The Blood of the Genocide

The Khmer Rouge regime brutally killed anyone who they perceived to be a threat. This is an example of a Hobbesian trap. Pol Pot often had his own soldier killed or thrown into detainment camps if he suspected anything. Any person who could spread information or intelligence throughout the masses was seen as a threat. A known Khmer Rouge slogan was, “It is better to arrest ten people by mistake than to let one guilty person go free.”

The “new people” and “old people” were all forced into endless work in the rice fields. The Khmer Rouge’s four-year plan included producing three tons of rice in a hectare (approximately 2.5 acres) each year. Due to these impossible yields, not enough rice could feed the workers. This is an example of a Malthusian Trap. The majority of people died of malnutrition and starvation, many were also executed for not being able to work hard enough if the fields.

The Khmer Rouge had a very strict and harmful utilitarian mindset that had to conform to a blueprint. Minorities did not conform to that blueprint. The Cham Muslim group was eliminated by 70%. Any ethnic Vietnamese, Thai, or Chinese citizens were targeted. An estimate of 50% of Cambodian-Chinese was slaughtered. 

One could argue the Khmer Rouge recreated a culture of honor as opposed to a culture of dignity. Instead of a former culture of dignity, where men controlled their impulses, soldiers now lashed out. A culture of honor was reinvented, in order to protect the ideology of the Khmer Rouge and instill fear in anyone else who dared to speak out.

The Khmer Rouge made sure Cambodia was isolated from the rest of the World. During “Year Zero,” he abolished currency, private property, and religion. This led to group polarization, a process in which attitudes of groups become more extreme over time. The isolation mixed with the localized population of Khmer cadres only escalated the violence and brutality.

The brutal acts the soldiers of the Khmer Rouge committed were enacted by conformity which reflects a behavior that is a response to perceived group pressure. At that point, Cambodians weren’t seen as beings, they were seen as orders.