can society undo past wrongs?

Question

by apologizing publicly for errors made?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/24/slavery.apology.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us


by offering money or services in exchange for unethical acts?
http://www.readersdigest.ca/debate.html?a=v&di=82


are these examples too much? not enough? how can we go back and truly 'make it better'?

Answer 1

Only if the people who were wronged are still alive. Who is actually served by "offical appologies" made by current politicians. Appologizing for acts committed by long dead politicians against victims who have also long since been buried. My guess is current politicians. They should be run out of office for committing such ludicrus current acts.

Paying reparations is another bad idea. Who is to pay who. Should the relatives of dead slave owners pay the relatives of dead slaves. The government? What about all the tax payers that whose decendents never owned slaves.

You can't un-ring a bell by rattling a pebble in a tin can. And you can't go back and make it better.

One of the fundemental differences between America and the old world is that here you are accountable for your own sins not the sins of your father.

There is no difference in finding a person guilty because of the color of their skin or the deeds of their ancestors. After all the individual has no choice in either.

Answer 2

Why can't life be simple? Wouldn't it be nice to just say "I take it back" like when we where kids?
I did not look at your examples but I do have my answer.
Monies, public apologies and the like are for easing some of the sting from horrid acts.

You can clean up spilled milk and go on but you can never put it back into the glass.

Change is something in life you cannot get away from, change is inevitable. The kind of change that takes place affects the future, right? What I believe is that history does not always have to repeat itself but we can make a better tomorrow by the decisions we make today.
Money and an apology I will take and it is better than nothing but make better decisions to make a difference.

Answer 3

They can try to undo the past wrongs but the memory lives
forever. The memory is created by the crime. It is dharma karma. This is why some counselled to commit genocide.

It was Hitler's approach. In for 5 murders, in for 6 million.
If you value every human life as precious, the effect is comparable, regardless of scale.

Imagine a rape or murder. Apology helps but money is better and lasts longer. If you steal a house, you give it back.

Imagine the smiling face of the child who was born from a rape??? Imagine the smiling face of a child whose parent was murdered???

USA society in particular has too many crimes and skeletons still in the historical closet. When the truth is finally known , it will be revealed as the most disgusting nation in the history of the world. USA is not the only monster country, to be sure, but it is clearly one of the most repugnant, filled with idiots and morons, ignorant buffoons.

Visit a native American reservation today! USA yeeeech.

Answer 4

There is no way to truly "undo" those wrongs short of a time machine. Offering cash or uttering apologies does not return the situation back to the previous state.

Answer 5

difficult to "undo" a past wrongdoing. Yet we CAN apologize and offer reparations. ( a monetary compensation) . For example: Senator Inouye-Hawaii sponsored a senate bill to compensate American citizens of Japanese descent. I believe they were offered $20,000 USD for the internment during WWII.

Answer 6

the main suitable subject is issues like no longer with the flexibility to take heed to them scream in the event that they're in hassle, a peice of furnature falls and blocks the door. somebody sneeks in and scouse borrow your baby and you no longer think of of it because of the fact the door is close and all is quiet. i could no longer close the door besides the fact that if i had to because of the fact then the AC does no longer attain my son's room. as quickly as I switched my son to a infant mattress I merely publish a babygate to the lounge and then close the bathing room door so he has a clean shot to our room if he wakes up. ALL young little ones will wander at evening quicker or later, would not matter the age. All you're able to do is baby info what you are able to / ought to.

Answer 7

nope shouldnt try dont remember dont care dont care still dont care