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Abhorrent as those views are, in the context of his time they were more or less the accepted normal. Back then, women couldn't vote in France or most other coun
by sofixa 2y ago
Abhorrent as those views are, in the context of his time they were more or less the accepted normal. Back then, women couldn't vote in France or most other countries he had visited/used for inspiration. On the contrary, feminists, rare as they were, were mocked.
Racism was prevalent, colonialism rampant. He was born 30 years before Hitler, and we all know his views and how popular they were among large parts of Europe and even elsewhere.
That doesn't excuse his views, but it contextualises them.
- ein0p 2y agoBelgium showed black people in a zoo until the 60s, and women did not have voting rights in “enlightened” Switzerland until 1971. Holier than thou attitudes in Europe are a product of fairly recent brainwashing.
- sofixa 2y agoNonsense, British and French colonialism explicitly had "bringing civilisation to the savages" aspects to it.
- orwin 2y agoThis is a take I agreed with, then I read about it, and behold, it isn't really true. While among the aristocrats and/or oligarchs, it was certainly the majority opinion (engenism, racism and pro-colonialism to clarify), it wasn't among the population. A lot of people fought against colonialism, in the first place religious people. And a majority didn't care.
- sofixa 2y ago> And a majority didn't care. It's a bit hard to gauge the opinion of the masses, but jingoism was prevalent and a popular political stance to have, so I doubt the majority didn't care. In any case, I didn't say those views were universal - just that they were normal and acceptable to have.