Reparations (punishment, America, bible, Zen)

[kai]

Originally Posted by Ryan2065

So what do you all think about the United States government paying reparations for different groups they have oppressed? There are a few different categories and types of reparations...

1) Reparations given to the Japanese people who were sent to the camps during WW2 (they were given 20,000 in 1990... Basically asking if this was too much/not enough/not needed in the first place)

2) Giving reparations to African Americans because of slavery.

3) Giving reparations to the southern states belonging to the confederacy for destroying their land during the civil war.

4) Giving reparations to the Native Americans for the whole stealing their land bit.

5) Giving international reparations (to say Vietnam and other countries we have done wrong to)

So, what do you all think? I myself think we should only give reparations to people who are still alive that were oppressed by the United States...

can we in the uk have the tax you owe us for the tea you threw overboard in boston

[Ciscokid]

Originally Posted by Engyo

None of those alive today, do you mean? Or did you mean the ones 6 generations ago? I couldn't quite figure out which you were discussing.

Correct, reparations should have been done a long time ago. If it wasn't, there's nothing you can do about it now. Reparations don't make sense anymore.

[CaptainXeroid]

Originally Posted by Ciscokid

Correct, reparations should have been done a long time ago. If it wasn't, there's nothing you can do about it now. Reparations don't make sense anymore.

I concur, as I think talk of reparations does nothing more than perpetuate bad feelings among peoples.

If this idea of reparations were carried to its ridiculous extreme, we would do nothing other than calculate who owed reparations to whom. Such energies are much better spent working to build a prosperous future.

[Booko]

Originally Posted by Ryan2065

So, what do you all think? I myself think we should only give reparations to people who are still alive that were oppressed by the United States...

Hey! I want reparations from France because they persecuted and oppressed my Hugenot ancestors that they had to move to the Low Countries to escape!

I'll be sitting by the mailbox waiting for my check from France. It should be here any day now.

I agree, Ryan, there usually isn't much point in paying reparations except to the people who actually did the suffering. How far back do we need to go? Pretty much everyone has been oppressed by someone at some point...where does it end?

[Booko]

Originally Posted by Terrywoodenpic

Reparations are only given to ease the concience and get people off your back.
It is never done with out pressure.

What sort of pressure was behind "40 acres and a mule"?

Oh, there were political advantages, obviously, but that's not quite the same.