Saturday, August 17, 2024

What is the worst example of unfair treatment in history?

Profile photo for Jean-Marie Valheur
 · 
Following

There are too many to count — I won’t even “go there” because there have been more genocides in our species sordid history than I have fingers on my hands and toes on my feet. One horribly unfair tale is that of the Chinese Indonesians. Below, we see President John F. Kennedy with Indonesian president Sukarno. Following a failed coup attempt by Indonesian communists, Indonesia went after communist insurgents and sympathizers in a major way.

Which is cool — you don’t want to have a bunch of commies causing trouble, right? But the problem is, very few Chinese Indonesians were actually part of these communist parties. Indonesian Chinese folks were largely traders, peaceful and entirely apolitical. But because of Red China meddling in the affairs of many of its neighbors, ALL citizens of Indonesia with Chinese heritage were targetted. Some were dragged out of their houses, sometimes thousands at a time. Shopkeepers were beaten to death in front of their families, their shops burned and their wares stolen…

Throughout the 1960s, there were anti-Chinese pogroms in Indonesia. Largely because of jealousy — much like the Jews in the West, the Chinese diaspora in Asia was hard-working and thrifty, often saving up a solid fortune, and sending their kids to good schools. And people just couldn’t deal with that… they hated them for their success. The picture above shows anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta in 1998. Again, Chinese businesses were targetted, people dragged out of their houses, their families and workers brutalized, their shops looted…

People have a nasty habit of hating those who do well. Those who excel in whatever field they have chosen. And yes, they will punish you for your success, whenever they can. There’s few things in this world as nasty and bigoted as a riotous, bloodthirsty crowd of people unhappy with their own lives… 

No comments: