Paypal donate link to a gmail address makes me a little nervous. Is http://www.chagossupport.org.uk/ a legitimate and well-run charity? Where specifically does the money go?
It isn't a charity as far as I can tell (or at least does not have UK charitable status): the only registered charity with Chagos in the name is the Chagos Conservation Trust[1]. This means that UK Chagos Support Association does not have to follow charity law (i.e. be open about their work among other things), have a purpose considered as "charitable" [2], be run my trustees that don't personally benefit and/or be r…
The Dark side of .io TLD
41–50 of 81 posts
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#42The archipelago was first settled in the 19th century, only about 1500 people were displaced, yes the British government mistreated these people by not properly compensating them because the US and NATO needed a military base in the region. However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. And while i understand that…
It doesn't matter if western countries mistreat their people sometimes, that doesn't justify mistreating the Chagossians or anyone else for that matter.
Even if you think 200 years isn't a strong claim to a nation, that doesn't change the fact those people lived there and were forceably removed from the islands.
I'm also curious, what is your cut-off point for a "strong" claim to a nation? 250 years? 500 years? 1 AD?
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#43The archipelago was first settled in the 19th century, only about 1500 people were displaced, yes the British government mistreated these people by not properly compensating them because the US and NATO needed a military base in the region. However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. And while i understand that…
That was pretty weak arguments against the case of the Chagossians people. I had to try really hard not to downvote because I disagree with your position. It doesn't matter if western countries mistreat their people sometimes, that doesn't justify mistreating the Chagossians or anyone else for that matter. Even if you think 200 years isn't a strong claim to a nation, that doesn't change the fact those people lived th…
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very uncomfortable with this line of argument: > However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. I suspect it's factually untrue, but I'm more concerned with the moral implication that if we can find a wrong Y that is worse than wrong X, we shouldn't care about X. There is a legitimate version of the argument,…
> but I'm more concerned with the moral implication that if we can find a wrong Y that is worse than wrong X, we shouldn't care about X. Definitely not "shouldn't care". But you should ask yourself "if there's a ton of materially similar things I'm ok with, why should I feel outraged about this one in particular?" Sometimes the answer is that you shouldn't feel outraged at all, other times the answer will be that you…
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
A possible example is the people living in ~500 houses in Camden (London). The houses are to be demolished to make way for a new railway, and they're not happy with the level of compensation offered.
If you go for London then you can look at all the council houses restructuring projects that pretty much kick all the non-(extremely)wealthy residents out of London by offering them well below real market value for their properties and then developing the council estates into luxury apartment projects.
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#46Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#47The archipelago was first settled in the 19th century, only about 1500 people were displaced, yes the British government mistreated these people by not properly compensating them because the US and NATO needed a military base in the region. However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. And while i understand that…
I'm very uncomfortable with this line of argument: > However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. I suspect it's factually untrue, but I'm more concerned with the moral implication that if we can find a wrong Y that is worse than wrong X, we shouldn't care about X. There is a legitimate version of the argument,…
> But our ability to recognize and acknowledge wrongs is not a limited resource.
I just happen to be re-reading Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow at the moment, so this is very fresh on my mind. In fact, this does seem to be a limited resource, and the bias that overwhelming the resource creates is called the availability bias. Essentially, in cases where the media covers matters of lesser significance while ignoring matters of greater significance predictably leads people to weight the more heavily covered issue more highly despite its relative unimportance.
I don't know about the specific claim by the gp, but in general, I think it's socially useful to point out situations where a less covered related issue is not getting the appropriate amount of attention relative to a particular sensationalized issue in question.
Note: I'm interpreting 'recognize and acknowledge wrongs' as our ability to concert attention and restorative actions toward addressing issues, because this is where the rubber meets the road in addressing wrongs. So I'm responding more to a projection of wpietri's comment that I think is a bit more toward the consequential rather than a strict reading of her/his comment. This is clearly responding to a somewhat different argument than the one wpietri is making, so it shouldn't be construed as an argument against her/his statement so much as an argument inspired by her/his statement.
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was pretty weak arguments against the case of the Chagossians people. I had to try really hard not to downvote because I disagree with your position. It doesn't matter if western countries mistreat their people sometimes, that doesn't justify mistreating the Chagossians or anyone else for that matter. Even if you think 200 years isn't a strong claim to a nation, that doesn't change the fact those people lived th…
You're a nation if you have a military. These folks clearly failed that test.
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was pretty weak arguments against the case of the Chagossians people. I had to try really hard not to downvote because I disagree with your position. It doesn't matter if western countries mistreat their people sometimes, that doesn't justify mistreating the Chagossians or anyone else for that matter. Even if you think 200 years isn't a strong claim to a nation, that doesn't change the fact those people lived th…
You're a nation if you have a military. These folks clearly failed that test.
Re: The Dark side of .io TLD
#50The archipelago was first settled in the 19th century, only about 1500 people were displaced, yes the British government mistreated these people by not properly compensating them because the US and NATO needed a military base in the region. However there are urban restructuring projects every day in western countries that displace more people without proper compensation than this incident. And while i understand that…