re: #234 The Ghost of a Flea

Basically, racism means that culture is zero-sum. Admitting that other people had “civilizations” and created important ideas and monuments…which, think about it, Nordic/Celtic Europe was the John-come-extra-lately, comparitively—is to hint at parity or—gasp!- -that maybe race wasn’t a driver of civilization.

This is especially important in and around Christianity, where racism intersects with the basic issue of supersession…that Christianity jacked the God Of The Israelites. So there are a lot of racist/anti-Semitic systems that posit that the Jews either are fake (and “real Jews” are white) or have a “fallen” status (by killing Jesus). It isn’t new…it starts percolating when the Church solidified in Rome.

I wonder how much the rise of monotheism in the ancient world might have influenced racism or vice versa. My idea is basically that polytheistic societies would tend to be more accommodating to other beliefs because there’s always room in the pantheon for other gods - and then there’s the idea that Odin is just another name for Zeus which is another name of Jupiter. But when there’s only one true god, then everyone else is wrong and thus inferior. That’s probably too deep of a rabbit hole for me though…