It’s interesting. A very interesting and thought provoking discussing. Yes there were wrongs, terrible wrongs. Also, indeed it hasn’t really been that long. Hell, in my lifetime, (born in 58) there have been horrible injustices. The civil rights act was enacted by Kennedy in 64? That’s not that long. And there has been much progress. However, it is also proven for instance that by throwing money at problems like welfare, you don’t fix things. I.e., how many billions and billions has the US spent on welfare in the last 40 years? We still have roughly the same levels of poverty and destitution. I believe if you doubled it, or tripled it, you’d have a lot of happy lazy folks, but you wouldn’t fix the core/underlying problems, which are endemic in under achieving areas.
We have inner city schools where children who try to succeed are labeled as “white acting” and shunned by their peers for trying to do well in school. This is horiable! I’m not saying that this is by any means a sweeping generalization or that it’s even the majority. I don’t know the percentages, but I do know from watching TV and seeing documentaries, testimonials, that it does happen. So how does giving someone something help them when what they need is a checkup from the neck-up? Anyone with the attitude I just referenced will never succeed regardless of the breaks they are given. And those with the drive and fortitude to succeed don’t need it.
I’m sure this will be perceived as racist or bigoted by some, but how can it be un-fair to treat everyone fairly? At what point is the field level? And what will become of the white minority in 40 years? Again, will they have special treatment? Should they?
Let’s look at a few other examples. The Germans decimated the Jews. What are the modern day Germans doing to repay the sins of their fathers? What should they do? What should their grandchildren do? Their great grandchildren? Their great great grandchildren? At what point is it finished?
Here’s another which I have always personally loved and I’ve never heard anyone else make the point, it came to me while listening to the mad man Kalid Muhammad, who was Louis Ferrican’s right hand man. He went on and on about his hatred of the white man, the Jew, and various other groups. He harkened back to the days of ancient Egypt saying that blacks historically were far superior to whites because they ruled ancient Egypt, built the pyramids, the sphinx, etc… What he failed to acknowledge is that history states that the Jews were slaves at the time. They were lead out of Egypt by Moses. So using the same logic, in reality, the blacks owe the Jews as a result of centuries of slavery, right? When will they make restitution? Should they???
My ancestors are Irish, they were persecuted by the British. The British starved Ireland during the great potato famine, this is in fact when my great grandfather came over on a boat from Ireland to escape persecution and seek his family’s future which he built with his hands. He was given the opportunity to succeed and did so. Do the British owe me restitution? Should I be able to go to England and expect special treatment because my ancestors were persecuted and starved to death by their ancestors? It just doesn’t make sense. At some point we need to acknowledge the wrongs committed in the past, correct them by ensuring the right to the pursuit of happiness. However, at some point, it is incumbent on the individual to pursue happiness. That means working for it.
The only way we will survive is to stop viewing people as members of groups and view them as individuals.
