[kasey_junk]

> Since reading here I've done some research and learned the Cambodian Genocide claimed around 1/3 the death toll of The Holocaust, yet I'd bet most people haven't heard much, or anything, about it. Could you name the leader in charge of it, or how it came about?

Pol Pot? This was something that was literally covered in my World History class in high school. I remember that mostly because we watched "The Killing Fields" and I was happy to have what I assumed would be an easy week, but that movie is pretty profoundly impressive.

We also covered Native American atrocities and read "A People's History of the United States", which at the time (20 some years ago) might have been out of the norm but now seems relatively common.

None of this is to condescend to you or to suggest you are uneducated generally, but rather to point out that something you are extrapolating as systematic in education is not. And for what it's worth I went to public high schools and public college in a not too progressive place.

I also didn't mean to imply you were aligned with anti-semitic groups, rather that anti-semitic groups use that misunderstanding as propaganda and you should probably be aware of that.

[mtempleton]

I'm also aware of Pol Pot, but to be honest, I have to admit I don't really know a lot about his rise to power and the genocide of ethnic groups in Cambodia. I would bet money most people don't know who Pol Pot is. I don't remember covering it.

The US stance on the Native American genocide(s) is basically denial that it happened, or at minimum, failure to admit it.

[tptacek]

No, that's simply a false statement. Every American school kid learns about the Trail of Tears. I'm sure you can find someone to deny the genocide of Native Americans, just as you can find Holocaust deniers or people who think slaves in the American south were well-treated. But only on an Internet message board can you maintain an argument that mainstream American history denies Native American genocide.

[mtempleton]

>I'm sure you can find someone to deny the genocide of Native Americans

It has never been officially recognized by the US government. It's not "simply a false statement," it's a fact. Yes, we both learned about the Trail of Tears, but we don't recognize Native American genocide as what it is. Your presenting the Trail of Tears as a strawman for Native American genocide.

There are a lot of people saying this.[1] I'm sorry you felt the need to write such a condescending remark about internet message board arguments, that in combination with a straw man argument is really low.

1-http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-madley-california...