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U.S. to apologize for STD experiments in Guatemala

Grant said:
It was a Democratic Administration as well as a Democratic President. That is the truth. It was not the American people who should be held responsible.
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Why not? It was the American people that elected the government.
 
spud_meister said:
Why not? It was the American people that elected the government.
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I think it is silly to assume that the American people would have gone along with it, therefore it is probably correct to place the blame on the Truman Administration.
 
spud_meister said:
Why not? It was the American people that elected the government.
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Not all the American people, just those who voted for the Democrats. Others might have voted for Republicans or other parties. You do seem to want to blame ALL Americans though. Why is that?

Even most Democrats of the day had no idea this was going on and, if they did, I'm sure they would be as horrified as anyone else.
 
Ockham said:
I wonder, is all experimentation which effects mass amounts of people always reprehensible even when under the guise of public benefit?
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Any experiementation that can or does have negative sideeffects is always reprehensible if done without the knowledge and consent of the person being experiemented on, no matter how much the public will benifit.
 
Grant said:
Not all the American people, just those who voted for the Democrats. Others might have voted for Republicans or other parties. You do seem to want to blame ALL Americans though. Why is that?

Even most Democrats of the day had no idea this was going on and, if they did, I'm sure they would be as horrified as anyone else.
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This is not a Republican or a Democrat thing we all bear this.
 
Grant said:
No, we do not!

I had nothing to do with it but if you did, best speak up now and clear your conscience.
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The shame is on all of us as a nation.
 
winston53660 said:
The shame is on all of us as a nation.
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Really? So one hundred percent of Americans should feel shame for what the Truman Administration did over 60 years ago?

I don't think do.

How long do you intend to feel your shame, and will you seek some professional help in order to ease it somewhat?
 
That probably explains all those Americans with one eye and four ears wandering about.
 
Grant said:
Really? So one hundred percent of Americans should feel shame for what the Truman Administration did over 60 years ago?
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Yep.


How long do you intend to feel your shame, and will you seek some professional help in order to ease it somewhat?
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forever but i'm not losing sleep over it.
 
winston53660 said:
The shame is on all of us as a nation.
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speak for yourself

i didn't know about this experiment conducted by the SOCIAL ENGINEERS in the truman admin

had i, i would have opposed it

many of us don't buy in to your concept of collective guilt

but, like i said, speak for yourself, by all means
 
Grant said:
Really? So one hundred percent of Americans should feel shame for what the Truman Administration did over 60 years ago?
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I think it's really more a case of knowing right from wrong, recognizing the wrongs that have been commited, and having the moral backbone necessary to apologize for the collective responsibility we all bear for them -- even if it WAS 60 years ago.
 
forever but i'm not losing sleep over it.
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You really should take your shame more seriously, Winston, or you'll never forgive yourself.

Perhaps wearing a hair shirt for the rest of your life might do the trick.
 
Gardener said:
I think it's really more a case of knowing right from wrong, recognizing the wrongs that have been commited, and having the moral backbone necessary to apologize for the collective responsibility we all bear for them -- even if it WAS 60 years ago.
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And that was done.
 
Gardener said:
I think it's really more a case of knowing right from wrong, recognizing the wrongs that have been commited, and having the moral backbone necessary to apologize for the collective responsibility we all bear for them -- even if it WAS 60 years ago.
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We don't share a collective responsibility.

The vast majority of us would have objected to these programs but they were kept secret for a reason.
I can't believe you think this way, when a narrow group of people conducted this, under secrecy.
 
The Prof said:
speak for yourself

i didn't know about this experiment conducted by the SOCIAL ENGINEERS in the truman admin

had i, i would have opposed it

many of us don't buy in to your concept of collective guilt

but, like i said, speak for yourself, by all means
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We all have a responsibility to keep our government in check. Ignorance is no excuse.
 
Gardener said:
of course we do.

It wasn't the Guatemalans who voted the people into office who did those things.
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The Guatemalan government was a participant.
Plus we don't vote for all those bureaucratic research people.

I seriously doubt any president ran his campaign on "Experimenting on Guatemalans."
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
The Guatemalan government was a participant.
Plus we don't vote for all those bureaucratic research people.

I seriously doubt any president ran his campaign on "Experimenting on Guatemalans."
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Most central american governments during that time were vassals of the US government. They did as the US government wished. When a govermment emerged that did not do as the US government wished it was removed. Small disagreements were allowed but nothing major and certainly nothing that affected US business interests


The US government was responsible for the actions, and the US government is a representative of the US people. It does mean that the US people share the responsibility for the actions the US government has taken. Just like the Canadian people are responsible for the actions taken by the Canadian governemnt regarding native Canadians and residential schools. Because of actions taken by the democratically elected Canadian government, I (along with all other Canadians) will have to pay compensation to thousands of native Canadians for the abuse they suffered.

I dont have the direct blame for those actions, only the government and the people involved with the policy and abuse have that. But I do and so do all Canadians have the indirect blame for those actions taken by the Canadian government
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Most central american governments during that time were vassals of the US government. They did as the US government wished. When a govermment emerged that did not do as the US government wished it was removed. Small disagreements were allowed but nothing major and certainly nothing that affected US business interests
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If the I am supposedly responsible for stuff I had no idea about, then so are the Guatemalan people.

Lord Tammerlain said:
The US government was responsible for the actions, and the US government is a representative of the US people. It does mean that the US people share the responsibility for the actions the US government has taken. Just like the Canadian people are responsible for the actions taken by the Canadian governemnt regarding native Canadians and residential schools. Because of actions taken by the democratically elected Canadian government, I (along with all other Canadians) will have to pay compensation to thousands of native Canadians for the abuse they suffered.

I dont have the direct blame for those actions, only the government and the people involved with the policy and abuse have that. But I do and so do all Canadians have the indirect blame for those actions taken by the Canadian government
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Complete bull ****.

None of us knew about it and if we did, most would have been appalled by such things.

Using your logic, the human experiments in the Manhattan project were innocent victims and responsible for the government injecting them with radioactive material.
That's garbage.
 
Gardener said:
It wasn't the Guatemalans who voted the people into office who did those things.
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It wasn't me either. I wasn't even born yet.

The blame lies squarely on those in government at the time who conceived it, approved it, participated in it, and covered it up.

Don't misunderstand. The US government finally owning up to this and apologizing are the right things for the US government to do.

But casting a collective guilt-net over every American 60 years later is also a dishonesty.
 
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