IF the so called stealing [200 years ago LOL]from the Indians bothers you so much --do something about it. BUT don't try to guilt trip me over it;...
Right and because one victim moved on the crime never happened. Did those whose land was stolen ever received proper and full reparations? To be honest, my and your opinions don't actually matter in this at all. Truth does not care about feelings. I am not invested in this at all, I simply pointed out facts and truth. Why do you think there is a crisis in the Middle East. Because two cultures and nations battle over land they both claim belonged to them. That Indians shut up and to a large degree rather embrace crystal meth and casinos and alcohol than fighting what was righteous theirs does not change truth and facts of misappropriation.
We tend to celebrate things we're proud of ... regardless of how old they are: Independence Day, Dead Presidents, etc. We tend to minimize our evilness: slavery, wiping out American Indians for their land, etc.
The fact that murder and theft and slavery happened hundreds of years ago doesn't make it disappear. Just like 1776 hasn't disappeared from our collective memories and culture. Nor does time erase or stop the damages.
A marathon runner tripped by another racer at the start will never regain that potential, no matter how long the race is. So despite the passage of time, the effects of that early evil live on.
The recourse in football for some penalties is to place the victim team in a position they would have been, likely, but for the interference--and sometimes to a greater degree (in order to penalize the charged team).
Yet, this concept of
making whole is always frowned upon by a
certain segment of the population when applying it to a
harmed people.
You can't
make another feel guilty, if they already know the facts. There's a certain human quality that's missing from evil dictators to the bully in kindergarten. Some folks have empathy; some don't. Another can't
will it into them. The best one can do is convince them it's in their best interest to act--even though they don't want to--
as though they care. That won't happen via a message board. And even if it did, I doubt they'd ever admit it.
If a prior generation screwed up the planet (nuclear waste, plastics in the oceans, high CO2, etc.) to the extent that it'll be uninhabitable in a couple hundred years; should future generations work to fix the problems, or should they say
"... forget about it, it happened 200 years ago LOL ... and I'll be dead before it comes to an end... LOL."
__________________
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."