Why am I to blame for native american injustice, and why I am to pay for compensation?

As a 4th generation descendant of immigrants from scotland to Canada why am I held to blame for that?

Why are we still paying compensation for pain that was not experienced by today's people and not inflicted by my peers or myself?

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Xuan12 · 31-35, M

It's not about you, it's about the government. Suppose the third reich still existed, should modern Jews just be okay with it since most the Nazis from the 40s died already? Or to use a more mundane example, suppose you got a dead rat in some fast food and when you went back to complain, the shift had changed. Do you just let it go since the workers are different now? Or do you still want your refund? Or suppose somebody stole your car, and then sold it to a guy, who then gave it to his son. Do you just let that go because the kid isn't the original thief? Or do you still want your car back?

Challenger1 · M

You are comparing things that are not similar. Jews are still okay with Germany existing. The issues you are talking about are ongoing issues, still experienced. Suppose somebody stole your great grandfather's car and you saw someone else driving it. You know it is the same car. But you talk to the person and they bought it from someone five years ago. And you go talk to the person they bought if from and they bought it from someone else, a legitimate purchase. They aren't related to the thieves and they worked for what they have. You can't just take the car.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@mar3sword: Germany exists, but with a completely different governing institution. It's no longer the Third Reich. And actually you can take the car if you inherited the title. Stolen property isn't automatically free and clear just because it has been sold to someone else. The thief never properly acquired the title to that vehicle, and without a title transfer, it's not a legal transfer. Same as if a gunman chased you out of your house and then sold it to someone else while you were away. You don't just lose your house. Money changing hands doesn't legitimize things without consent of the actual owner. The thief doesn't have titles or rights to the stolen property, and so he can't sell titles or rights to stolen property. So don't buy goods that you suspect may be stolen, you can legally lose them at any time and are only encouraging crime by buying them in the first place.

Challenger1 · M

But how can you blame the person, who didn't steal it and doesn't buy it from the person who stole it, for it?

The US government might be the government that was involved with some of it. But the government has had many many changes since that happened.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

Doesn't mean it's not accountable. And a lot of these complaints aren't as old as they may seem too. Some tribes only got the right to recognize their own members as recently as the 90s. Up until then, the federal government was telling them who can and can't be a tribe member. But like I said, it's not about individuals, it's about social entities that live far longer than individual humans do. In this case, tribal entities and the federal government. You didn't personally do those things, but the government did, and you're a subject of the government. Same as how your taxes pay for services you may never personally use, such as disaster relief, emergency medical and fire services, police, social security, bridges to nowhere in Alaska, and so on, some of them also pay for grievances against the government, even if you're not directly responsible. Kind of like how if your boss crashes the company into the ground, you end up jobless even though it's not your fault. Life is like that.

Challenger1 · M

@Xuan12: Well stated...