Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
In my own view I think it is too easy to be critical of these people, whether the colonisers or the colonised, but has to be seen as within the accepted beliefs and societies of their own times. After all, in future years we will be judged ourselves, and then even the best of us may be seen as being not very nice people when set against that future society's expectations, whatever they turn out to be.
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I do see your point AnotherCat, but at the same time I don't think I am prepared to accept as okay behaviour and attitudes that are so damaging to others. To take that to an extreme, it means that we shouldn't be critical of putting people on the rack because that's what used to be done back in Renaissance times. Or that slavery was okay because a lot of people thought it was okay at the time. People like William Wilberforce were few and far between, at least to start with, but that didn't mean that slavery was for one moment an acceptable or honourable "trade".
I know that it is easy to sit back and feel critical of others because I am in a very different place. But I am a long-standing member of Amnesty International and the Reconciliation movement in Australia, so at least I do try to take actions to help make a difference.