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**Maryjasmine** · 07-08-2009, 04:45 AM

The relevant point wasn't that there are no persisting consequences of the action, but that by now there's no meaningful remedy that can be applied, nor can any consequences be visited on the perpetrators.

Therefore the topic is irrelevant, because RIGHT NOW something bad is happening and RIGHT NOW we can, in some small measure, attempt to stop it. Even if the bad thing somehow is wholly completed, our actions RIGHT NOW to punish the perpetrators could serve as a deterrent to future bad things. But we cannot punish the perpetrators of American slavery [rather, a group of people that vaguely overlaps with their descendants] RIGHT NOW because no one will be deterred by a punishment that's 150 years late.

07-08-2009, 04:45 AM	#14
Maryjasmine Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 542 Senior Member	The relevant point wasn't that there are no persisting consequences of the action, but that by now there's no meaningful remedy that can be applied, nor can any consequences be visited on the perpetrators. Therefore the topic is irrelevant, because RIGHT NOW something bad is happening and RIGHT NOW we can, in some small measure, attempt to stop it. Even if the bad thing somehow is wholly completed, our actions RIGHT NOW to punish the perpetrators could serve as a deterrent to future bad things. But we cannot punish the perpetrators of American slavery [rather, a group of people that vaguely overlaps with their descendants] RIGHT NOW because no one will be deterred by a punishment that's 150 years late.
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