Guilt by Association: The Original Sin Argument
It’s surprising how often we hear some version of “original sin” being invoked in arguments by otherwise serious and rational people.
There are no original sins, of course. Any wrong act you could commit, someone else has done it before. What is meant by the term is based on the Adam and Eve myth in which Eve eats the forbidden fruit and feeds it to Adam, condemning the entire human species to share in their guilt.
What the myth claims that the first couple did symbolized a choice to think for themselves. They refused to be puppets. Aside from the fact that the fictional couple in the story actually made the correct choice, it is clearly absurd to believe “guilt” is inherited from long-dead ancestors.
Some of our ancestors were indeed guilty of horrible things– Slavery, for example. But there is a version of original sin that says, “Because my great grandfather owned slaves, I have inherited his guilt.”
Slaveryindeed created the color-based caste system that still inhibits racial equality to this day, and those who enslaved will forever be guilty of the inhumanity that resulted, but their guilt is not ours. What IS ours is the task of opposing racism and working to end discrimination. Valuing justice and equality should be our incentive.
Everyone should learn the history of our past brutal, dehumanizing use of slaves, and of the resulting racial oppression even after emancipation. It is NOT to make White people feel guilty, but to enable our understanding of the origin of the problems and emphasize our need to solve them.
Nations often get characterized as if they were living individuals, and assigned guilt for the past actions of their government. The USA has a long list of past sins, some of them horrible For some, our nation is forever branded with them, identified with “American imperialism”.
We should never ignore our history. We need to study it and recognize the wrongdoings it contains, then do whatever we can to change attitudes, politicians, and votes to make this a better nation, within and in foreign policies. Never fail to criticize when it is warranted. If you care about your country, you should want to correct its shortcomings.
No nation and no person is always wrong, or always right. It can become a habit to find faults that aren’t there, or ignore the wrongs that are
What action a nation takes, unless it is controlled by an autocrat, depends on the complex interaction among officials in various branches and sectors of government, and who they are and what they think depends on the politics at any given time. The action chosen may be a mistake, or one deliberately guided by a selfish motive.
Other acts may beneficial, taken from an honest intent to do right, and implemented correctly.
Any action or policy should be judged on its own merit and effect. Too often some assume that past mistakes and malevolent acts add up to an original sin that cannot be redeemed, and that the behavior can never be improved.
We owe it to the world not to buy into that rhetoric.