On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Robert Munn<[email protected]> wrote: > > On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 4:12 PM, Gruss wrote: > >> >> >> Ok, we discriminated systemically for eons and now still do >> sporadically, but let's just toss that aside and be meritocratic. > > > Exactly my point, by saying "we", you are invoking the sins of the father > argument, as though any American who is descended from white people should > be punished collectively for the sins of generations past. And that brings > up an interesting question - what about white people who only immigrated to > the U.S. recently and whose ancestors were never part of the system of > discrimination? And if we're going to ask that question, then why not ask > about people of African descent whose ancestors were not slaves but were > part of organized groups who captured other Africans and sold them into > slavery? Should they be punished for their ancestors' participation in this > most evil of enterprises? And where does it end?
Hrm. There's a philosophy that we're all responsible (somehow) for everything, sorta, so... Gonna be a while till that one's sorted. It may be related to how an arrow is in flight only if you "use time", otherwise, how can it be both here, and there, at once? (<--- really bad parody of some "solved" thought experiment-- my apologies) While we're at it tho: How responsible is the average citizen for the American Government? Some, wholly, none? Responsibility... with it, comes POWER! Sometimes. And I'm out-- peace! -- Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. Thomas Carlyle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:300540 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
