Are people to blame for what their ancestors did?

#1
Say hundreds or even thousands of years ago certain people did something. Are their descendants free of blame?

Do we come into this world as clean slates or do we bear the sins of our fathers?

On one hand it seems obvious every individual is different and someone shouldn't blame others for something that individual didn't do.

On the other hand we're born in this world which carries a long history, we don't exist in a vaccum, to deny any involvement in what has transpired before your time is quite naive because you may or may not have benefited from it.

However, even if someone takes responsibility for their history, what can actually be done about it?

I say we carry everything about our ancestors, both the good and the bad but we're also a unique existance that won't quite be like everyone that came before us.
 

Pantheos

Heavy Metal
#2
In my opinion, even as german, so i kinda fit that explanation, you dont be to blame for what your ancestors did. Because you didnt had any impact at that, you didnt had a chance to make a difference.

But, and this is important, you have to learn from the history of your ancestor and you need to make sure to not do their mistakes again. It is the duty to learn from it and make sure it wont happen again.
 
#8
Here is what I think, to blame someone for what their ancestors did creates a never ending cycle of hatred, conflict and suffering.

Most people don't want to be on the receiving end of that so they do their utmost to deny responsibility. However, this won't end the cycle either.

What will end the cycle is for one party to sincerely seek atonement and for the other party to find it in themselves to let go of what happened and forgive.

In one fell swoop the injustice have disappeared, the problem has been corrected.
Aslong as that doesn't happen, we'll continue to see conflicts.
 
I

Indigo

#9
It seems somebody watched SNK's last episode.

I agree the sins of the father aren't the sins of the son. And yes, by maintaining hatred and judgement on a group of people because of what their ancestors did could only lead to a cycle of hatred and endless conflict.

BUT, this is a much more viable solution in the perspective of our reality. In SNK's reality shit is quite different.

Because as we know, Eldians carry a special type of power in their blood that allowed for all of those sins of the past to happen, and even if the present members of that country / race / group were not part of the events of the past, they still carry a potential to do everything again as long as they find the will to do it, because the rest of humanity has no way to respond or deal with it.

So yeah, in IRL is a lot easier to forgive the past and move on, even if a lot of people still don't :josad:, but in SNK's world is quite hard to let go of the past completely, because it's a constant threat even in the present.

Imagine a nation that developed a technology like a Nuclear Weapon before any other nation had and they never got around to it, or some kind of Bio Weapon, like a way worse version of Covid-19. Then imagine that in the past that nation used that weapon to kill millions of people, maybe even billions, and took control of everything. And now, even though they fell, only that Nation and it's people have access to that weapon for the rest of time, even if you want to forgive them for what they did in the past, you can never trully believe and trust them completely, because at any moment they could do it all over again and the rest of the world would have no way to deal with it.

Just look at Germany after WW1, i don't blame them for following Hitler and everything that happened afterwards, the people felt weak and desperate with their conditions, forced upon them after the end of the first war. It's kinda similar to what's happening in my country in a smaller scale (Brazil), people are desperate for a savior / hero, an easy solution to solve everything.

So if at any moment in history the Eldians were ever to feel like that, they would have access to that crazy potential / power to take control of the rest of the world, so you can't really blame the rest of the world for always fearing and taking control of the Eldians, because they are a constant threat.
 

K!NG HARA$H!MA

Lower than trash
#11
Kinda, this a complex question


For example, the race/ancestors is X.

X people colonized your country, divided your population, committed genocide and looted your natural resources. Decades later you and your people still suffering from that colonialism and the descendents of the X People is living comfortably in developed world thanks for colonizing your country back then, won't you blame the descendents of X a bit? This ain't the best example

But yeah in most cases Sins of a Father ain't the sins of a son :kayneshrug:
 

Adam 🍎

Pretty Boy
#13
Kinda, this a complex question


For example, the race/ancestors is X.

X people colonized your country, divided your population, committed genocide and looted your natural resources. Decades later you and your people still suffering from that colonialism and the descendents of the X People is living comfortably in developed world thanks for colonizing your country back then, won't you blame the descendents of X a bit? This ain't the best example

But yeah in most cases Sins of a Father ain't the sins of a son :kayneshrug:
That doesnt apply to everyone tho
Most of Europe didnt have the luxury to colonize and was exploited just as much
 
#14
Here is what I think, to blame someone for what their ancestors did creates a never ending cycle of hatred, conflict and suffering.

Most people don't want to be on the receiving end of that so they do their utmost to deny responsibility. However, this won't end the cycle either.

What will end the cycle is for one party to sincerely seek atonement and for the other party to find it in themselves to let go of what happened and forgive.

In one fell swoop the injustice have disappeared, the problem has been corrected.
Aslong as that doesn't happen, we'll continue to see conflicts.
What if the people in question agree with what their ancestors did? Even if they dont do what they did themselves?
What if lets say some one stole a coin worth alot from someone, He dies 3 or 4 generations back, The descended of said person ask for the coin back or compensations from the original thief descended , Said descended refuse say its not their problem and that it happened many generations ago and they shouldnt be blamed for something that happened long ago? Even if they still have the coin? Even if they still benefiting from it by selling it or using the money that their ancestor got for selling that coins generations back? What if people dont condemn an evil or bad act their ancestors did? There are more severe examples i just gave some simplified examples for the sake of just telling a story.

What i am saying that, Its not black or white. Some things are just too complicated to give a definitive answer.
 
#16
Kinda, this a complex question


For example, the race/ancestors is X.

X people colonized your country, divided your population, committed genocide and looted your natural resources. Decades later you and your people still suffering from that colonialism and the descendents of the X People is living comfortably in developed world thanks for colonizing your country back then, won't you blame the descendents of X a bit? This ain't the best example

But yeah in most cases Sins of a Father ain't the sins of a son :kayneshrug:
Thats what i wanted to give as an example tbf but thought that would be weird talking about such a sensitive topic here.
:kayneshrug:
Obviously you cant blame everyone living in that country collectively based on that.

But if some people are still benefiting from what their ancestors did, They know that they are benefiting from it. And they refuse to help the other side than surely they share some of this blame.
:kayneshrug:
Lets say a very wealthy person whos wealth was inherited from a colonizer ancestor.
:kayneshrug:
 
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