u/Forgotten_Dog1954

Was discussing about genocides in a course the other day and the example of Belgian Congo/King Leopold came up. As stated, a genocide is

> A deliberate, systematic killing or destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.

I felt like that the Belgian Congo example wasn’t quite fitting that since during the colonial era, Europeans saw all other people as those below them, and whilst King Leopold did make them toil in the rubber coils (**Just to specify, I am NOT glorifying colonialism or justifying Leopold by saying this but looking on the situation in the Congo from a European Point of View at the time**), it was only for the reason of him considering those people below him and not because he specifically had a bias against Congolese people.

For example, him having another colony in Africa would not change his view and the same would likely happen to people of that country. Again, though, it is not because he specifically wanted to systemically murder all of these people, but rather for Belgium’s profit at the time since rubber in the Congo brought a lot of money due to it being needed for newly invented bicycles.

If we look at another example of a genocide, for example the Cambodian genocide by Khmer Rouge in 1975-79, there was a specific target of professionals, businesspeople, educated people and the previous leadership since they could potentially pose a threat to the regime, meaning they were systematically selected and murdered as per the definition of a genocide.

When I questioned the Belgian Congo being a genocide, the educator said that it is a commonly debated topic, but she would consider it a genocide since Leopold believed these people are below him. Hence, I’m wondering what the people here think about it being a genocide or not.

Spirit Airlines has officially shut down its operations. Per their website:

It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately. To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 33 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come. This website contains information about the wind-down process. If you have any further questions, please contact our claims agent, Epiq, by emailing SpiritAirlinesInfo@epiqglobal.com or calling (855) 952-6606 (for toll-free U.S. and Canada calls) or (971) 715-2831 (for international calls).

If you have booked your flights with an OTA/Third Party, refunds/rebookings must go through the company you booked with, and Spirit has no relation to whether you will be refunded or not.

As u/skiing-bear said in this post, United is offering rebooking at discounted fares if you have proof of a Spirit Cancellation.

This will serve as the megathread where you can ask or answer questions and discuss anything related to the shutdown. Other threads on r/travel and r/flights will be removed.

So when Cloud, Tifa and Aerith get into Don Corneo’s mansion in Chapter 9, he unwillingly tells them about Shinra’s plan to drop the plate on sector 7.

In the cutscene with Reeve and President Shinra immediately after, Reeve begs the president to issue a warning which he declines, so the plate drop is presented to be a surprise attack and "accident" similar to the Sector 6 plate.

Then, Cloud Tifa and Aerith end up in the sewers and train graveyard. When they make their way out to sector 7, people are already evacuating, and Barret along with Avalanche are already fighting and defending the support pillar.

What I do not get is that if it was a surprise attack, and the only people who knew were Cloud Tifa and Aerith, how did Avalanche already know that they were going to drop the plate? Tifa couldn’t have contacted them from the sewers or anything…

Is anybody else missing this or am I just stupid?