Ah yes, the old “Something someone did 400 years ago still defines our modern society” argument
That's precisely the point, I think. What someone, anyone, is or can be capable of even today, and what is acceptable or not in a 'modern' society.
Today, in our modern society, we kill and can do on massive scale, mostly from afar, often don't think about it twice, and justify it (perhaps rightly) as killing "the enemy".