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> Groups of people don't have guilt or automatic responsibility, only individuals do.

I think the question here is who is entitled to have the 'revenge' or the reparation or the 'affirmative action'

People who were persecuted or opressed? or their offspring?

For example German government agreed to pay reparation to Jews in (some?) Eastern European countries and Russia, that were alive at the time of WWII and lived on the territories that the Germany attacked.

The reparation from what I know were 2,000 or 4,000 USD one time payment.

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So in that model a) the person receiving the reparation had to be alive at the time of the crime. b) had to be on the territory where the crime was committed c) I do not think the person needed to prove that they were directly affected by the crime

from what I know the reparation was selective. It did not cover Gypsys, did not cover non-Jews

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I do not know what the right model is.

Can a nation be responsible for the crimes their government has committed? For how long?

If the answer to the above is 'yes' (that the nation is responsible) -- wouldn't that justify terrorism? wouldn't that justify blood-revenge practice?

But that revenge can go for generations, and at some point will be reversed -- that means, in turn, endless wars.

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May be the correct answer is to limit the action of 'righting the wrongs' to the people who were the victims and alive at the time of the crime ?

But that does not seem to be fair to the victims either




Life isn't fair. Yay, argument over! Not.

Still, I think my as-of-yet unstated point stands. That is, the government should do everything in its power (reasonably speaking) to serve justice to the criminal and support the victim, but that just isn't possible for massive historical grievances. Where there are current issues affecting Jews or whoever else, they should be addressed. Of course, some issues can be resolved with money, while others are more insidious.




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