Settler/colonizer views

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Wait, so what you're saying is that Israelis are not settlers because they were born in Israel? Let's hear from others. That's what it would mean if you used that definition.

It is only when I studied history that I came to realize, all peoples are invaders, all peoples are settlers and colonizers. There is no one original to the land. They all swept in like locusts to wherever they are now. It does not matter what part of the world you look at or which people. I really like "The Ancients" podcast by History Hit, hosted by Tristan Hughes.

You may find here and there, a tribe in a remote jungle, and no one knows the history of what came before, and so they like to claim to be the originals. Such claims rest upon ignorance of the past and what really happened. Writing was only invented recently. And some peoples did not get writing until it was imported into their land by another civilization.

If no one knows the history of a people, then sure they can claim to anyone that will believe them, that they are pure as the driven snow, and innocent of all crimes forever and ever, and sprouted in the land like wheat. The reality may be far different, but who is around to tell the tales?

When we talk about settlers/colonizers we are only talking about the modern era, not ancient settlers who might have settled in various areas over millennia. What matters in our contemporary context is the injustice perpetrated in recent centuries because it's an acknowledgment to people living today who are the recent descendants (and in some cases the actual refugees) of those whose lands were stolen and who are still experiencing the effects today.

Any white person who lives in the Americas is living on stolen land. That doesn't mean it will ever be returned but acknowledging it can mitigate further injustice and simply admit the truth.

Yes, the point is to try to stop (or at least mitigate) any further injustice. Here in the U.S.A., the point is to protect the rights of indigenous Americans, both as individuals and as tribes.

This perspective is one I agree with

https://x.com/DavidStaplesYEG/status/18 ... 4553986068

‘Settler’ is a slur, was always intended as such, and should be responded to in kind.
Agree.
Everyone born on this land is of this land, and equally indigenous to it.
Yep.
The settlers thing is the best they can come up with. Pathetic.
Yep.

Because the whole basis of ownership is based on a social construct that depends in large part on ownership being accepted. Barring literal treaties and deeds being exchanged, the only basis for ownership becomes physical possession and the acceptance by others that it's owned.

There's been a bunch of nonsense lately about recognizing the historical owners of the lands that we do things on around here, which is an absolute waste as that's applicable to just about every part of the world. There are relatively few areas that are still inhabited by the same people that showed up there originally and even when that is the case, cultural norms change and there's unlikely to be a continuous record. PR China has arguably the longest continuous cultural record, and even that was pretty severely disrupted at times by groups like the Mongolians and Imperial Japanese as well as the question of how you count it when dynasties from different groups are in charge.

I disagree, that is a way that people make themselves feel better about themselves without having to go through the awkward process of actually doing something about it. It's not realistic to give back the land, there's far too many people here now and too few on the receiving end if that was attempted. But, there is a bunch that could be done in terms of allowing tribal land to more closely resembled land in a developed country than that of a 3rd world state. Which in some areas it absolutely is the case.

It's also kind of hypocritical that somebody's skin has to be this dark in order for this sort of stuff to matter. There is only now starting to be greater awareness of the ethnic cleansing of white folks.