I think it is helpful to read other cases of genocide denial if you want to help yourself figure out what to engage with and what not to engage with. The talking points are exactly the same. All genocides work the same. It was hard to engage with friends and extended family members saying these things during #TigrayGenocide and I sure am not going to entertain that from others now.
"No we're not talking about the population its just this group we're calling animals"
It helps to see all this before. Because its exactly the same. At that time I was so shocked to see these arguments, and it helped me to read more about denial during the Tutsi Rwandan genocide. I also talked to my friends who told me about the Mayan genocide in Guatemala, and how they couldn't speak to their families and friends. They told me that people will continue to deny even when perpetrators are taken to court and there are mountains of evidence.
There is actually an academic field of genocide studies [1] and about 50 Wikipedia-notable scholars of genocide [2]. I don't know if any are already on the Fediverse / @academicchatter (apart from @seanfobbe for the Yazidi genocide) ?
Obviously, by the time a research article is done and peer-reviewed, it's a few years after the genocide started, but some of these scholars speak up on the birdsite much sooner.
A peer-reviewed research paper quantitatively analysing the common speech patterns of genocide denial - as you (@timnitGebru) have given examples of - for the #TigrayGenocide, the Yazidi, Rwanda, and what very much appears to be genocide against Palestinians, might be useful alongside genocide scholars' more qualitative analyses. The ethical AI community and genocide scholars could do useful work together ...
is there a place or an avenue to do this? im working on a paper in canada following a call to action to regulate ai. but this is a specific area of interest for me.
do you know anyone or a anywhere that this can be started?
It's quite likely that @timnitGebru is too busy, but you could browse among the people at https://dair-community.social - where most people have the AI expertise, and someone might have the time.
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