Reports have recently surfaced of Chechen police detaining and torturing, in some cases to death, gay men behind religious and social justifications. The appalling claim has been supported by anonymous testimony from multiple men allegedly tortured due to their sexuality, with the hateful crime being committed via continuous electrical shocks. However, the response of the Chechen government has been not to investigate the cleansing but instead to deny it and attack journalists who report it; and these threats are for real, as this is in the country where multiple journalists have recently been murdered because of their work. When confronted with the whole issue, the Chechen leader decried the reports as false and made the blanket statement that there are no gay men in all of Chechnya, and therefore there is no one that would be tortured as has been alleged by gay men from Chechnya. I wonder who sounds more credible.
This pattern of subjugating a group of people and then attacking those who work to help them or spread awareness of their cause is similar to Civil Rights Movement America, when black people faced verbal, ideological, and physical discrimination while the white people that worked for equality of the races found themselves also under attack by racist whites, with both groups experiencing bombings and murder. This period of violent inequality in the US has been a powerful source of shame for the nation, with events such as the church bombing in Birmingham in 1963 and the murder of 3 white freedom riders by the KKK in 1964 being constant reminders of our darker past and antiquated practices; and it seems this time period in Chechnya may be headed down the same road.
It is awful to see this kind of stuff still happening in the world. It also makes me feel like the media isn't really concerned with these kinds of issues, but only stories that get views.
ReplyDeleteThe problem isn’t necessarily the media in our country but rather the inability for the people in that country to report on such topics. With no one in the country knowing about this act of discrimination, no raises awareness will result, in turn creating a sort of headlock the gov has the country in.
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ReplyDeleteSelah Hunter
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah, every country goes through their discrimination phase (I couldn't think of a better word I'm not making light of this or any situations similar to this). I don't think it's the media that doesn't want to help and I'm not saying that this "phase" isn't important and won't last. I'm saying that through the discrimination this country will have to build past that. Because people will always treat someone who's different from them like crap. That's how humans work, it sucks but it's life. It think when a country can still support itself during the discrimination by what every means, in our case of slaver- civil war. And in racism- civil rights movement. I think that is what makes a country strong, not the problems they face, but the way they face them.
I really hope this didn’t happen. Seeing this makes me sad because knowing that someone could hate some else so much he must because of who they love makes my stomach hurt. No one tortured anybody for being straight. Why do we do it to others.
ReplyDeleteThis is disgusting and I hope this isn't something that occurred. This is so brutal and cruel I will never understand why or how people can do this to each other.
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