4 ms·
I agree with almost everything with the author, except that whole racist aspect. I've always been annoyed how basically all the scandiniavians of the viking era
by janmarsal 4y ago
I agree with almost everything with the author, except that whole racist aspect. I've always been annoyed how basically all the scandiniavians of the viking era are labeled as nothing but savage pirates. As if they were good for nothing but stealing. There's something very demeaning about that, no matter how much they're romanticized for it these days.
Imagine if in the future all the 20th century Sicilians, or all Italians even, were labeled as mafia men simply because of their ethnicity. Then someone would write how problematic it is that a whole ethnic group is labeled as criminals, not because of how demeaning it is, but because The Godfather is a good movie and some Italian might feel proud for it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rocqua 4y agoIt's also more likely to stick for 'vikings' because their image is slightly attractive to a big minority of people. Which makes it quite insidious. On the other hand, I don't think many 'viking' / Scandinavian people are suffering actual discrimination in the current day. It's racism that misunderstands someones ancestors, without projecting it on their own person. Which seems a lot less harmful to me.
- vintermann 4y agoYes, the problem isn't that Danes or Norwegians get offended when you suggest a romanticized hyper-violent version of their ancestors. On the contrary, it's that some of them get a little too excited about it. And foreign "appropriators", too. Ukrainian ultranationalists, for instance, got really geared up over the theory that Odin was a historical person living near Azov (which the Norwegian adventurer and crank-historian Thor Heyerdahl claimed came from "As-Hov" or "home of the aesir"). If we could get foreign militias to wear slightly less neo-nazi insignia on their uniforms by getting the idea of "vikings" back on the ground, I'd say that would be great.
- jollybean 4y agoThe difference is, if Vikings had some kind of cultural dominance, and they defined the leadership of the region, brought home spoils and bounty, it would be like the Mafia literally running Italy, in which case, we surely would refer to it as the 'Mafia Period' at least.
- janmarsal 4y agoI just hope the future archeologist don't call every Italian mafia period farm a "mafia farm". Or the Little Italy of Manhattan a "mafia settlement".