Have you by chance happened to read the editorial in the National Post by Conrad Black, entitled "Canada’s treatment of aboriginals was shameful, but it was not genocide"?
I know some (many?) will find it 'shameful' that I am not filled with righteous outrage at the the treatment of first nation people, at residential schools, however --- ENOUGH already!
YES ... there were many things in our past that we can now look back on, with the viewpoint of today's enlightened culture, however our forefathers / mothers do not have that same opportunity. They did things they way they were accustomed too ... at that time ... based on the prejudices they grew up with, in the society of that time period.
No surprise there. They were biased by what they saw at the time, by their upbringing, and by their own wrongly held feelings of superiority.
There were many hard-working people at the time who truly did want to improve the lives of First Nations people, and they dedicated their lives to that. Do we ever hear of any of those individuals? Perhaps even one or two, to temper the extremely negative aspects of what I beleive to be a minority of horrible individuals would be appropriate.
Regardless, the comment at the end of the editorial pretty, by Conrad Black, much sums things up, and I agree with it. I am honestly at the point now when the on-going and continuous media reporting on this (especially CBC News which now gets turned off as soon as another story comes on) drives me crazy ... and honestly is infuriating me:
"Let us all repent past wrongdoing without demeaning histrionics and hyperbole, and be proud of whatever we are ethnically: all cultures and nationalities have their distinctions. The whole country must do what it can to atone for the past, but a continuing orgy of recriminations will be unjust in itself, produce a nasty backlash, and will aggravate grievances"
I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... care to share you thoughts on this?
I know some (many?) will find it 'shameful' that I am not filled with righteous outrage at the the treatment of first nation people, at residential schools, however --- ENOUGH already!
YES ... there were many things in our past that we can now look back on, with the viewpoint of today's enlightened culture, however our forefathers / mothers do not have that same opportunity. They did things they way they were accustomed too ... at that time ... based on the prejudices they grew up with, in the society of that time period.
No surprise there. They were biased by what they saw at the time, by their upbringing, and by their own wrongly held feelings of superiority.
There were many hard-working people at the time who truly did want to improve the lives of First Nations people, and they dedicated their lives to that. Do we ever hear of any of those individuals? Perhaps even one or two, to temper the extremely negative aspects of what I beleive to be a minority of horrible individuals would be appropriate.
Regardless, the comment at the end of the editorial pretty, by Conrad Black, much sums things up, and I agree with it. I am honestly at the point now when the on-going and continuous media reporting on this (especially CBC News which now gets turned off as soon as another story comes on) drives me crazy ... and honestly is infuriating me:
"Let us all repent past wrongdoing without demeaning histrionics and hyperbole, and be proud of whatever we are ethnically: all cultures and nationalities have their distinctions. The whole country must do what it can to atone for the past, but a continuing orgy of recriminations will be unjust in itself, produce a nasty backlash, and will aggravate grievances"
I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... care to share you thoughts on this?
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