logo
episode-header-image
Jul 11
30m 43s

How Governments Disappear Humans

Horror Stories
About this episode
There is a chilling pattern of how governments have systematically dehumanized, displaced, and exterminated entire groups of people throughout history using bureaucratic steps.
Drawing from real atrocities such as the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge regime, the Rwandan genocide, and the Armenian genocide, as well as injustices in U.S. history like the internment of Japanese Americans and the treatment of Native and African Americans, I trace a common structure of how oppression builds: with labels, propaganda, silence, and “legal” processes. 
Societal fear and political power can normalize cruelty. So here's your reminder of the responsibility to notice, speak out, and act before it’s too late. Recognize familiar patterns and refuse to let history repeat itself.
Get in touch on HorrorStory.com
Up next
Aug 14
When the Dead Came Back
In the winter of 1892, the quiet town of Exeter, Rhode Island, became the stage for one of New England’s most infamous cases of vampire panic. Tuberculosis, then called “consumption”, was killing families one by one, and superstition filled the gaps science couldn’t explain. When ... Show More
18m 20s
Aug 1
There's a Ghost in Your Bed
In 1987, a family purchased a set of second-hand bunk beds for their young daughters. Almost immediately after they started being used, their children started reporting a strange apparition, visions, and objects moving on their own. Can objects be haunted? And if so, are there mo ... Show More
24m 50s
Jul 25
The Mystery of The Serbian Dancing Lady
In 2019, a woman was spotted dancing on the street in Belgrade, Serbia. Rumors spread about her carrying a knife and chasing people, and bystanders were warned not to look her in the eye. Then in 2022, the video was shared on TikTok and it started an entire new type of digital lo ... Show More
21m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
Benjamin Meiches, "The Politics of Annihilation: A Genealogy of Genocide" (U Minnesota Press, 2019)
In The Politics of Annihilation: A Genealogy of Genocide (University of Minnesota Press, 2019),Benjamin Meiches takes a novel approach to the study of genocide by analyzing the ways in which ideas, concepts, and understandings about what genocide is and how it is to be prevented ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2024
What is genocide? - SBS Examines: نسل وژنه څه ته وايي؟
'Genocide' is a powerful term — it's been called the "crime of crimes". When does large-scale violence become genocide, and why is it so difficult to prove and punish? - نسل وژنه (Genocide) یوه پیاوړې اصطلاح ده. مګر د دغې اصطلاع اصلي معنی څه ده؟ او څوک پریکړه نیسي چې څه وخت یوه ش ... Show More
7m 19s
Jul 5
EP:2 Murder by Policy: Empire of Violence : The Complicity of American Power
What happens when a society built on "never again" becomes the very force it once condemned? In this unflinching examination of America's role in global violence, Scott Horton and Daryl Cooper peel back the comfortable narratives we tell ourselves about being the world's moral le ... Show More
1h 6m
Mar 2024
An Unfinished History of the Holocaust
The Holocaust is much discussed, much memorialized, and much portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked. Spanning the entirety of the Holocaust, this sweeping history deepens our understanding. Dan Stone—Director of the Holocaust Research Inst ... Show More
1h 36m
Mar 2023
Jennie E. Burnet, "To Save Heaven and Earth: Rescue in the Rwandan Genocide" (Cornell UP, 2023)
In To Save Heaven and Earth: Rescue in the Rwandan Genocide (Cornell UP, 2023), Jennie E. Burnet considers people who risked their lives in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsi to try and save those targeted for killing. Many genocide perpetrators were not motivated by political id ... Show More
1h 13m
Jan 2025
A History of Auschwitz
On January 27th 1945, the Red Army liberated the concentration camp at Auschwitz unveiling its almost unspeakable horrors to the world.  The concentration camp system began almost immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. It was an integral part of the ... Show More
58m 31s
May 1
Part Three: The Pol Pot Episodes: How A Nice, Quiet Kid Murdered His Country
Pol Pot and his friends are now in charge of Cambodia and in a remarkably short period of time they manage to kill two million people. Including a leftist academic from the UK who thought the Khmer Rouge was rad. Here's how!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
1h 29m
May 26
How the Whitman Murders Redefined the American West
May 30, 1855. Five thousand Native Americans come to Walla Walla to negotiate a treaty. However, it’s not exactly a fair negotiation – the territorial governor basically tells these tribes that they have no choice but to live on reservations in order to maintain peace. This momen ... Show More
39m 18s
Jul 26
EP:5 - The Mosquito Protocol: When Power Has No Shame: Genocide, Cover-Ups, and Zero Accountability
Hey folks, welcome back to Provoked. In this episode, we dive into some of the ugliest truths behind a few major global conflicts—most of all, what's happening right now in Gaza. Let’s get this straight right off the bat—it’s not a war. That word gives the impression of two sides ... Show More
1h 4m
Aug 6
Japan’s Evaporated People
Imagine you wake up tomorrow and the person you depend upon most in this world is gone. No trace, no goodbyes, just vanished. Then, you find out they planned their disappearance — and have no intention of returning. In Japan, this phenomenon has a name: Johatsu, or “evaporated pe ... Show More
44m 36s