[Buddha-l] Cmabodian memory

[jkirk]

Obviously, the Cambodian government has been complicit in this
process of historical unknowing, since former KR men have been
serving in the government.  Look how long it has taken to bring
what's left of the KR to legal justice? 
What's the education system like?  I suspect it's practically
defunct so far as education about history and other necessary
subjects is concerned. 
This country was so utterly crushed, tortured and demoralised by
the Pol Pot regime that although the adults who went through it
remember what they survived, IMO-- based on views of a colleague
who worked for several years on the Thai border with Cambodian
refugees-- the whole country older than 30 must be under the
effects of PTSD. The sangha has been relegated to marginality or
self-chosen marginality, as well. They have no influence on
Cambodian ethics and morality. Today, Cambodia is the ultimate
child and women trafficking country of SE Asia.
Back in the seventies, Bangladesh was the basket-case country so
far as economics went; today it's Cambodia for every possible
reason, not just economics. Nothing strange about their
social-psychological processes!

Joanna K.
=======================



I recently mentioned the Khmer Rouge and the impact of its
aftermath on Cambodian society. Today an article appearing in the
NYTimes provides a new wrinkle. The younger generation is largely
ignorant of what happened, and disbelieve their grandparents'
accounts, or simply don't want to know about it.

{quote}
"Some older people get so upset at their children for not
believing that they say, 'I wish the Khmer Rouge time would
happen again; then you'd believe it,' " Mr. Ty Leap said.
{unquote}

Very curious social-psychological processes at play here.

"As much as 70 percent of Cambodia's population is under the age
of 30, and four out of five members of this young generation know
little or nothing about the Khmer Rouge years, according to a
survey last fall by the Human Rights Center at the University of
California, Berkeley."

more details at

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/asia/08cambo.htm

Is this practicing compassion or avidya?

Dan

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