insane or possessed. It's a narrow point of view that the majority agrees upon because genocide is bad, right? So the people who participate in such activity is a mad criminal who's condemned to eternal damnation. Very shallow, but you just can't help but to agree. That's one of the first descriptions we would think of without a doubt, but we cannot judge something like genocide. It's impossible to judge something such as genocide, simply because we have not experienced it. We don't know how the victims truly suffered and why the predators participated. Either way, we still have our separate views with varied perspectives. Some may or may not be true, but everyone has the right to believe.
Another reason why people would participate is because they do not know what they're truly doing. They could think what they're doing is an act of heroism. They're being guided by a leader who is feeding them convincing lies. If one would disobey, he would be considered a criminal and sentenced to death. People are blind when it comes to the line: 'What is right and what is wrong?'. And it can be difficult for one to revolt and stay true to his beliefs. Ultimately, it's pressure.
So what if the participators knew what was going on and didn't like it? Well, they were most likely threatened. I'm sure it's a common situation. The person could be surrounded by a group or community who is pro-genocide and it's potentially dangerous to go against and psychologically threatening. They know what they are committing, but they cannot do anything about it. They're simply scared for their life and it makes them a wimp.
The last reason I could possibly think of is bad exposure. This could mean a lot of things such as the person once being in an abusive or sadistic environment or being fed biased impressions of the victimized group. I believe it mainly revolves around past experiences, influences, or personal beliefs. Instead of thinking it as another form of pure evil, it's just mislead guidance. One example of a belief would be supremacy or selection of the most fit. This has been one of the possible reasons for why Hitler exterminated the Jewish in the Holocaust.

I'm disappointed of our humanity especially for taking part of genocide. It just further proves that humanity believes in superiority of races or groups and their only solution for unification are subgoals such as genocide itself. Even though humans first saw it this way and took it to a great advantage, it shouldn't apply to us today.
The fact that participators of genocide deny the crimes they commit makes things so much more worse. I'm certain many former Nazis have gone through denial and it's such a shame. The least they can do is admit their wrong doings despite the fact they will not be forgiven. One cannot expect to be forgiven for such actions. You just can't be that stubborn, not in this situation. Adding onto denial, genocidal acts are still active today. The conflict in Darfur is elevating its status into genocide although major organizations such as the UN and African Union believe Darfur is not suffering genocide. I do not have high knowledge of the situation, but it feels like it will soon develop into true genocide. Another recent trace of genocide was in 1994, the Rwandan Genocide. With a government in favour of the Hutus, thousands of Tutsis were exterminated. It's baffling how the world has not learned from the Holocaust and other previous genocidal acts and the actions of anti-genocidal organizations isn't enough to stop these people. We obviously need to go into greater depth to stop and prevent this.