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I think on balance a better response to sordid histories is acknowledgement and solemn remembrance. It is important to recognize, as enlightened folks, just how

I think on balance a better response to sordid histories is acknowledgement and solemn remembrance. It is important to recognize, as enlightened folks, just how terrible our ancestors misdeeds often were. That many groups often perpetrated such atrocities ought not be a reason to say "well we were just as bad as everyone else". Each person should draw a line from their own group's history to themselves and feel empathy towards the oppressed and yes, a bit of shame, that such things had been done by their ancestors. I'm not suggesting that means we walk around with our heads hung all the time, but rather that we challenge ourselves: how will we be different than them and what parts of our world are not yet just. Where do we have a part in making them more so?

apsec112 9y ago
I think that everyone should learn from crimes committed by all nations, not just those that they have some weak genetic link to, as if genocide was a potentially heritable trait like eye color. My own ancestors were Irish, for example. Obviously, the Irish people suffered greatly at British hands. Does that mean I should learn less about British crimes, or take them less seriously, than a classmate whose great-great-great-great-grandparents happened to be British instead? I would say no, and that everyone should learn about British successes and failures (and why they happened, what motivated them, etc.) equally.