For this assignment I had to focus on a facet of my original topic, or expand it on a larger scale, to demonstrate its impact and relevance to the world.

The first step of this assignment was to write an Annotated Bibliography. The Annotated Bibliography is supposed to allow the writer to collect a list of citations that they will use throughout their essay. When annotating, the writer wants to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

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RCA Annotated Bibliography

I originally had rushed when making the annotated bibliography and just put random quotes and sources to submit something. I, to no surprise, got a bad grade so I did the annotated bibliography once more.

For the new annotated bibliography I had found actual sources that I planned on using in my essay. Many of the sources this time came from the CCNY library database.

I also made sure to properly cite my sources seeing as I failed to do so properly the first time.

The annotated bibliography relates to my growth because it laid the groundwork for my RCA draft. By finding sources I plan on using and properly citing them I was able to type my essay with most of the work already done for me.

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Annotated Bibliography

1. Deutsch, David, and Niza Yanay. “The Politics of Intimacy: Nazi and Hutu Propaganda as Case Studies.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 18, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 21–39. EBSCOhost, Accessed 17 November 2020. doi:10.1080/14623528.2016.1120461.

This article focuses on genocidal Nazi and Hutu propaganda and how that propaganda has created “violent intimacy”. “Violent intimacy” refers to the language of the people produced by the propaganda and how it has to lead to genocide by these groups of people. Throughout the article, propaganda is examined and is dissected to see how it has affected the target audience. The article also compares the “violent intimacy” between propaganda used by the Nazis against Jewish people and propaganda used by the Hutu against the Tutsis.

I was going to use evidence from this text revolving more around the Nazi propaganda rather than the Hutu propaganda. The source talks about how propaganda used by the Nazis was able to be picked up by the average German. Whether it be speeches or propaganda posters, people were obviously being led by their emotions and following a crowd mentality. This evidence will serve to support the thesis that The language of Social Darwinism could be contributed to moments of genocide in history.

2. Darwin, Charles, and William Robin Thompson. The Origin of Species. 3rd ed., vol. 5, Dent, 1956, pp. 244-245. Accessed 16 November 2020

The book The Origin of Species brings forth the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin was able to theorize that species could evolve over a period of time due to a divergence in traits and adaption to local ecosystems.

I was going to use a quote from the book which focuses on the survival of the fittest species in an ecosystem. Darwin essentially says that in order for a species to evolve traits that benefit the species must become adapted and passed down through the generations. This is part of the background history of my essay so I don’t think it relates to the thesis but serves to explain what Darwin meant.

3. Hoare, Marko Attila. “Towards an Explanation for the Bosnian Genocide of 1992–1995.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 16 Dec. 2014. Accessed 17 November 2020 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sena.12111.

This article talks about some of the views genocide scholars have on whether or not the organized mass violence by Serbia and ethnic cleansing against Bosnia should be classified as Genocide. Many of the points brought forth in the article show evidence that supports the idea that ethnic cleansing should be classified as Genocide.

I was going to use a quote from this article explaining how the International Court of Justice were unanimous in classifying the actions of Serbia as Genocide. They had reasoned that the government at the time, under the rule of Slobodan Milošević, had used propaganda and the media to paint Muslims as enemies to the Serbian people. This will serve as evidence as to how and why genocide was conducted by the Serbians against the Bosnian Muslims.

4. Kipling, Rudyard. (1899)  “‘The White Man’s Burden’: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism.” HISTORY MATTERS – The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, 4 Sept. 2003, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/. Accessed 17 November 2020.

“The White Man’s Burden” was a poem written by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling had declared that it was the white man’s duty to conquer and take over land that belonged to non-white peoples. The white man was to manage the affairs of their newly acquired peoples while also introducing them to the modern world and spreading Christianity upon them.

I included this poem as an example to show the reader the rhetoric of the time. The language of Social Darwinism or the idea that the strongest should rule over the weak has allowed for the justification of such racist wrongdoings. I want to use the overall message of the poem to show an example of how the concept of racial superiority was used to justify racism, colonization, and the exploitation of natural resources.

5. Miller, Paul B. “Contested Memories: the Bosnian Genocide in Serb and Muslim Minds.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 24 Nov. 2006, pp. 311–324. Accessed 17 November 2020. doi:10.1080/14623520600950054

This article serves to recollect what had happened to Bosnian people during the Bosnian Genocide. The author examines the photographs of  Tarik Samarah which include countless images depicting the sadness of what had happened to the Bosnian people. He does admit he may not know what Tarik had tried to achieve with these photographs but after informing the reader that he too has lived in Bosnia for some time now, decided to give his own personal reactions as to what he felt when he viewed the collection of photos.

I planned on using a quote from the article that shows how even during the tenth anniversary of the Bosnian genocide many grievances are still being felt. The quote mentions how newly found bodies were recovered and sent back to a village where lines of people lined up to see if they could spot their long-dead loved ones. This quote will support my thesis by showing the effects of genocide.

6. Mitic, Milena. Personal interview. 18 Nov. 2020

This was just a personal interview I had with my mom. She essentially described what she remembers of the war with Bosnia when she was younger.

I had planned on using this interview to show how some Serbian people at the time, my mother in this instance, felt about the war and genocide. It would show the opposite side of the Serbian people’s beliefs, the Serbians who felt that the genocide was unacceptable and should’ve never happened. This interview would be evidence of the contradictory thinking held by some Serbians about the genocide.

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Draft of RCA Essay

I was able to type a draft of my RCA Essay and although it’s not perfect, I was given lots of feedback from my peers and professors to make sure my final version corrects those issues

One problem I had with the draft is that I focused on history for most of the essay and forgot to include how language relates to those events and my thesis.

Social Darwinism: The Theory That Justifies Evil

Throughout history, man has questioned his origin. Numerous scientists and philosophers have dabbled with the thought for centuries. In the nineteenth century, naturalist Charles Darwin was able to lay the groundbreaking theory of evolution and the idea that man had evolved from primates. His theory, unintentionally, had given birth to Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the misapplication of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution into politics, the economy, and society. Social Darwinism has been used to justify a multitude of wrongdoings against groups of people looked down upon. The language of social Darwinism is how the language was used to trample upon the rights of people. The language refers to the rhetoric used by leaders, common people, and laws throughout history. Some examples in history would be the treatment of Jewish people during WW2 and the treatment of Bosnian Muslims in the nineteen nineties. The language used to elucidate the theories of Social Darwinism has had both negative aspects in shaping the world we live in today. In order to grasp the way in which the language of Social Darwinism was used, a brief history lesson is necessary.

Charles Darwin(1809-1882), an English naturalist published a book in 1859 known as On the Origin of Species. In his book, Darwin promoted the theory of evolution. During Darwin’s early adult life he would set off on many voyages to South America. During a voyage in 1835, he visited the Galápagos Islands. While studying the islands he noticed that many of the islands had similar-looking finches (birds) with different beak structures. He wondered why this was the case and decided to stay on the island to learn more about them. After five weeks of studying the behaviors and diets of the finches, he was able to conclude that the finches were all descendants of one bird. The reasoning why they had different shaped beaks was because of the fact that each island offered different sources of food to the birds residing on them. Islands, where seeds had harder shells, tended to have finches with larger and stronger beaks present while islands with soft-shelled seeds tended to have finches with small and weak beaks. What this means is that a bird with a weak beak couldn’t live on an island with the food they couldn’t access. After his stay at the Galápagos, Darwin concluded that living breeding organisms, in order to survive and thrive in an environment, must develop traits that are best suited for survival. Through this discovery, Darwin used the term “Survival Of The Fit”. As stated by Darwin, “One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.”(Darwin 244). Essentially, If an organism has traits that aid in its survival those traits will continue to be passed down  Darwin said very little about human evolution but did assert that humans have also been evolving alongside animals. Darwin’s theories had gained much praise from the science community. Darwin’s theory of evolution was misinterpreted by some theorists of the time, however. Sociologists soon began to form the theory of Social Darwinism to justify bigotry and social inequalities.

Following the sudden popularity of Darwin’s work, many philosophers and sociologists were quick to try and understand his ideas. A philosopher by the name of Herbert Spencer(1820-1903) had taken Darwin’s theory of evolution and sought to incorporate it with the structure of society. Spencer had believed that the ideas of evolution and natural selection applied to human society and the social classes incorporated within them. Essentially a struggle based around “survival of the fittest” ruled the lives of people in a society. In terms of people who were economically and socially successful, they were seen as being the most socially fittest. However, in terms of people who were financially troubled, many socialists believed that these people weren’t “fit” and should therefore stop breeding seeing as they were a burden to society. These sociologists even claimed that the White Anglo Saxon people were the most evolved from primates seeing as they were able to be born with blue eyes and blond hair. During the Gilded Age(1870s-1900) the concept of survival of the fittest was used to justify colonialism and imperialism around the world. Many white European nations believed that their race was superior to other races and often justified slavery, the exploitation of natural resources, and the spreading of religion. In 1898 “The White Man’s Burden”, a popular poem at that time written by journalist Rudyard Kipling, was one example of the rhetoric of the time. The following is the first stanza of the poem:

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives’ need

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child. (1-8)

The speaker is saying that it’s the white man’s duty to convert their “Half devil and half child” colonized peoples towards Christianity and introduce them to western civilization. This is an example of the Social Darwinistic language used at the time. By referring to natives as “half devil and half child” they were seen as evil. This idea of racial superiority slowly escalated into the twentieth century and reached a boiling point during WW2.

Following WW1, Germany was forced to sign the treaty of Versailles(1919) which was severely punishing. Germany’s economy was left in shambles because of war reparations. At the time many Germans felt as though they had been “stabbed in the back” by their country’s leaders and a conspiracy that Jews, socialists, and communists were behind the defeat was being adopted by the public. A young Hitler, noticing how distraught his people were, decided to join the German Workers Party, later known as the Nazi Party and was able to rise through the ranks to become the chancellor of Germany. Hitler, by utilizing the despair of the German people, was able to convince the German people that all their suffering was because of the Jewish people. When The Great Depression hit the world in 1929, people lost their jobs and everything seemed grim. Hitler now in a high position of power, addressed the public and promised to bring Germany back to its former glory before eventually declaring himself dictator. As dictator, he invaded Poland, and WW2(1939-1945) began.

It was during Hitler’s dictatorship where we see the language of Social Darwinism come into play. Hitler had been calling for the preservation of the “Aryan” race or people with blonde hair and blue eyes while exclaiming that they were the most superior race. This sounds very similar to what Social Darwinists like Herbert Spencer were saying in the 1870s. One group of people believed they were superior to others. At this time we also see a surge in Anti-Semitic language, propaganda, and laws being adopted by the people and government. Again, we see another instance where the language of Social Darwinism comes into play. The language that Jewish people were inferior and a threat to Germany were featured on propaganda plastered everywhere at the time essentially justifying the trampling of their rights. Anti-Semitic laws prohibited Jews from working, voting, and occupying public spaces while simultaneously enforcing segregation. Propaganda portrayed Jewish people as being evil, sneaky, and a plague to society. David Deutsch Author of The politics of intimacy: Nazi and Hutu propaganda as case studies had this to say about the propaganda of the time: “A great deal of analytic work has focused on the role of dehumanization and demonization in Nazi propaganda as a justification for mass violence.” (Deutsch 26) The language of the time was adopted by the people of Germany and soon many Germans began discriminating against Jewish people and vandalizing Jewish establishments. The dehumanization of Jewish people had allowed the Nazis to portray Jewish people as being devoid of humanity. This language of Social Darwinism against the Jewish people eventually reached a boiling point. The boiling point was the Holocaust. Millions of Jewish people in Germany and neighboring countries were rounded up and led to their deaths in concentration camps. This is one example that shows just how far believing you’re racially superior to others can be used to justify wrongdoings.

            Near the end of WW2, a man by the name of Josip Broz Tito with the aid of communist-led partisans helped liberate the country of Yugoslavia from Nazi occupation in 1945. Yugoslavia was a large federation of six republics formed after WW1 with borders drawn around ethnic and historical lines. The six republics of Yugoslavia were Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. While Tito was alive he made sure everything was running smoothly in the republic. One of Tito’s famous quotes was “I am the leader of one country which has two alphabets, three languages, four religions, five nationalities, six republics, surrounded by seven neighbors, a country in which live eight ethnic minorities.” That quote essentially summarizes why Tito’s job was so important. He was the man that was able to bring people of different ethnic backgrounds together and ensure that peace lasted. He was essentially the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to Social Darwinism. He viewed all races as being equal. Following his death in 1980 Yugoslavia was lost without a leader and soon many of the republics started to split away and form their own countries. By 1992 Yugoslavia ceased to exist. As the country started to split up tensions began escalating, war soon broke along the issues of religion.

Another example in history where the language of Social Darwinism reached a boiling point would be the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s. One of Serbia’s neighbors, Bosnia Herzegovina, happened to have a large Muslim population. Serbia, following the end of Yugoslavia and under the rule of Slobodan Milošević, felt as though their biggest threat was Islam and so they conducted a massacre of eight thousand Bosnian Men and boys in the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war. The situation was so severe that the International Court of Justice was brought into play. “The international courts have been unanimous in declaring the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 a case of genocide, with both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruling that it was.” (Hoare 3) Attempted Genocide, killings of civilians, desecration of corpses, raping of civilians, the internment of civilians in concentration camps, etc. were some of the war crimes committed by Serbia. These war crimes showed just how blinded Serbia had become. They had taken a page out of Hitler’s playbook and conducted genocide to support a religious war.   During this time period, Media was used by the Serbian government to indoctrinate hatred in the Serbian people against Muslim people.

My mom was alive during the time and says that she’s witnessed people fall for the brainwashing being shown on tv and in nationalistic music thanking the soldiers for their service. “My cousin’s husband was drafted to serve in the army. He had to do reconnaissance work. I genuinely feel as though he believed he was fighting for a good cause because he still shares the same racist feelings he had then even today. I feel bad for all the innocent people killed and hope that they may find peace. What our country did was unacceptable and Tito would be ashamed.” My mother, at this point, felt very saddened and said “I lost a lot of friends on both sides and I don’t understand why everything happened.”. I could sense her pain as her eyes watered. She doesn’t like to talk about what happened, but this interview allowed me to see how even though her country was the aggressor she still felt bad about what happened. She gave me a different view on the matter. The idea that the Bosnian Muslims were inferior and a danger to Serbia and its people shows another instance where the ideas of Social Darwinism come into play. A group of people was looked down upon and treated as though they were nothing which allowed for the justification of killings and stripping of humanity. Samarah Tarik, a Bosnian photographer, had this to say during a 10th-anniversary memorial:  “From the parade of trucks that processed through Sarajevo bearing the remains of 610 newly identified genocide victims, to the miles of traffic heading into the Potočari Memorial Complex, there seemed to be something of the spectacle to this solemn occasion…”(Tarik 14). Tarik’s description shows how even after ten years the effects of the war are still being felt by those who lived through it. He felt as though the solemn occasion was a spectacle because miles of hurt souls lined up in traffic to see if that was the day they could get some closure for their lost loved ones.

In conclusion, the language of Social Darwinism has had a very negative effect on the world. Whether it be the justification of slavery, the exploitation of natural resources, or the killings of innocent people, the language of Social Darwinism served only to undermine the humanity of various groups of people throughout history. I specifically choose the treatment of Jewish people and Bosnian Muslims because it showed how negatively impactful the rhetoric of their times were. Both the Jewish people and Bosnian Muslims were seen as inferior and targeted because of hateful rhetoric promoted by leaders and adopted by the people under them. The language of Social Darwinism or the idea that people inferior to you have every right to be targeted needs to be a forgotten mindset of history. As the world becomes more connected, people should learn to view each other as equals and promote a peaceful, considerate, and loving world.

Works cited:

Deutsch, David, and Niza Yanay. “The Politics of Intimacy: Nazi and Hutu Propaganda as Case Studies.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 18, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 21–39. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/14623528.2016.1120461.

Darwin, Charles, and William Robin Thompson. The Origin of Species. 3rd ed., vol. 5, Dent, 1956.

Hoare, Marko Attila. “Towards an Explanation for the Bosnian Genocide of 1992–1995.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 16 Dec. 2014, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sena.12111.

Kipling, Rudyard. (1899)  “‘The White Man’s Burden’: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism.” HISTORY MATTERS – The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, 4 Sept. 2003, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/.

Miller, Paul B. “Contested Memories: the Bosnian Genocide in Serb and Muslim Minds.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 2006, pp. 311–324., Samarah Tarik, doi:10.1080/14623520600950054.

Mitic Milena. Personal interview with mother regarding wartime in Serbia. 18 November 2020

The following is the feedback I received from students in my peer group discussion group:

Throughout history, man has questioned his origin. Numerous scientists and philosophers have dabbled with the thought for centuries. In the nineteenth century, naturalist Charles Darwin was able to lay the groundbreaking theory of evolution and the idea that man had evolved from primates. His theory, unintentionally, had given birth to Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the misapplication of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution into politics, the economy, and society. This misapplication has been used to justify a multitude of wrongdoings against groups of people looked down upon. The language of social Darwinism is how the language was used to trample upon the rights of people. It refers to the rhetoric used by leaders, common people, and laws throughout history. The language of Social Darwinism was used by the Nazis against Jewish people, and Serbia during the Bosnian War against Bosnian Muslims, in order to justify genocide. In order to grasp the way in which the language of Social Darwinism was used, a brief history lesson is necessary.

In 1859 Charles Darwin, an English naturalist published a book known as On the Origin of Species where he promoted the theory of evolution. During Darwin’s early adult life he would set off on many voyages to South America. During a voyage in 1835, he visited the Galápagos Islands. While studying the islands he noticed that many of the islands had similar-looking finches with different beak structures. He wondered why this was the case and decided to stay on the island to learn more about them. After five weeks of studying the behaviors and diets of the finches, he was able to conclude that the finches were all descendants of one bird. The reasoning why they had different shaped beaks was because of the fact that each island offered different sources of food to the birds residing on them. Islands, where seeds had harder shells, tended to have finches with larger and stronger beaks present while islands with soft-shelled seeds tended to have finches with small and weak beaks. What this means is that a bird with a weak beak couldn’t live on an island with the food they couldn’t access. 

After his stay at the Galápagos, Darwin concluded that living breeding organisms, in order to survive and thrive in an environment, must develop traits that are best suited for survival. Through this discovery, Darwin used the term “Survival Of The Fittest”. As stated by Darwin, “One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.”(Darwin 244). Essentially, If an organism has traits that aid in its survival those traits will continue to be passed down  Darwin said very little about human evolution but did assert that humans have also been evolving alongside animals. Darwin’s theories had gained much praise from the science community. Darwin’s theory of evolution was misinterpreted by some theorists of the time, however. Sociologists soon began to form the theory of Social Darwinism to justify bigotry and social inequalities.

Following the sudden popularity of Darwin’s work, many philosophers and sociologists were quick to try and understand his ideas. In the 1870s a philosopher by the name of Herbert Spencer had taken Darwin’s theory of evolution and sought to incorporate it with the structure of society. Spencer had believed that the ideas of evolution and natural selection applied to human society and the social classes incorporated within them. Essentially a struggle based around “survival of the fittest” ruled the lives of people in a society. The language that the strong should rule the weak was the main focus of his idea. In terms of people who were economically and socially successful, they were seen as being the most socially “fit” with their surroundings. However, in terms of people who were financially troubled, many socialists believed that these people weren’t “fit” and should therefore stop breeding seeing as they were a burden to society. These sociologists even claimed that the White Anglo Saxon people were the most evolved from primates seeing as they were able to be born with blue eyes and blond hair. These traits are recessive and tend to mainly be found in people living in North-Eastern Europe. This was the first sign where science was used to justify Social Darwinism. During the Gilded Age, the concept of survival of the fittest was used to justify colonialism and imperialism around the world. Many white European nations believed that their race was superior to other races and often justified slavery, the exploitation of natural resources, and the spreading of religion. In 1898 “The White Man’s Burden”, a popular poem at that time written by journalist Rudyard Kipling, was one example of the rhetoric of the time. The following is the first stanza of the poem:

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives’ need

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child. (1-8)

The speaker is saying that it’s the white man’s duty to convert their “Half devil and half child” colonized peoples towards Christianity and introduce them to western civilization. This is an example of the Social Darwinistic language used at the time. The language served to undermine the humanity of colonized peoples and justify the actions of the “superior” white man. By referring to natives as “half devil and half child”, Kipling was able to personify them as being evil. This idea of racial superiority and Social Darwinism slowly escalated into the twentieth century before reaching a boiling point during WW2.

Following WW1, Germany was left in shambles. Germany had to pay war reparations and demilitarize drastically in compliance with the treaty of Versailles. Life was not easy for Germans at the time seeing as their once great country was reduced to almost nothing. In 1919 Adolf Hitler, noticing how distraught his people were, decided to join the German Workers Party, later known as the Nazi Party. With massive appeal from the general public, Hitler was able to become the leader of the Nazi party in 1921. The Nazi party was a far-right political party with the ideology that viewed liberal democracy in disdain while favoring authority, nationalism, and order. Many of the Nazi party’s views incorporated heavy Anti-Semitism, scientific racism, and the use of eugenics. Nazis believed that Jewish leaders and bankers were to blame for the defeat of Germany during WW1. When the Great Depression hit the world in 1929 the Nazis used that as another problem the Jews had caused. During the 1930 parliament election, the Nazis were able to gain 107 of the 577 parliamentary seats in the government. This brought Nazi ideology to the spotlight in the world of German politics. They used this poster to represent what they hoped to accomplish when they acquired power (Figure 1). In the poster, a Nazi sword is seen killing a snake with the star of David on its head. The snake represents Jewish people. The red words coming out of the snake’s body represent all the wrongdoings the Nazis accuse Jewish people of doing against Germany. Some words are usury, war, Versailles, unemployment, lies, and betrayal. This moment showed how the language of social Darwinism or the idea that a group of people should have their rights trampled for being seen as “inferior” was making its way into German politics.  In 1933 Hitler was appointed as chancellor to Paul Von Hindenburg, the president at the time. In 1934, Hitler declared himself dictator following Hindenburg’s death and abolished the office of president. This meant there were no legal limits as to what he could do while in control of Germany.

During Hitler’s dictatorship, there was a surge in Anti-Semitic language, propaganda, and laws being adopted by the people and government. This propaganda flyer depicts the German people pulling back the curtain that has blinded them from their enemy (Figure 2). The words translate from top to bottom as “The Jew! The war instigator and war prolonger.” This piece of propaganda attempts to depict the Jew as the enemy of the people and even makes the caricature look evil to drive the point across. Language and imagery like this would constantly be used in other forms of propaganda. Hitler had also created numerous laws and restrictions that stripped the rights of Jewish people. One such law would be the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. “…a kind of regulation used to exclude Jews from organizations, professions, and other aspects of public life.” (Anti-Jewish Legislation In PreWar Germany) Many Jews would lose their jobs and would be denied access to attending areas not designated for them. Those who attempted to rebel against the law would be beaten, fined, and jailed. Many Germans who fell for the propaganda of the Nazis would also constantly berate and antagonize Jewish people and the establishments they owned.“A great deal of analytic work has focused on the role of dehumanization and demonization in Nazi propaganda as a justification for mass violence.” (Deutsch 26) By dehumanizing and demonizing Jews, the language of Social Darwinism was in play. Their rights were being trampled upon, ultimately allowing for everyday Germans to view Jews as inferior and justifying the actions committed against them. When the Nazis began rounding up and sending Jews to ghettos and concentration/death camps, many Germans were not opposed to the idea. Jewish people have long been persecuted throughout history but nothing can compare to the went they had gone through during WW2. They were persecuted, hunted, and killed simply for being Jewish. Advancements in machinery, science, had allowed Jews to be persecuted in never-before-seen numbers when compared to past moments in history. This moment in history showed how far the language of Social Darwinism could bring man to commit horrible crimes against another and still justify their actions.

Another example in history where the language of Social Darwinism reached a boiling point would be the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s. One of Serbia’s neighbors, Bosnia Herzegovina, happened to have a large Muslim population. Serbia, following the end of Yugoslavia and under the rule of Slobodan Milošević was led to believe that their biggest threat was Islam and so they conducted a massacre of eight thousand Bosnian Men and boys in the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war. The situation was so severe that the International Court of Justice was brought into play. “The international courts have been unanimous in declaring the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 a case of genocide, with both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruling that it was.” (Hoare 3) Attempted Genocide, killings of civilians, desecration of corpses, raping of civilians, the internment of civilians in concentration camps, etc. were some of the war crimes committed by Serbia. Slobodan Milošević was able to gain control over the media across Serbia and use it as a weapon. He was able to dictate what could and could not go on the news. Most of the media allowed to be shared with the Serbian people was media that brought about nationalistic tendencies and the mindest that it was Serbs vs. the “others”. Whenever western media would report bombing or attacks committed by Serbia, Serbian media would play false videos recorded before attacks had even happened in an attempt to discredit western media. In one instance Serbian newspapers published a photo where they claimed to show a boy whose whole family was killed by Bosnian Muslims (Figure 3). When in reality that photo was an old painting from 1888 created by Uros Predic.

These war crimes showed just how blinded Serbia had become. They had conducted genocide to support a religious war. During this time period, Media was used by the Serbian government to indoctrinate hatred in the Serbian people against Muslim people. Again we see an instance where the language of Social Darwinism had been used to step on the rights of groups of people viewed as being inferior. Bosnian Muslims were seen as inferior and a threat to Serbia so that was enough to justify the attempted genocide against them. Samarah Tarik, a Bosnian photographer, had this to say during a 10th-anniversary memorial: “From the parade of trucks that processed through Sarajevo bearing the remains of 610 newly identified genocide victims, to the miles of traffic heading into the Potočari Memorial Complex, there seemed to be something of the spectacle to this solemn occasion…”(Tarik 14). 

Tarik’s description shows how even after ten years the effects of the war are still being felt by those who lived through it. He felt as though the solemn occasion was a spectacle because miles of hurt souls lined up in traffic to see if that was the day they could get some closure for their lost loved ones. 

In conclusion, the language of Social Darwinism has had a very negative effect on the world. Whether it be the justification of genocide against Jewish and Bosnian people, slavery, the exploitation of natural resources, or the killings of innocent people, the language of Social Darwinism served only to undermine the humanity of various groups of people throughout history. I specifically choose the treatment of Jewish people and Bosnian Muslims because it showed how negatively impactful the rhetoric of their times were. Both the Jewish people and Bosnian Muslims were seen as inferior and targeted because of hateful rhetoric promoted by leaders and adopted by the people under them. The language of Social Darwinism or the idea that people inferior to you have every right to be targeted needs to be a forgotten mindset of history. As the world becomes more connected, people should learn to view each other as equals and promote a peaceful, considerate, and loving world.

Works Cited

“ANTI-JEWISH LEGISLATION IN PREWAR GERMANY.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 16 June 2012, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/anti-jewish-legislation-in-prewar-germany. 

“Death of German President Von Hindenburg.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Sept. 2014, www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1933-1938/death-of-german-president-von-hindenburg

Deutsch, David, and Niza Yanay. “The Politics of Intimacy: Nazi and Hutu Propaganda as Case Studies.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 18, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 21–39. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/14623528.2016.1120461.

Darwin, Charles, and William Robin Thompson. The Origin of Species. 3rd ed., vol. 5, Dent, 1956. 

Hoare, Marko Attila. “Towards an Explanation for the Bosnian Genocide of 1992–1995.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 16 Dec. 2014, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sena.12111. 

“How Did the Nazis Construct an Aryan Identity?” South African History Online, 22 Mar. 2011, www.sahistory.org.za/article/how-did-nazis-construct-aryan-identity. 

Kipling, Rudyard. (1899)  “‘The White Man’s Burden’: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism.” HISTORY MATTERS – The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, 4 Sept. 2003, historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/.

 Miller, Paul B. “Contested Memories: the Bosnian Genocide in Serb and Muslim Minds.” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 8, no. 3, 2006, pp. 311–324. doi:10.1080/14623520600950054. 

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Figures used throughout essay:

Self-Reflection Essay for RCA Essay

When originally brainstorming my thesis for this essay I had trouble formulating one that focused on specific effects in areas of life. My original thesis for this essay was vague and was essentially a topic. My first attempt for a thesis was: Understanding the effects of antisemitic language is important because it allows others to understand how Jewish people feel when targeted and how antisemitism came to be. After receiving feedback from the professors and the other members of my peer discussion group, I decided to narrow down my RCA Essays thesis to focus on the effect the language of Social Darwinism had on Jewish people and Bosnian people. My final thesis was: The language of Social Darwinism was used by the Nazis against Jewish people, and Serbia during the Bosnian War against Bosnian Muslims, in order to justify genocide. The decision to narrow down what I wanted to actually focus upon allowed me to better understand what type of sources I needed to search for.

For the Annotated Bibliography, on my first submission attempt, I had submitted work that was rushed and didn’t follow the guidelines put forth by Professor Rodwell. Deciding to hand in junk ultimately resulted in me receiving a zero. The reason why I had rushed the annotated bibliography was that I, at the time, had trouble formulating a thesis that focused on a specific topic. Many of the sources cited weren’t properly cited in MLA format, didn’t explain what the source was about, and didn’t relate to my essay in any way. An example would be one of the sources talking about the positives of imperialism which made no sense to my topic which was focusing on the effects social Darwinism had on Jewish and Bosnian people.  I had to revise my essay which was an aspect of course learning outcome two. At the point of revision, I had found my thesis so it allowed me to narrow down what sources I wanted to use for my annotated bibliography. I decided to start over and researched for sources that focused more on my topic. I enjoyed doing the annotated bibliography this time around because I was confident with the sources I had. Writing what I had planned to do with the sources and giving a brief summary of the source allowed me to visualize how my essay would be structured and incorporate my evidence throughout my essay. Taking the time to revise and edit my annotated bibliography gave me the blueprint for my writing. 

When I had finished a draft for my essay, I submitted it to my peer discussion group and to Professor Zayas. Most of the feedback mentioned that my writing felt like a history lesson while failing to focus on the language of my topic. I had to revise my essay which was an aspect of course learning outcome two. I had broken down many long paragraphs, rid the essay of irrelevant information, and tried to focus more on the language aspect of the assignment. Some examples of irrelevant information would be a paragraph describing who Josip Broz Tito was and a personal interview I had with my mom about the Bosnian War. Ridding my paper of irrelevant information allowed for more room in previous paragraphs to focus on the language aspect of the topic. I decided to analyze the imagery and rhetoric used by both the Nazis and Serbia to justify genocide.

Reading my group members’ drafts was very helpful for me when doing this writing process. By analyzing and giving feedback to the work my group members submitted I was able to assess what problems they had in their writing and to see if those same issues were prevalent in my essay. Most of the feedback I gave revolved around elaborating what they meant in certain aspects of their writing. When I used that same feedback in my own work I noticed that much of my writing was also very vague and not analytical. Noticing this I went back to my essay and tried to restructure and explain points that were just thrown out. 

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Summary of My Experience

I found writing the Research Critical Analysis Essay to be somewhat challenging. I enjoyed writing the Annotated Bibliography because it allowed me to lay the groundwork as to how my essay was to be structured and cut away all of the research I had to do when writing my essay. The main problem I had with my essay is that it felt more like a history lesson instead of an essay that served to focus on my specific topic. It was hard to go back and decide what paragraphs weren’t necessary. It was also somewhat hard to relate language throughout my essay because I was limited to a page and word count. If I had fewer restrictions with my writing I believe I would have written a better piece of writing

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Course Learning Outcomes That Addressed My Growth

CLO number one mentions exploring new genres. I had never heard of an annotated bibliography before so this was also new to me. At first I thought it would be hard but all I had to do was find sources and explain how they are relevant to my essay and give a summary of the source. It helped my growth because I know plan on creating annotated bibliography’s for any research papers I may have in the future. I was able to cut the work for my draft in half since I had all my sources found and ready to incorporate into my work.

CLO number two relates developing strategies for drafting. CLO number two relates to my growth because I was given feedback on my draft and was told what was missing in my essay.

CLO number four relates to engaging in social aspects of the writing process. This CLO relates to my growth because I was able to give feedback to other students which in turn made me analytical in my own writing. By looking for mistakes in my peers’ writing I was able to look back on my own essay to see if I had the same problems.

CLO number six mentions locating research sources. The annotated bibliography is just a collection of sources I plan on using and why they are important. CLO 6 relates to my growth because I was able to find sources on the CCNY library database that include academic journal articles while also having the ability to properly acquire the information I needed to cite my sources.

CLO number eight mentions the application of citations. This relates to my growth because I was able to cite sources on the CCNY library database and use Purdue Owl to make sure my sources included correct information such as version, edition, time viewed, authors name, page referred to, etc.

CLO number seven mentions using critical analysis when composing texts. That was essentially the whole point of the RCA Essay. By analyzing my quotes and research I was able to incorporate them properly throughout my essay while simultaneously breaking down the information presented to the reader.