Definitions HQ

Atrocity (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be a sign of progress: Central America drew no notice while it was quiet, all atrocity and no resistance; the killing grew when the organizing did.

An Atrocity (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a strange scale for the Western powers: genocide in East Timor can be supported, but asking the World Court about nuclear weapons cannot be tolerated.

Atrocity (n.) committed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by the wrong agent — ourselves — shrinks in memory: Americans guessed Vietnam's dead at about 5 percent of the official toll, as if Germans put the Holocaust at 300,000.

An Atrocity (n.) weighs ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠morally by what can be done to stop it: Timor, which Washington could have halted, mattered more than Cambodia, though the outcry ran the other way.

An Atrocity (n.) earns ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a place in the news only when its victims can be put to some other use.

Atrocity (n.) goes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠where victims have no voice: chemical weapons fell on the South Vietnamese the U.S. claimed to protect, not on the North, whose foreign links would have broadcast the crime.

An Atrocity (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be reported without being seen as one when your own side commits it; the horror and outrage are saved for the enemy's.

Atrocity (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠serve as a lightning rod: indignation fixes on one crime and thereby buries the far greater ones around it.