1/3 When I have advocated #anarchism, I have assumed the best of humanity and attributed the worst to our system of social organization.
But if our rulers are no better than we are, it is apparent as well that we are no better than they are.
— David Benfell, Ph.D. (@n4rky) April 8, 2022
2/3 It is little wonder that we are so cruel to nonhuman animals when we are so cruel even to each other.
I do not know how to argue that the rest of us are better than the Russians in Ukraine, the workers in slaughterhouses, the Nazis in the Holocaust.
— David Benfell, Ph.D. (@n4rky) April 8, 2022
3/3 On the contrary, throughout history and now in the present, we are despicably savage. When we point to others, and say they do it, not us, we dehumanize them, just as they do to those they butcher. There can be no excusing any of this savagery, no excusing us.
— David Benfell, Ph.D. (@n4rky) April 8, 2022
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Tom Jackman and Spencer S. Hsu, “Proud Boys leader admits plan to storm Capitol and will testify against others,” Washington Post, April 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/04/08/donohoe-pleads-guilty-proud-boys-jan6/
Police White supremacist gangs
Rick Earle, “Officers fired over tasing death of Jim Rogers officially appeal decision,” WPXI, April 7, 2022, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/officers-fired-over-tasing-death-jim-rogers-officially-appeal-decision/ZZJIGZOTNBCLZNLDLUMSUKIJWE/
Dale Russakoff and Deborah Sontag, “Pa. agrees to pay $865k to Latino victims of state police traffic stops and arrests after Inquirer/ProPublica investigation,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-traffic-arrests-latino-immigration-20220408.html
Ukraine
Tom Ball, “Cancer surgeon ‘visited Putin 35 times in four years,’” Times, April 1, 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cancer-surgeon-visited-putin-35-times-in-four-years-gkflcsvfg
British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Gruesome evidence points to war crimes on road outside Kyiv,” April 1, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60949791
Julia Ioffe, “How Putin’s Game Ends,” Puck News, April 1, 2022, https://puck.news/how-putins-game-ends/
Daniel Boffey, “‘It is a war crime’: two young boys among neighbours shot dead during attempted evacuation,” Guardian, April 2, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/02/i-realised-my-husband-was-dead-ukrainians-tell-of-russian-army-atrocities
Martin Farrer, “Russians booby-trapping homes as they retreat, claims Zelenskiy,” Guardian, April 2, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/02/russia-ukraine-war-invasion-retreat-zelenskiy-kyiv-us-biden-uk-evacuees-escape-mariupol
Bruno Maçães, “‘Russia cannot afford to lose, so we need a kind of a victory’: Sergey Karaganov on what Putin wants,” New Statesman, April 2, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/04/russia-cannot-afford-to-lose-so-we-need-a-kind-of-a-victory-sergey-karaganov-on-what-putin-wants
Reuters, “Russia to halt cooperation over International Space Station,” Guardian, April 2, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/02/russia-to-end-cooperation-over-international-space-station
Liz Sly and Max Bearak, “Russia pulls back from battered Kyiv region in major shift of war to east,” Washington Post, April 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/02/russia-ukraine-east/
Clare Ansberry, “In a Pennsylvania Town, a Ukrainian Church and Its Russian Neighbor Navigate Wartime Tensions,” Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-a-pennsylvania-town-a-ukrainian-church-and-its-russian-neighbor-navigate-wartime-tensions-11648920990
Bethan McKernan, “Rape as a weapon: huge scale of sexual violence endured in Ukraine emerges,” Guardian, April 3, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/03/all-wars-are-like-this-used-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-ukraine
Reuters, “Patriarch urges soldiers to defend ‘peace-loving’ Russia amid Ukraine campaign,” April 3, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/patriarch-urges-soldiers-defend-peace-loving-russia-amid-ukraine-campaign-2022-04-03/
Jennifer Rankin and Daniel Boffey, “Killing of civilians in Bucha and Kyiv condemned as ‘terrible war crime,’” Guardian, April 3, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/03/eu-leaders-condemn-killing-of-unarmed-civilians-in-bucha-and-kyiv
David L. Stern et al., “Russian forces pull back from Kyiv, exposing horrors of war,” Washington Post, April 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/04/02/ukraine-russia-bucha/
Nandita Bose, “Biden urges Putin war crimes trial after Bucha killings,” Reuters, April 4, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-says-putin-is-war-criminal-calls-war-crimes-trial-2022-04-04/
Malachy Browne, David Botti and Haley Willis, “Satellite images show bodies lay in Bucha for weeks, despite Russian claims,” New York Times, April 4, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html
Amy Spiro, “Liberman refuses to condemn Russia over Bucha, citing ‘mutual accusations,’” Times of Israel, April 4, 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-refuses-to-condemn-russia-over-bucha-citing-mutual-accusations/
Anton Troianovski and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, “Images of Russian Atrocities Push West Toward Tougher Sanctions,” New York Times, April 4, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/biden-putin-ukraine-war.html
Gerry Doyle, “Satellite images show civilian deaths in Ukraine town while it was in Russian hands,” Reuters, April 5, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/satellite-images-show-civilian-deaths-ukraine-town-while-it-was-russian-hands-2022-04-05/
Alon Ben-Meir, “Bennett Is Siding with the Ruthless Killer Putin,” InterPress Service, April 6, 2022, https://www.ipsnews.net/2022/04/bennett-siding-ruthless-killer-putin/
Robert Burns, “Russia’s failure to take down Kyiv was a defeat for the ages,” Associated Press, April 6, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-battle-for-kyiv-dc559574ce9f6683668fa221af2d5340
Julia Ioffe, “‘Never Again’ Again: The History of Putin’s Terror,” Puck News, April 6, 2022, https://puck.news/never-again-again-the-history-of-putins-terror/
Sudarsan Raghavan et al., “Right-wing Azov Battalion emerges as a controversial defender of Ukraine,” Washington Post, April 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/06/ukraine-military-right-wing-militias/
Tom Engelhardt, “Ukraine in Perspective,” TomDispatch, April 7, 2022, https://tomdispatch.com/ukraine-in-perspective/
Isaac Stanley-Becker and Vanessa Guinan-Bank, “Germany intercepts Russian talk of indiscriminate killings in Ukraine,” Washington Post, April 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/07/bucha-german-intelligence-radio-bnd-russia/
Dalton Bennett, Adela Suliman, and Mary Ilyushina, “Train station strike in eastern Ukraine takes brutal toll on civilians evacuating,” Washington Post, April 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/08/kramatorsk-train-station-strike-civilians-ukraine-russia/
Jon Henley, “Russia laments ‘tragedy’ of troop deaths as Zelenskiy warns of atrocities in Borodyanka,” Guardian, April 8, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/08/russia-laments-tragedy-of-troop-deaths-as-zelenskiy-warns-of-atrocities-in-borodyanka
Adam Schreck and Cara Anna, “Deadly missile strike on Ukraine train station busy with fleeing civilians,” CTV News, April 8, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/deadly-missile-strike-on-ukraine-train-station-busy-with-fleeing-civilians-1.5853626