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When you've been genocided, whether intentionally or not, when you've been displaced from your lands, whether intentionally or not, and when you're being fighti

When you've been genocided, whether intentionally or not, when you've been displaced from your lands, whether intentionally or not, and when you're being fighting wars with those who intentionally or not were responsible for this, yeah, this is punching down. Bear in mind that by the time when Europeans were landing, the native population had already been literally decimated -- 95% of the native population of the east coast was already dead. The modern US is in a very literal sense a post-apocalyptic society. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_smallpox#Epidemics_in_the_Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_smallpox#Epidemics_... You can be poor and still be punching down. There's always someone further down you can find. Illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are often quite racist against black people, for example. Or other impoverished European immigrants against the Irish in the 19th century. This isn't about guilt and you seem to be defending against some kind of guilt. Guilt and blame is utterly pointless, especially close to 250 years later. All we can do now is recognise that "merciless Indian savages" is a kind of dehumanisation of a group of people that had already suffered greatly at the hands of Europeans and would continue to do so still for centuries to come.

hajile 8y ago
Genocide is defined as intentional. For this reason, smallpox in America (like the black death in Europe) is not genocide while the Young Turks killing Armenians or Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds is genocide. As to the idea of "punching down". The North was punching down when they invaded the South and forced them to free their slaves. I think this was a good thing. Having power and using it isn't synonymous with evil. The issue with "punching down" is that it implies that position always entails abuse. People who use the phrase always seem to shut up when the punching down is in their favor. > Illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are often quite racist against black people, for example. Illegal immigrants leave a terrible situation to work the worst kinds of jobs here because they are still better than what Mexico offers. They live under constant threat of deportation too. You then paint these people as having privilege and say they're all racists. If punching down is a thing, you might just win a medal.

hajile 8y ago

Genocide is defined as intentional. For this reason, smallpox in America (like the black death in Europe) is not genocide while the Young Turks killing Armenians or Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds is genocide. As to the idea of "punching down". The North was punching down when they invaded the South and forced them to free their slaves. I think this was a good thing. Having power and using it isn't synonymous with evil. The issue with "punching down" is that it implies that position always entails abuse. People who use the phrase always seem to shut up when the punching down is in their favor. > Illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are often quite racist against black people, for example. Illegal immigrants leave a terrible situation to work the worst kinds of jobs here because they are still better than what Mexico offers. They live under constant threat of deportation too. You then paint these people as having privilege and say they're all racists. If punching down is a thing, you might just win a medal.