# Khmer Rouge -- Not Evil, just very, very misunderstood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132 "2011-12-05T15:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/1 "2011-12-05T15:35:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Ex-leader in court: Khmer Rouge not ‘bad people’ > … > > PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The No. 2 leader of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime told a court he and his comrades were not “bad people,” denying responsibility Monday for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during their 1970s rule > > … > After a court clerk read a background of the Khmer Rouge and the three defendants, Nuon Chea defended the notoriously brutal movement. > > “I don’t want the next generation to misunderstand history. I don’t want them to believe the Khmer Rouge are bad people, are criminals,” Nuon Chea said. “Nothing is true about that.” > > The 85-year-old one-time chief ideologist for the communist movement insisted that no Cambodian was responsible for atrocities during the Khmer Rouge’s reign. > **[Yahoo News: Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More](https://news.yahoo.com/)** > > The latest news and headlines from Yahoo News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos. I guess _The Killing Fields_ and all those journalists just got it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/2 "2011-12-05T17:11:15Z")
I swear, you kill more than 20% of the population of your own country just _once_, and people are all nag, nag, nag. Geez, way to live in the past, guys! How come nobody talks about all the cool stuff the Khmer Rouge did? Like taco night. That was fun, right? But noooooo, everyone’s all genocide this, and crimes against humanity that, and unspeakable inhumanity the other. Pfffft! Lighten up, people! Those few of you who survived, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/3 "2011-12-05T17:20:24Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > How come nobody talks about all the cool stuff the Khmer Rouge did? Like taco night. That was fun, right? Also they provide an excellent example for any other countries that might be considering murdering all their educated populace and forcing everyone remaining into pre-Industrial Age subsistence agriculture. You need to plan the transition really carefully if you want it to work. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/4 "2011-12-05T18:02:00Z")
I used to work with a guy who was an officer in the Cambodian Army when the Khmer took over. I’ll ask his opinion when I see him next. On second thought, no I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/5 "2011-12-05T21:22:33Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > I swear, you kill more than 20% of the population of your own country just _once_, and people are all nag, nag, nag. Geez, way to live in the past, guys! How come nobody talks about all the cool stuff the Khmer Rouge did? Like taco night. That was fun, right? > > But noooooo, everyone’s all genocide this, and crimes against humanity that, and unspeakable inhumanity the other. Pfffft! Lighten up, people! Those few of you who survived, I mean. Damn, I forgot all about taco night! You’re right, that homemade guac alone makes up for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/6 "2011-12-06T01:00:53Z")
[Well done! You killed 100,000 people? You must get up very early in the morning!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtkJd8w5UQ) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/7 "2011-12-06T15:23:54Z")
The thing is, it seemed so good on paper: Herd everybody into communal labor camps, feed them 500 calories a day, and shoot anybody who disagrees. What wasn’t there to like? Now everybody’s all up in their face and Monday morning quarterbacking. _As if_ the rest of us would have spotted the flaws in such an attractive plan. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/8 "2011-12-06T20:05:59Z")
Thats the trouble with people, they ask for strong leadership, and then when you give it to them, its all boo hoo hoo… Ungrateful sods. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/9 "2011-12-06T20:48:09Z")
The ONLY thing bad about the Khmer Rouge is that it didn’t have a catchy enough name. If their regime had been known as “The Democratic Republic of Cambodia” then everyone would overlook the whole ‘let’s kill all the intellectuals and starve people’ thing, possibly even turn it into a positive. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/10 "2014-08-06T22:18:02Z")
Bumping this almost three year old thread: "A United Nations-assisted tribunal has cleared the way to begin the genocide trial of two elderly former top leaders of Cambodia’s 1970s Khmer Rouge regime. Survivors of the communist regime’s reign of terror, along with students and Buddhist monks, attended a hearing on Wednesday that laid down the ground rules for the trial, which judges said would likely start in September or October. The mass killings of an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 ethnic Cham Muslims and 20,000 Vietnamese form the basis of the genocide charges against Nuon Chea, 88, and Khieu Samphan, 83." > **[UN paves way for Khmer Rouge genocide trial](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/7/30/un-paves-way-for-khmer-rouge-genocide-trial)** > > Two former leaders of Pol Pot’s regime accused of playing a role in the deaths of 1.7 million people in the 1970s. So are they going to complete the trial before the defendants die of old age? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/11 "2014-08-06T22:24:36Z")
Assume Pol Pot would also be a defendant, were he alive? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/12 "2014-08-06T22:51:28Z")
Maybe the state will use the death penalty as a deterrent. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khmer-rouge-not-evil-just-very-very-misunderstood/605132/13 "2014-08-07T06:19:35Z")
The two were sentenced to life imprisonment: > **[Decades after Cambodia’s reign of terror, tribunal convicts 2 senior Khmer...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/un-backed-tribunal-sentences-two-top-khmer-rouge-leaders-to-life-in-prison/article19946219/)** > > The historic verdicts were announced against Khieu Samphan, the regime’s 83-year-old former head of state, and Nuon Chea, its 88-year-old chief ideologue