"King Leoplold's Ghost"
"Politics of Forgetting" Some nations have made immense political mistakes in the past that they feel would be best kept hidden from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, time and time again political systems have succeeded in hiding flagrant misdoing. Murderous crimes that were committed against citizens of the Soviet Union, Berlin's slaughtering of Hereros, and the rubber terrors in French and Portuguese African territories are just a few atrocities that were made to be deliberately forgotten in the public eye. Probably the most silenced tragedies took place in King Leoplod's Congo. (King Leopold's Ghost, p. 294) In King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild tells the veracious story of the African Congo, and the human injustice that took place there under the Belgian King's rule. In the final chapter of the novel, Hochschild discussed the "Politics of Forgetting". Governments try to cover up anything and everything that might possibly make their country look bad in the future. For example, when King Leopold erased the appalling, factual records of his reign in the Congo. Hochschild depicted not only Belgium's concealment of immoral events, but of many countries that have obscured d
In the end, the mass rape, mutilation, and cruxifiction also turned out to be false. "The furnaces burned for eight days, turning most of the Congo state records to ash and smoke in the sky over Brussels. Many people would rather forget terrible events, and hope that others do the same. 295) Premorel as the attacker, put himself across as the victim. They were not permitted to show researches material that was bad for the reputation of Belgium. In the Congo, the Europeans that were perpetrating the crimes against the Natives were almost forgetting the sins they committed right as #Jocelyn Carlsonthey were doing them. Most of the time, someone finds out about the countries hidden secrets, and the country ends up looking worse for concealing something than they would have if they just had whatever it was out in the open to begin with. ocuments to shield their citizens, and the world, from painful truths. 296) Governments do not conceal and destroy records for the sake of their citizens. A lot of people turned their heads as the Nazis' brought thousands and thousands of Jews to Concentration Camps.
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