Quote:
Originally Posted by burn_this_city
Is there anything more paternalistic than arguing to hand out a bunch of gift cards? 50 years ago that suggestion would have been booze and smokes. I guess we know what some folks think about personal agency and righting historical wrongs. No cash, they'll just waste it is waiting in the next breath.
|
It wasn't a suggestion to redress historic wrongs. He was using a hypothetical scenario to illustrate his point, which is that most indigenous people don't actually care all that much about re-naming things named after people with, shall we say, complicated legacies - that if given the choice between having those things re-named and getting a $20 gift card, indigenous people would care so little about the re-naming that they'd take the gift card that at least gives them a couple of free lunches.
Leaving aside whether you agree with the point or whether you think that example is good or bad, at least let's be clear about what he was actually saying.