Holocaust historian: "cockroaches" and "dogs" are both derogatory but different in degree of negativity
If Hong Kong aspires to be an international city, it has to respect world history. The so-called “best in Asia” Hong Kong police force do not seem to have learnt from significant lessons in world history.
Nearly three years ago, in the Beating of Ken Tsang case, seven police officers were jailed for beating up protestor Ken Tsang during the Umbrella Movement. This led to a protest by tens of thousands of police officers during which a police officer drew an analogy between the difficult situations they encountered and the Nazi persecution the Jews faced. Consequently, both the German and the Israeli consulates criticised such analogy as inappropriate.
On many occasions in these past several months of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) Movement, police officers have called protestors "cockroaches". Junior Police Officers Association Chairman Lam Chi Wai wrote an open letter in August declaring that "rioters are no different from cockroaches".
Although the police spokesmen at the daily 4 o'clock press conferences stated a number of times that such description was not ideal, police officers calling protestors at the scene cockroaches has become a "standing practice".
In the past six months, I have heard anti-riot police officers shouting "cockroaches" at protestors often at times of heightened emotions in various places. They also called protestors cockroaches when communicating on two-way radios with their colleagues. Pro-police protestors likewise use the word “cockroach” to ridicule pro-democracy protestors.
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) news documentary programme Hong Kong Connection explored the police-community relationship in its 23 December 2019 episode. A police officer was interviewed which sparked another heated debate on the use of the word "cockroach".
During the interview, Police Community Relations Officer and Chief Inspector of Police Tam Yu Hei dressed in his uniform and seated in a room with the police logo stated, "One might think cockroach is a negative analogy. But look at it positively, aren’t cockroaches very resilient?" The public was stunned by this attempt to throw a positive light on the use of the word “cockroach”.
Back in early October, I interviewed Jewish Holocaust historian Prof. Glenn Timmermans of University of Macau who has been following Hong Kong’s Anti-ELAB Movement. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied the Holocaust for more than ten years. He promoted relevant education in Asia and taught in Czech Republic and Poland.
Timmermans stated, "The label ‘cockroach’ is full of negative connotations. In all cases of genocide, it was widely used, especially in Rwanda. Calling the persecuted side insects is commonplace. For instance, during the Nanjing Massacre, Japanese called the Chinese ‘ants’ and ‘pests’".
He analysed the psychology behind it, "Calling your opponents insects makes you feel they are not human beings. This is a dehumanising process. The moment you stop thinking the opponents are human beings, you are in a very dangerous realm".
"When you call the protestors ‘enemies’, you are still thinking they are human beings. But when you downgrade them to insects, you can kill them as you like. You kill them with insecticide." In lectures, Prof. Timmermans likes to use vivid facial expressions. As he said this, he was clenching his teeth and pressing his fingers on the table to demonstrate how to kill an insect.
Indeed, at many protest scenes one can see police officers shaking their pepper spray cans, getting ready to attack and shouting "cockroaches". The can of pepper spray looks just like a can of insecticide. Whenever the police officers fancy, they will spray journalists or onlookers in the face.
What about the other side? Protestors call the police "dogs".
In Hong Kong Connection, Chief Inspector Tam said, "dogs can be seen as loyal and obedient”. He was attempting to tell people not to be too fixated on these names.
According to Prof. Timmermans, although both "cockroaches" and "dogs" are negative labels, they differ in degrees of negativity. He agrees that in western cultures, calling others "dogs" is humiliating but at least dogs are friends of human.
"Calling someone a dog is different from calling them insects. Dogs are animals. Insects are at the lower end of the food chain. Killing a dog can be hard for some people but not killing an insect. To kill an insect is nothing, dogs you don't just kill."
Having studied Holocaust history for years, Timmermans feels it may not be appropriate to use this period of history to draw an analogy lightly. Terms like "Nazi" and "concentration camp" should be used with caution. Yet, lessons should be learned from the persecution of Jews during World War II.
From the Holocaust, examples of degradation of humanity is worth reflecting upon.
“At a time when people are discussing whether the term ‘Chinazi’ is proper or not, the police should also be more sensitive and careful in their behaviour. For instance, marking on the skin of arrestees is idiotic and inappropriate."
The police arrested 70 people in Wan Chai on 1 November 2019. A police officer was recorded on video using a pen to mark a female arrestee’s case number on her arm. This is a reminiscent of Jews in concentration camps being tattooed with a number on their wrists. "From that point onwards, you are just a number, not a person," the professor explained.
Timmermans said, "For sure Hong Kong police would say they did not do so on purpose and had no intention to humiliate the protestors. Police officers are not armed gangsters. Dealing with provocation should be part of their training. There is not need to use below-the-belt, humiliating language such as calling protestors cockroaches in response. Don't they not claim to be the best in Asia?”
Source : The Stand News, 24 December 2019
(The author of this article is an ex-journalist and currently works in the School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong.)
https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/ (https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/)猶太人大屠殺歷史專家-曱甴-和-狗-兩個負面標籤有程度之分/