[jawns]

If you're familiar with the history of the Rwandan genocide, it was not simply a matter of the vulnerable Tutsis being massacred by the evil Hutus.

The genocide was the culmination of a hundred-plus years of power shifting from one group to the other. When the Tutsis were in power, they made life hell for the Hutus, and when the Hutus were in power, they made life hell for the Tutsis. Each group came to see the other as deserving of that punishment because of the way they had been mistreated when the other group was in power.

But my broader point is a criticism of the major-party duopoly, where every single social issue, economic issue, military issue, civil rights issue, etc. gets boiled down to these two choices. And often the philosophy that underpins them is inconsistent. So it's no wonder that each party is able to point out the inconsistencies and evils of its opposition; our political system is designed to make that as easy as possible. And the politicians who run within those parties benefit from that polarization.

[archagon]

Who is making life hell for the Republicans, other than the Republican Party itself?

[_pjx9]

Thanks for pointing out the tensions that existed in Rwanda that led up to it. I was particularly analogizing on the point just before the genocide, where the faction in power were unpersoning and calling for violence against their later victims.

In the end the analogy is flawed either way you spin it. Democrat and Republican voters are not ethnic/cultural groups in a country recently ravaged by colonialism.

But again, I am noting that someone is complaining about increasing oppression against their minority group, and you are lamenting about them playing into party politics.

Human rights are more important than the issue of having a healthy political culture. I thought it was inappropriate and out of touch to focus on the latter in this context.

[mrlonglong]

In Northern Ireland, there are two sides, the Irish Republicans and the Unionists. Twenty years ago peace was brought to this part of the world by bringing in power sharing. Had this happened in Rwanda, would the genocide have occurred?