THE COMMUNICATION DEATH SPIRAL
1994
Rwanda - When Radio Became a Weapon
800,000 dead in 100 days. How?
Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines
Known as RTLM, this radio station broadcast hate propaganda that called Tutsis "cockroaches" and gave instructions on where to find victims.
stopped broadcasting music and news. Instead, they broadcast hate. "Kill the cockroaches," they said.
"Your neighbors are your enemies." When communication becomes dehumanization, genocide follows.
The killers weren't monsters - they were ordinary people who stopped seeing their victims as human.
1861-1865
American Civil War - When Compromise Failed
620,000 Americans killed Americans. For decades, North and South debated slavery through Congress, courts,
and newspapers. Then came the breakdown: each side retreated to their own media, their own politicians, their own version of truth.
The Missouri Compromise
A series of laws that temporarily held the Union together by balancing slave and free states. When compromises failed, violence began.
held for thirty years. But when dialogue ended, bullets began.
Brother killed brother because they could no longer hear each other's humanity.
1933-1939
Germany - The Slow Strangulation of Discourse
Democracy didn't die overnight. It suffocated slowly. First, Nazis controlled the media.
Then they banned opposing newspapers. Then they made it dangerous to disagree publicly.
Finally, they made it dangerous to disagree privately. By 1939, Germans lived in echo chambers of their own making.
When World War II began, most Germans genuinely believed they were the victims.
Joseph Goebbels
Nazi propaganda minister who said "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
understood: Control the conversation, control the people.
HEROES WHO REFUSED TO FOLLOW
1943
Sophie Scholl
German student who distributed anti-Nazi leaflets as part of the White Rose resistance group. Executed at age 21.
- The Student Who Said No
While millions of Germans followed Hitler, 21-year-old Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans distributed leaflets
calling for resistance to Nazi tyranny. They knew it meant death, but they did it anyway.
"Somebody, after all, had to make a start," Sophie said before her execution.
They refused to be silent while their country committed atrocities. Their courage inspired others to resist,
even when resistance seemed hopeless.
1955-1956
Rosa Parks - The Seamstress Who Sparked a Revolution
Rosa Parks wasn't just tired from work - she was tired of injustice. When she refused to give up her bus seat,
she wasn't making a spontaneous decision. She was a trained activist who understood that sometimes one person's
refusal to comply can change everything. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days and helped launch the Civil Rights Movement.
Parks showed that individual resistance can become collective action.
1989
Tank Man - The Unknown Protester
We don't know his name. We don't know what happened to him. But we know what he did:
One man, carrying shopping bags, stood in front of a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square.
For several minutes, he blocked the path of the Chinese military's advance.
When the tank tried to go around him, he moved to block it again.
His act of defiance was seen around the world and became a symbol of individual courage against state power.