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You're making it sound more complex than it is. If Roman Britain was ethnically diverse then what happened to the diversity? It's just not represented in the mo
by zpergs 9y ago
You're making it sound more complex than it is. If Roman Britain was ethnically diverse then what happened to the diversity? It's just not represented in the modern population.
Furthermore, a study is probably incorrect if it can't withstand sanity checking from simple population models based on data we do have from the time (e.g. Roman garrison sizes).
> Look around the Internet - there is a new revisionist history of the Western world that is being pushed..
The revisionism is actually that Roman Britain was ethnically diverse. To paraphrase the source of this controversy, Paul Joseph Watson: If Roman Britain was diverse then modern day Japan is ethnically diverse.
The "we are all immigrants" narrative is pushed to justify mass immigration and open borders. This might make academics like Beard feel cosmopolitan and P.C. views might draw the attention of the Guardian and boost her book sales, but tens of millions of people are suffering from the consequences of these policies and feel alienated by an elite that they feel is working against their will and best interests.
> These people are undoubtedly far less numerous than they appear; they use bots
Paul Joseph Watson has over 1m subscribers on YouTube and his videos have hundreds of thousands of views. This places his daily circulation higher than most newspapers. While only a small percentage of those people may agree with his views enough to push them online, that is still a lot of people.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading "Skin in the Game" and wonder whether this story will become another anecdote of Taleb's "Intellectual Yet Idiot" social class.
- neffy 9y agoIt is there, you just have to know what to look for, it helps to get out to the country. Down in deepest, darkest Devon - one of my Uncles married into a family who have a) been in Devon for centuries (as had his side of the family), and b) generally about the same shade as northern Indians. Friends at university had similarly ancient pedigrees, and tight, curly hair. etc. Modern day Japan, btw. is ethnically "Japanese". Which is to say the entire country are migrants from various parts of the Asian mainland over the last 4000 or so years, again, obvious when you know what to look for. (And don't mention Korea...) Concern over the problems of the modern era, overpopulation and refugees, are real, valid and deserve respect. But they don't need to be mixed up with the convenient stupidities of racism.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- panzagl 9y agoHow many Polish genes do you think will be in Afghanistan in 2000 years- after all, Polish units have served in Afghanistan. I have an acquaintance whose Russian family lived in Azerbaijan during the fall of the Soviet Union- they figured things were about to go south, so they packed their genes and moved. Maybe an African living in Britain felt the same way when the the legions left and the Scots were coming over the wall...
- laretluval 9y ago> If Roman Britain was diverse then modern day Japan is ethnically diverse. I don't understand the argument this is making. Could you clarify?
- Radim 9y agoEast Asian countries, Japan included, see ethnic and cultural homogeneity as a good and desirable thing (and are quite openly racist and xenophobic as a result). OP is making a joke -- if you want to call Romain Britain ethnically diverse, you might as well call Japan ethnically diverse. The term becomes meaningless.
- cabalamat 9y ago> If Roman Britain was ethnically diverse You probably mean racially diverse -- most Roman soldiers / administrators were ethnically Roman, regardless of race. > then what happened to the diversity? Cities have historically been population sinks, not able to replenish themselves without constant population flows from the countryside. If there were non-white people in the cities it might not have left much trace in the population's genes.
- cabalamat 9y ago> The "we are all immigrants" narrative is pushed to justify mass immigration and open borders. This is indeed the case, and the nativists v. cosmopolitans culture war is raging throughout the West. It's one of the reasons behind Brexit, for example.