Let's be honest here -- some pretty lousy things have happened in just about every society since the beginning of civilization. However, do people alive today bear some moral responsibility for the actions of their ancestors? Do they have a moral responsibility to apologize for those actions? To make some recompense for them?

I've long argued that the answer is no. Two stories today illustrate how absurd such apologies can be.

For the first story, let's go to Papua New Guinea.

THE descendants of Papua New Guinea cannibals who killed and ate four Fijian missionaries in 1878 have apologised.

Fiji's High Commissioner to PNG, Ratu Isoa Tikoca accepted the apologies at a reconciliation ceremony near Rabaul in PNG's East New Britain Province yesterday in front of thousands of people.

"We at this juncture are deeply touched and wish you the greatest joy of forgiveness as we finally end this record disagreement," Ratu Tikoca said.

PNG's Governor-General Paulias Matane told the crowd he appreciated the work of the early Fijian missionaries in spreading Christianity in the islands region.

The ceremony marked 132 years since Methodist ministers and teachers from Fiji arrived in the New Guinea islands region in 1875 headed by Englishman George Brown.

In April 1878, a Fijian minister and three teachers were killed and eaten by Tolai tribespeople on the Gazelle Peninsula.

Brown directed and took part in a punitive expedition that resulted in a number of Tolais being killed and several villages burnt down.

His actions caused a storm of protest in the Methodist Church.

Official investigations by British colonial authorities in the Pacific cleared him of criminal charges.

I'll be the first to accept the notion that contrition and repentance are good things. However, doesn't it seem rather bizarre for non-cannibals to apologize for having ancestors who were cannibals? These people bear no responsibility for the crimes or sins (and let's not discuss in this context whether cannibalism was either) of their ancestors. For what are they apologizing? Their mere descent from these people? I think the headline of the article catches the craziness of it all -- Sorry we ate your forefathers. Nobody apologizing did any such thing.

And then you get into even older historical disputes.

MORE than 1200 years ago hordes of bloodthirsty Viking raiders descended on Ireland, pillaging monasteries and massacring the inhabitants.

On Wednesday, one of their more mild-mannered descendants stepped ashore to apologise.

The Danish Minister for Culture, Brian Mikkelson, who was in Dublin to celebrate the arrival of a replica Norse longboat, apologised for the invasion and destruction inflicted.

"In Denmark we are certainly proud of this ship but we are not proud of the damage to the people of Ireland that followed in the footsteps of the Vikings," Mr Mikkelson declared in his welcoming speech delivered by the River Liffey.

"But the warmth and friendliness with which you greet us today and the Viking ship show us that, luckily, it has all been forgiven."

Good grief! We are talking about things that happened over a millennium ago! It is how the world was at the time, a much less civilized place. Warfare and raiding were an accepted part of Scandinavian culture (Irish, too -- thought they tended to do it more among themselves ). Why apologize for it?

What next? Will the Greek ambassador to Turkey make a visit to Hisarlik and formally apologize for the actions of Agamemnon, Achilles, and Odysseus during the Trojan War?

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Posted by: Greg at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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