squinney wrote:AngeliqueEast wrote:... Well, I would never want to chat with you either! Where did you get that idea!!!
Germans have a past reputation for murder you know, and I don't know you! You present yourself one way here but, I don't know how you really are....
Yeah, those doggone Germans! I'm sure glad they don't think like some of us. If they did, they might throw out things on here like "Gee, at least we never enslaved Africans to pick our cotton before beating them and hanging them." That would add to the debate / conversation.
What the heck is with people bringing up this crap as if the history of a country clings to each future citizen?
I was speaking to someone from Holland the other day. He remarked how different it is here in the way people think in general. Made me think of this thread.
I do not at all agree with how this thread was personalized and the racist/nationalistic/biased direction it took. But the history of a country DOES cling to each of its future citizens- and being an American- I can only speak personally about how the history of this particular country has informed my view of people and how to treat them.
It always amazes me how people are able to brush aside what their forefathers engaged in, as if it doesn't have any bearing on what they have or became and how it affected what others have or became.
I think it's much more productive to acknowledge it, state your opposition to it, and maybe even apologize for it and do something productive to try to rectify the situation.
Although I didn't grow up in the south- that's where my forefathers came from and they were white and did participate in segregation. Their attitudes WERE and ARE different from mine. And probably different from those of people from other nations. That's to be expected...I don't know how it could be any different really- we're all shaped by our environment.
But if anything, watching them and listening to them made me aware of the toll racist treatment takes on an individual, and even as a small child, I can remember thinking about how unfair it was and how petty and ugly the people who engaged in it seemed to me. And it made me determined never to engage in it myself.
I can only assume the same is true of modern day Germans- and maybe the new generation of Rwandans- and maybe someday it will be true for future generations of Israelis and Palestinians. One can always hope.
And actually, although I am an American who does NOT believe in revenge and can't even think of one instance in which I fantasized about it against anyone I ever felt wronged by even for one second- I find the concept of it (revenge) more understandable from a human psychological standpoint than unprovoked cruelty or violence (even if only verbal) against another person.
And I see a heck of alot of that from people of all nationalities- many of them the same folks who say they would never engage in revenge, or capital punishment, or whatever it is that their particular society decries.
I guess I'm saying each person should check his or her own personal record of kindness in general and in everyday life. It's a cop out to say, well my society is kinder than yours, as if that certifies one as being a kinder and more forgiving individual.
