"China/Russia/Europe are largely inhabited by people whose ancestry traces back 1000s of years to the same region. That’s very different from North America, where most natives where killed (either through disease or “policy”).

That’s not to excuse their past behaviour (Europeans started the genocide in North America), but it’s still very different."

As you also wanted to be pointed to a source for genocides on the same or larger scale throughout history, allow me to search Wikipedia for you:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genocides

As to point 3, who exactly determines who is responsible and who will benefit from this paln to raise up America's indigenous population to their proper station? Are 1st generation immigrants from Ghana going to be required to pay up? How about Natives who's ancestry dates back to a tribe that exterminated another tribe? Surely that should also qualify as genocide?

And as to point 4, we, in the west, as I did point out I was American, are in a (relatively) peaceful time, which implies that throughout history it has not been, but I guess I need to spell it out for some people.

At the end of the day, you're not looking to be enlightened or to learn anything, your post was directed to completely discount my points, or to "troll" I will admit I was getting heated reading some of the off the wall bullshit I was seeing, but superlatives aside, I stand by everything I've posted. I apologize if you TRULY didn't know about other genocides, or if your worldview has jaded you to the point where you don't initially see posts that clearly illustrate what I said, at least in the abstract, and you took the time to go back and reread them and allow it to sink in.

Feel free to pick apart this post, too. Nothing is more entertaining in a meme thread than for 2 idiots, myself included, to argue about genocide.🙂

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your first quotation is not about someone excusing a genocide because it happened a long time ago. They are saying that unlike the US, the current inhabitants in those regions can be traced back to the inhabitants thousands of years ago. Which means there wasn't a major genocide or displacement of people. I am not endorsing this statement btw, I don't know enough to confirm it. But it is not a condonation of genocide. It is in fact remarking that a genocide similar to what happened in North America did not happen in those other regions.

As you also wanted to be pointed to a source for genocides on the same or larger scale throughout history

You provided me a list of genocides on Wikipedia. None of them match the genocide against native Americans. Your link proves my point.

I guess I need to spell it out for some

I didn't ask you to paraphrase or restate your point. I asked you to prove it or provide evidence. But I never expected you to be able to anyways, so don't worry about it.

[–] rug_burn@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah, the internet...

The phrase "That’s not to excuse their past behaviour (Europeans started the genocide in North America), but it’s still very different" effectively translates to "Even though this happened, this is worse".

If you bothered to look at that list, you'll note the mention of the California Genocide of 1846. Reported casualties between 9,492 and 16,094, with other estimates as high as 120,000. Absolutely fucking horrible and a black mark on American history indeed. However, there are 31 other genocides on that list that are higher in number, with three of those even happening prior to California-

Dzungam 1755, 480,000-600,000 Taino 1492, 68,000-968,000 Albigensian 1209, 200,000-1,000,000

I guess it depends on how you define "genocide", but since Wikipedia is generally using the accepted definition, I feel pretty safe in going with what they say.

And I did lay out proof, you're just too caught up in whatever ideology to see it. Feel free to rebut, down vote, cry or whatever makes you feel better, but my point was the world is a horrible place, and terrible things happen to all kinds of groups of people. The "meme" that started all this IS a cherry picked reference to people who were wronged (I'm not disputing they were wronged, but so were... insert any other group of people here). Throughout history, most civilizations are founded on the conquering of another. As horrible as that is, it's a fact. And after the fact, many of the remaining conqured are treated horribly. Also a fact.

Lay out some real numbers, cite an authoritative source (sources) and then we can talk. Until then, I hope the best for you and really wish we could get past this bickering bullshit. Life is too short, and trying to pin the sins of one's father on the current generation isn't solving shit. Work toward bettering peoples lives without having to exact revenge from people who didn't have fuck all to do with it.

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

close to 100 million native Americans were victims of the genocide by European settlers. EDIT: This is a link to the book "American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World" by David Sannard

[–] rug_burn@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

Oh, I stand corrected. A link to a Google doc. Should probably submit that to the Wikipedia article I linked as clearly thier information is flawed. You win an internet today.