William Bramley/The Gods of Eden/29/298/1

We have noted that genocides are committed by grouping people into superficial categories usually based upon race, religious belief, or nationality. The victims are then targeted for slaughter even though they may be guilty of no crimes against their murderers. The French revolutionaries took the process to an extreme. During the Reign of Terror, people were grouped simply according to their economic and vocational standing. Those who fell into the wrong categories were deemed members of an undesirable social class and were killed. This was certainly as superficial a distinction as one can make, yet grouping people in this fashion has been extremely successful in factionalizing human beings.