4 ms·

I find the whole premise for the situation mind-boggling. Tutsi and Hutu were basically just categories for “someone who has cattle” and “someone who does not h

I find the whole premise for the situation mind-boggling. Tutsi and Hutu were basically just categories for “someone who has cattle” and “someone who does not have cattle”. One could become the other quite readily. Then the Belgians came along, measured skulls, pronounced the Tutsis a separate (and superior) race, and the rest is… absolutely idiotic history.

thaumasiotes 1y ago
> Tutsi and Hutu were basically just categories for “someone who has cattle” and “someone who does not have cattle”. One could become the other quite readily. But none of that is true.
- madaxe_again 1y ago
  https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/rwanda/life-before-the-genocide/ https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/r... https://www.rwandanstories.org/origins/hutu_and_tutsi.html https://www.rwandanstories.org/origins/hutu_and_tutsi.html
  - thaumasiotes 1y ago
    Maybe you should use sources that are more concerned with facts? https://web.archive.org/web/20111223184823/https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/08/tutsi-differ-genetically-from-the-hutu/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111223184823/https://blogs.dis... https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/hutus-and-tutsis-and-genetics https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/hutus-and-tutsis-and-geneti...
    - madaxe_again 1y ago
      I see a European measuring skulls. I suppose you think yourself Aryan. Christ, you could make the same argument about the U.K. - the aristocratic classes tend to have more Norman blood. Are they a superior race?
      - thaumasiotes 1y ago
        > I see a European measuring skulls. That will be news to Razib. You could more accurately describe him as "Aryan". > Christ, you could make the same argument about the U.K. - the aristocratic classes tend to have more Norman blood. Well, on the assumption that it's extremely easy to distinguish the British aristocracy from the peasantry by a blood test - what would that do to support the idea that people frequently switch between the categories? > Are they a superior race? Hm. Perhaps you yourself should be more concerned with facts? Are you saying that the Tutsis and the Hutus aren't different because you think that's true, or because you think it's important for people to believe it whether or not it's true? Suppose that the Tutsis and the Hutus were longstanding ethnic groups both basically closed to outsiders, such as the other group. What would that look like?
- lostlogin 1y ago
  It sounds like that became true, but wasn’t until quite recently.
  - thaumasiotes 1y ago
    It was never true, not in the distant past, not recently, not now.
volleyball 1y ago
Major, minor or imagined differences between populations being exacerbated causing them to turn against each other wasn't a byproduct of some poorly conceived policy. It was the whole point and was (and continues to be) a keystone to colonial power over faraway lands.

thaumasiotes 1y ago

> Tutsi and Hutu were basically just categories for “someone who has cattle” and “someone who does not have cattle”. One could become the other quite readily. But none of that is true.

madaxe_again 1y ago
https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/rwanda/life-before-the-genocide/ https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/r... https://www.rwandanstories.org/origins/hutu_and_tutsi.html https://www.rwandanstories.org/origins/hutu_and_tutsi.html
- thaumasiotes 1y ago
  Maybe you should use sources that are more concerned with facts? https://web.archive.org/web/20111223184823/https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/08/tutsi-differ-genetically-from-the-hutu/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111223184823/https://blogs.dis... https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/hutus-and-tutsis-and-genetics https://www.emilkirkegaard.com/p/hutus-and-tutsis-and-geneti...
  - madaxe_again 1y ago
    I see a European measuring skulls. I suppose you think yourself Aryan. Christ, you could make the same argument about the U.K. - the aristocratic classes tend to have more Norman blood. Are they a superior race?
    - thaumasiotes 1y ago
      > I see a European measuring skulls. That will be news to Razib. You could more accurately describe him as "Aryan". > Christ, you could make the same argument about the U.K. - the aristocratic classes tend to have more Norman blood. Well, on the assumption that it's extremely easy to distinguish the British aristocracy from the peasantry by a blood test - what would that do to support the idea that people frequently switch between the categories? > Are they a superior race? Hm. Perhaps you yourself should be more concerned with facts? Are you saying that the Tutsis and the Hutus aren't different because you think that's true, or because you think it's important for people to believe it whether or not it's true? Suppose that the Tutsis and the Hutus were longstanding ethnic groups both basically closed to outsiders, such as the other group. What would that look like?
lostlogin 1y ago
It sounds like that became true, but wasn’t until quite recently.
- thaumasiotes 1y ago
  It was never true, not in the distant past, not recently, not now.

volleyball 1y ago

Major, minor or imagined differences between populations being exacerbated causing them to turn against each other wasn't a byproduct of some poorly conceived policy. It was the whole point and was (and continues to be) a keystone to colonial power over faraway lands.