Rwanda Debate

Debate Time

I thought that this discussion opened my eyes to what the real situation in Rwanda was. All the arguments, accusations, and conflicting view points made this a very fun activity. I personally represented Juvenal Habyarimana and have read many articles on him. I think that he was truly a leader of a majority pressured by his public and rebel groups to take sides. Other groups in the discussion think otherwise about Mr. Habyarimana though.Among these are Mike B and his Rwandan Patriotic Front who believe that Juvenal was a ruthless dictator and was determined on riding the world of Tutsis. The group that represents Paul Kagame also believes that we were set straight on killing the Tutsi minority of Rwanda. Brent Bookmen (along with myself) had to stand up for Mr. Habyarimana and try to convince all of the groups (and the moderator) that the man we were representing was a true leader and was simply pressured into doing what he had done by Paul Kagame and The Rwandan Patriotic Front.

This has shown me how a real official debate may take place and I hope to take place in another one. I thought that it was an interesting way to learn about a topic that was a real global tragedy as if we were the ones to decide what the overall outcome of the situation would be.

Juvenal Habyarimana and the Rwandan Genocide

An Outspoken Leader
In character, Juvenal Habyarimana was a great leader. He had grown up being oppressed by Tutsis under Belgium rule and was simply returning the favor. Later in his presidency, he began to lose power and became scared that Tutsi revolutionaries (led by Paul Kagame) in Uganda were going to overthrow his administration just like they had to the president of Uganda. Habyarimana later let Tutsi refugees that he had originally oppressed return to Rwanda freely to try to settle the score with the Tutsis. He was later shot down by Paul Kagame and his rebel group (or by Hutu extremists as some believe) in April of ’94. He was trying to become untied as a country but he was shot down and killed for it.
Out of character, I believe that Kagame and Habyarimana were both equally responsible for starting this. Habyarimana for using segregation to try to get revenge on the Tutsis for segregating against him as a child and for brainwashing people who would later become the interahamwe to o out and kill their Tutsi neighbors. I now blame Kagame for overreacting and killing Habyarimana. If he hadn’t shot down that plane, his people would have lived in segregation and not have been murdered.

The Individual is Not Dead

The Individual is Not Dead


The point the Emerson was trying to get across in "The American Scholar" dosen't hold true today.



Emersons argument is shot down today with just one word. Parents. Parents do both their job( if they have one), care for their children, and care for their parents(If they need the care). Emerson says that " The priest becomes a form; the attorney astatue book; the mechanic a machine; the sailor the rope of the ship", this is not true today becasue in this terrible economy, people may hold more than one job, so their lives are ivolved in two things and not just consumed by a singular task. This is not what Emerson says because he says that the thinker can be only the thinker and not the farmer, but in todays world, the thinker may need to become the planter to make a bit more money to get by. This way the thinker is now not just the thinker, he is the thinker and the planter.

Even though people now a days are becoming more specialized in what they do, people arent entirley their job. People are also children, citizens, and maybe parents, in addition to their job. The priest now becomes a religious model as well as a priest, the sailor becomes an adventurer as well as a sailor, and the attorney(in some cases) may become a smoth talking slimeball as well as an attorney. This also adds to my point that even though Emerson was a great writter and respected by many, the way things see,ed back at the time he lived have changed into what occurs today.