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PaperclipPerfector  10d ago (text post)   2389 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025

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Are there historical precedents of the modern, 201x and 202x version of the word "racist"? I don't mean when it's used accurately to describe someone advocating for the extermination of the jews or whatever, but in the "heretic" sense in which it is used to shut down discussion and malign political opponents or anyone who tries to present real data on immigration etc. What did e.g. the Greeks or Romans use, if they had anything like this?

Good question because I'm really racking my brain and can't think of anything good. I'm assuming you're asking about xenophobia in particular having moral weight attached to it instead of any kind of morality language being used to shut down discussion or malign enemies because examples of the the latter numbers in the thousands. The only example I can think of doesn't feel the same even if it's in the same ballpark. "Misobarbaros" was an ancient Greek word for someone who hated foreigners too much. But this was more a "stop making fun of the savages, they don't know any better like us superior Greeks" kind of a way, and even then it doesn't seem to have the same moral weight as 'racist' does today. And it wasn't so much about race as it was about culture, customs, and language, which presumably can be changed

That seems to be the pattern through history, that admonishment for anything approaching race-hatred would be like being critical of someone who hates children in a more modern setting, and even people who hate kids these days still get to keep their jobs

any kind of morality language being used to shut down discussion or malign enemies because examples of the the latter numbers in the thousands.

You mean like, "counter-revolutionary" in early Soviet Russia? That would be a more intense and threatening label, cause they'd physically torture and kill you if it stuck.

Yeah, counter-revolutionary also applies in France ~1800. Heretic was a big one in Europe, "secret Catholic" in England at one point, "witch" practically everywhere, communist, terrorist, enemy of the state, enemy of the people, monarchist... I'm pretty sure humans are hard wired to do this crap to each other

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