"Conquered peoples aren't entitled to an apology."

National macho ego?

My proposal was made in reference to the position that Oregon was being over run by Californians, and the irony of that statement from the Native American perspective about Oregonians (in general). Which is not to say there were many cases of whites and Native Americans accommodating each other, even up to the point of inter marriage.

How "American" of you to say this. The duplicity of it is enormous. Then how do we learn from our past mistakes to not repeat them?

I could also say that Californians need to apologize for the same thing, but instead of just stealing land and fighting battles, Caliofornia was engaged in blatant genocide with money being paid for Native American heads and ears. That is part of the Gold Rush many people don't want to be public.

I could go farther and say the Irish need to apologize for basically being a large majority of the troops in the west against the Native Americans. And that situation is Ironic, as many of the military leadership came from England. The ancient ancestors of the Irish were very much like the Native Americans.

My ego in no way is attached to my race or ethnic group's mistakes in the past. I am my own person, and an apology is only words and simple in comparison to what happened. In many ways, especially Chief Joseph was a much more honorable leader than the whites he had to fight for his ancestral lands.

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National Debt =

Fact of war.

Ah, yes, the invasion of Oregon by Californicators.

It's a fact of warfare. There's a conqueror and the conquered: the conquered are not entitled to an apology from the conquerors. Can you imagine conquerors saying to the conquered "We're apologize profusely for conquering you"? You assume that conquering these indigenous peoples was a mistake. While I admit that the manner in which the American government handled the conquest was really bad, I don't have any problem with the fact that these people were conquered (nor do I have a problem with these people rising up and fighting for their independence).

And the Spanish need to apologize and the other Europeans need to apologize. The Romans, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, etc. all need to apologize, if we follow your argument.

See above.

Well, as I said, there's no doubt the American government handled things badly.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

So far, it's a tie between:

Yes, and let it revert to its natural state before human encroachment.

AND

The ubiquitous "none of the above."

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."