Here is the debate: what are the things we have caused and can be accounted for and what are the things we have not and can therefore not feel responsible?
Nationality is as accidental as eye colour. We did not consciously choose them. We cannot yet say they are our fault or responsibility.
Another example is the current war in Iraq. People do not currently feel their actions or lack of them are part of the reason for this ongoing massacre, even though our life-style might be part of the reason. Nonetheless, we hear countless amounts of people feeling proud of this or that empire’s achievements, regardless of the destruction it has brought upon others. Maybe your ancestors were very active in it. I do not know. But I have seen people very willing to ascribe the achievements of certain historical periods upon themselves; and of course, we have a selective memory on what events really took place, and which ones we are ‘proud of’.
