• Chris@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I guess my sticking point is, does it matter if it was intentional? Contact with Europe destroyed them from both accidents and outright malice. It was still genocide even if it was on accident, imo.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        You’re not wrong.

        However, it is worth pointing out that the documented “smallpox blankets” stuff happened in the 1700s and 1800s, which was already a century or two after the continent had been greatly depopulated by diseases spread unintentionally.

      • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Measles, syphillis, rubella, mumps, chickenpox even. chickenpox is especially dangerous to adults who never had it.