I’m fairly certain people in Europe conquered other people in Europe over the centuries, and I doubt many of the conquered over there get reparations for it. I know that sounds callous, but I still feel that way.
I don’t see how this is at all analogous.
It is analogous because, although it’s hard for people to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”, to some degree it is necessary. If you want something bad enough, you need to fight for it. Having the government paying them does not necessarily ultimately lessen their suffering, but rather allows it to fester, because sometimes pain is necessary to affect change. Removing pain caused by injury does not necessarily help the injury to heal itself.
Let me rephrase my initial question. How is conquest analogous to racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing?
How is that question supposed to be any clearer?
I’m saying I don’t suffer from white guilt. And I gave an example of my not thinking the government giving money to a poor cultural demographic will help individuals in that demographic to improve their situation to a point where they don’t need it. The idea that it may not aid them to improve positively in the long term says to me that it’s not necessarily helpful. The idea that other countries do not do this says to me that conquest does not necessarily warrant it. The two of these things together make me ask myself why are we doing it.
I do feel sad for what happened to people in this country’s past, but I don’t myself feel guilt about it nor do I feel it necessary or helpful for the current government to presently make financial compensation for greater-than-century-old offenses.