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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (41879)	12/27/2001 10:05:54 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

White people were sold as indentured servants in this country (a form of slavery). Black people and red people were sold and held as captive slaves in this country. The world was full of lots of this kind of messy and oppressive transitory wheeling and dealing in human flesh. It still is but for most people it appears more civilized and tasteful and suited for modern senses. There is no way I can say whether or not I would have condoned or participated in nuclear bombing in the 1940's. It is history, I had no part in it and have no cause to feel personally engaged at any level of responsibility. This is a silly exercise bent on positioning modern agendas not on reconciling the past. It isn't honest. Shame is personal, direct, constructive, and honest. This is 2001. If I am wealthy and part of that wealth is a result of our country having benefitted from the defeat of the Japanese Empire in the 1940's then that is another matter. Along with that is the possibility that there may still be suffering and illness as a result of these nuclear blasts. If someone is poor and suffering in Japan and I now have the ability to offer care and support to alleviate that suffering then what? Then I should use my wealth in a way that benefits the needy person. Why? Because I am ashamed. No, I have no reason to be ashamed. Because I am guilty? No, I had no hand in causing this suffering. Because I have a responsibility to use my wealth to care for the needy? Yes, and that is where the connection begins and ends. If I were a manager for a professional boxer and he got his brains beaten out in a bout that I contracted, it would make sense that I engage in some soul searching to identify shame or guilt on my part. After all this is a person that is in a way indentured to me for a time and I have promoted the circumstance that led to his brains being turned to mush. If boxing is outlawed and in the next decades it becomes viewed as the barborous slaughter of the have nots for the entertainment of the haves, then what? My great grand children should go around apologizing for me. I think not. They are welcome to have opinions about the rightness or wrongness of my behavior but they certainly have nothing to apologize for. The reverse is different. Should I be blamed or feel guilt and shame if my son is a pedophile who goes around raping innocent school children. Well yes, if I had in anyway not behaved as a decent and responsible parent and that contributed to this circumstance. If he has a mental illness and there was no way I could have impacted this condition then what? I can feel sorry for my son and his victims but that is about it.