Great point, Matt. You're absolutely right - many of the peoples who were here before Columbus had already displaced or conquered earlier groups themselves. History is full of layers like that. The Mississippian cultures, for example, expanded through warfare and absorbed neighboring tribes long before Europeans arrived. Humanity's story has always been one of migration, conflict, and adaptation - no group is entirely innocent or entirely guilty. The further back you look, the more you see that no civilization has clean hands. What matters is that we recognize those patterns and keep trying to evolve past them.

The difference is that the people whom the indigenous people victimized aren't here anymore to protest, ask for reparations, etc., whereas the descendents of Columbus AND the descendents of indigenous people are both still here to make this issue still "relevant."  

In a sense, every living species, from primitive microbes to advanced mammals, are predators in one way or another, because every creature needs to survive, hunt, capture, and, "consume" weaker creatures, both literally and/or figuratively.  This is why we have a "civilized world," so that these primal, animalistic struggles can be turned into "civilized" competition for resources.

That's a great point, Kevin and I agree with you - survival itself has always been tied to consumption. Every species on Earth exists because it successfully out-competed or consumed others. It's literally how evolution works. But as we've grown more self-aware and capable of empathy, we've also started to question that instinct. We've developed the ability to coexist, to minimize suffering, and to make moral choices about how we use our power - even if, yeah, I still enjoy a good steak myself.

When it comes to human history, though, that same instinct for survival and expansion gets a lot murkier. You're right - the people harmed in ancient conflicts aren't here to demand restitution, but the consequences of more recent ones still ripple through living generations. It raises hard questions: how much responsibility do we carry for the actions of those who came before us? We can't undo the past or return land that's been transformed for centuries, but we can at least acknowledge the injustices, learn from them, and build systems that try to be fairer going forward.

It's messy, because morality evolves just like species do. What once seemed normal - conquest, slavery, forced conversion - we now recognize as wrong. The challenge is figuring out how to live with that knowledge without getting trapped by guilt or denial.

To me, the survival of thoughts and ideas is more important than survival of peoples.  People can evolve, assimilate, change and may even become extinct, but thoughts can outlive people -- if they are recorded, taught, passed down in some ways.  If thoughts are not passed down, then "extinction of thoughts" can occur, which is even more troubling to me.

Kevin I agree 100%. We need to ensure that good thoughts survive and evil thoughts perish.