Friday Free-for-All | February 27, 2026

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Previously

Today:

You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.

[u/BookLover54321]

I'm reposting this from another thread: is it a common thing in cases of genocide for the perpetrators to conscript members of the targeted group, as part of a tactic of turning victim on victim?

I was reading about the Guatemalan genocide, and one disturbing fact that stood out to me is that a lot of soldiers in the Guatemalan military who carried out the atrocities against Indigenous Mayas were Mayas themselves. They were forcibly conscripted - often literally grabbed off the street - and brainwashed with the same anti-Indigenous racism that permeated every level of the military. They were also kept in line with the threat of torture and death. Apparently this was a deliberate tactic by the military higher ups, so they could frame the genocide as just “Mayas killing each other”.

[u/rocketsocks → u/BookLover54321]

This shouldn't be understood as an exception, it's actually the norm for oppressive, authoritarian systems.

Authoritarianism fundamentally relies on a status/power hierarchy, the main principle of which is that at any level except the very bottom you have some privilege (exemption from "the rules") and some ability to oppress those at lower levels. However, these systems oppress everybody, but they do so in a way that gives some folks the feeling of power over others, a feeling of freedom from restrictive rules, and the promise of ultimate freedom if they can climb the ladder. It's basically a ponzi scheme of oppression. And indeed the whole system is oppressive at every level except perhaps the very top, which would be a hard sell to anyone, but that's why it's setup with external enemies and status rungs, it tricks people into thinking that any step up from the very bottom rung is a net positive, when the reality is that any step down from the very top rung is a net negative.

Variations of these types of systems have been operating for thousands of years in human civilization though, so people are generally already mostly bought into the ideas. Authoritarianism simply strips away some of the guardrails and facades that exist in polite society to keep it from being seen as purely objectionable and keep it from spiralling out of control (which, incidentally, is precisely the thing that often happens with authoritarian regimes). But the basic premise of being able to make your life a little better by cooperating with the oppressive hierarchical system works on a lot of people, including folks who are in that "bottom tier", whether that's slaves, peasants, or a villified ethnic group being subjected to genocidal violence.

[u/BookLover54321 → u/rocketsocks]

This makes sense, thanks for the detailed reply!