Do you support the position that we stole America from native peoples who were
already living here, and did that in a savage, beastly way, and that they deserve
some fair compensation for that loss?
The Native American never believed that they owned the land, so we couldn't have stolen it. Nobody owned it. That was contrary to their belief system. We found something that nobody else owned, and took ownership of it. Just like finding a stray dog or domesticating a wild horse.
If anybody owned it, it was the deer and bears and salmon who were here before the Native Americans and had just as much ownership interest and right in it as the Native Americans did. Although perhaps, if the theory of evolution is true, really it was owned by the first creatures to ooze out of the oceans, and everybody else just stole it as them came along.
But if you want to be illogical enough to apply Western values to those who didn't have those values, precisely what compensation would you suggest we give for the Island of Manhattan? Just give the whole thing back? Don't we have an obligation to tear down all the buildings first an rip up the streets and plant trees all over it and return it to the condition it was in when the post-Columbus white people settled there?
But I will be glad to consider supporting your cause IF you will support the cause of my Pict ancestors whose land was stolen variously by Romans, French, Danes, and various other conquerors. When my ancestors and I get London back, then I'll consider giving Manhattan back.
How far back do you want to go with this? I rather doubt that ANYBODY alive today owns land which wasn't at some point stolen from an earlier owner. Do you know anybody who is a direct lawful taker from the first creatures to settle on a piece of land? |
