As one of the responsible parties for sparking this conversation I feel compelled to reply and thank Mantel for keeping the conversation going. Though I see in many cases much more eloquent replies already covering the ground I had planned to tread I will try.
I have to admit, seeing the more tempered responses here has come as a bit of a shock, based on the conversation that sparked this in Summit I certainly felt like there was far less room for compassion than I see here.
@Evi_Polevhia I think what sparked this whole conversation was the little chats we shared years ago. Maybe I took the wrong lessons from them, but I must admit I saddens me to hear you speak of yourself as an artifact an object of usage. I hope we can talk again one day so I can better understand this.
I feel a great hesitancy not for those who chose Nation, but for those taken. Obviously preventing more abductions should be a paramount issue in the question of Nation, but even should the claims be true that once a part of Nation they would not want to leave, should they not be given at least one opportunity to say so? To treat them like sickened chattel, culled to save the herd, it cannot be the best way.