The Ugly Reality of Democide — a photo

[First published November 3, 2005]I have collected on my website a number of democide photos (here). Words do not well communicate a feel for what democide means. Pictures help express the horror of helpless lives stolen forever by some government or military butcher. Some of these photos are sickening and I don’t suggest looking at them unless you have a strong stomach. I recently came across a photo somewhere on the Taiwanese site here (I didn’t record the specific directory on the site) that is the most sickening of all.

To see it, click the tiny image below. But, don’t do so unless you have a strong stomach and don’t want to be haunted by the picture. It was a Japanese atrocity somewhere in China during the Sino-Japanese War. Perhaps, it was taken during the Rape of Nanking, but no matter. What happened there happened throughout China when the Japanese Army captured a city or town.

I think we all have an obligation to such poor souls to reveal their murder in its full horror. Maybe then, when the awful meaning of such democide for a life is seen we can recognize the true gist of such abstractions as militarism, fascism, communism, absolutism, tyranny, and jihad.

Pray tell, my brother,
Why do dictators kill
and make war?
Is it for glory; for things,
for beliefs, for hatred,
for power?
Yes, but more,
because they can.