Guilty

My Opinion, Observations on life 7 comments

Blah, blah

Don’t get me wrong, our society did treat native Americans horribly – stealing their land, massacres, one broken treaty after another.

But guess what, as sad as it may be, virtually every country, every society in the world has a similar story. Such injustice has occurred since there were societies. Every empire got that way by abusing the native population. African tribal chiefs sold enemies into slavery, William the Conqueror destroyed village after village, the English abused the Irish and India and on and on.

Look at examples in our own time – Eastern Europe, the Middle East, China, many parts of Africa.

There is no need to bash America, our record while blemished, is far better than most of the rest of the world.

7 comments

  1. OTOH…

    George Santayana
    “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”*

    May be, it’s a gentle hint to look at what we are doing today. Will our children and grandchildren be proud?

    Just in our (my) lifetime, we have seen big changes, especially in the treatment of women and minorities. We are not done.

    IMHO, at least three things stand out in the U.S. today…
    Prisons; the highest, by far, incarceration rate of any civilized country, and the response is… “We need more”?

    Literally off the chart.

    Gun deaths; are you kidding me?

    Economic inequality;
    At least we’re not number one
    https://i.insider.com/55a4fb4beab8eae070760d99?width=1022&format=jpeg

    Extra credit;

    “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
    Liz Cheney

    *”But,… History shows that both those who do not learn history and those who do learn history are doomed to repeat it. If it’s also true that those who do learn history are doomed to repeat it, then the saying doesn’t really add anything at all.”
    Nicholas Clairmont

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    1. Thanks. Apparently, mass incarceration and prison reform aren’t as big of a problem as many assert since, given the number of gun deaths, carjackings, stolen cars coupled with widespread looting sufficient to close many stores and other criminal behavior, way, way too many people who should be in prison … aren’t.

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  4. Since humans have been on earth, they have migrated and often conflicts resulted if contact was made with other tribes or groups. America was no different, the people here that preceded the Europeans were fighting other tribes over territory and killing and taking slaves. The Maya were an example of a group that practiced wholesale slaughter and took slaves. The Iroquois and Mohawk were not innocent peaceful groups by today’s thinking. I’m not picking on those three but they are only examples. I’m just saying that we can’t do anything about the past and we can’t think of it in todays standards.
    It is Columbus Day because it lead to a better country today and the people tweeting about European atrocities might consider the background of their ancestors in Africa and the Middle East. It is not so pretty..

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