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Originally Posted by Bri
Still, if a country, or part of a population, has massively gained from crimes committed by their ancestors at the expense of others, there should be some moral imperative to at least do something in return to address the imbalance.
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I might agree with that in some cases, but not when we're talking about a bunch of nearly uninhabitable rocks. And we have discussed the issue of Japanese reparations above.
Regardless of my deep-seated revulsion that white Americans once enslaved Africans, I don't think paying reparations to current African-Americans would do anything much to "address the imbalance." It would inflame the racist sentiments that still exist deep within parts of American culture and probably result in an enormously regressive backlash that would put back reconciliation between the races in this country for decades.
Sometimes, you've got to "put your behind in the past," as Poomba says.
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Originally Posted by Ledgem
How comparable is it to the Jews' remembrance of the Holocaust (and other persecution stories)?
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Holocaust survivors are still alive today as are their offspring. I presume the same can be said for Chinese and Koreans who survived their time under Japanese rule. I have more sympathy for their holding anti-Japanese sentiments today than I do for people who are concerned about what happened in the 1600s. Nevertheless I also see those attitudes, as understandable as they may be, impeding a peaceful resolution of the sovereignty issues in the China Sea. I also have sympathy with the Palestinians who feel that the foundation of the state of Israel stole their homeland because of something the Germans and their allies did to the European Jews.* On the other hand, states like Iran and Saudi Arabia, not to mention the US, meddle in the Palestinian conflict largely for their own strategic purposes and not out of any real sympathy for the Palestinians. I have no use for that type of behavior.
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*Yes, I know the Balfour Declaration was signed in 1917, but no one paid much attention to it until after the extent of the Holocaust became known.