Blog One: If hate is the shoelace, humanity is the sneaker

During the discussions we had in class, nothing gripped me more than when we talked about how the Holocaust and the slave trade are a part of human nature. More specifically, we discussed how any human being can have the inherent drive to cause immense pain, through hate and suffering, to other people for the pleasure of improving their own lives. Humans have the drive to succeed and are narcissistic and they would do anything to make it to the top. This also implies that as long as there are humans, there will be a continuation of hate throughout our existence. Slavery is an example because it has persisted through hundreds of years and it will most likely make a return in the near future due to the large capital and the money it has provided in the past. The use of religion in slavery is relevant because they captured and make indigenous peoples slaves for profit and they justified their guilt for doing wrong by claiming their colonization as missionary work. They cover the hatred they use to make money with religion.

In the class, it was also argued that if someone were given the chance to kill another person for a large amount of money, that someone would not hesitate to murder them. Monetary gain proved to be more valuable than the human lives of others.

It is just so fascinating to see how the human ego plays a part in slavery and in all of the major fatal events of the world, including the Holocaust. Anyone can become hateful as long as you offer him or her money to carry out a malicious deed.