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I realize that the GP in a sense started it, but that comment also had lots of other things in it that were substantive and on-topic. This is the sort of case the following guideline is designed for:
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead."
What about wanting to make people feel safe when they are around me makes me "far left"? I'd like to think that it makes me considerate. I'm not particularly happy that far right have made it so I may come off scary to some people, but it is what it is.
> and speaks for all danes?
I think I can officially tell you that I am in fact speaking on behalf of every non-nazi danish person when I tell you that we collectively hate the fact that the far right in so many places has adopted our cultural heritage.
> Also, I wonder what your danish ancestors would think if you could speak old norse and explain them your 'inclusiveness' and culture appropriation to them
They would likely be fine with them. We have both historical and archeological sources to show us that vikings weren't really very judgemental in the sense that traditional monotheistic religions are today. We also know that things like "nationality" weren't even concepts at the time. They'd quite simply mingle with the cultures they encountered and you'd even have things like homosexuality being rather accepted in parts of society and not in others. Though obviously not in a way that is comparable with society today as you can see in the "law texts" we have from the period. For men the "acting party" wouldn't be considered to be different from a heterosexual man, while the "receiving party" would be anything from poorly treated to considered to be breaking the law depending on which specific city/area they lived in. Similarly women's rights were a thing, with them being better than they are for many women today in some parts and worse in others, though over all rather good for any period in human history.
It's sort of silly to compare our society with society 1200 years ago though. A huge amount of the concepts we've build our civilizations upon simply didn't exist in "Norse culture". A lot of our modern cultural, like the Scandinavian work ethics and our morals are hugely inspired by Lutheranism as an example.
Interesting point. (I mean, given how widely they spread - and their influence on local cultures - they had to be open minded ...
> in the "law texts" we have from the period.
I am curious as to what some of those (codes) might be - excuse my ignorance ...
There is also a book called the Culture of the Teutons in the public domain, which tends to be recommended as a cultural intro text in Heathen groups, that does a good job describing Germanic culture and worldview. Regardless of your intetest in religion, I found it quite interesting.
they dont exist, he made it up!
I will look about, research some, and report. Interesting topic :)
99% of all danes, sure bro..
> long winded paragraph about how vikings were angels
absolutely reddit brained
I wonder if that's due to WW2 veterans dying, or just plain time passing. And will we see another Axis?
This is a historical anachronism. "Nazi ideology" (by which we typically mean things in particular like eugenics, racism and antisemitism, but perhaps also things like "strong nationalism" or "leader-centralized authoritatianism") was not the reason the US or other Allies went into the war, nor was it the reason why most people volunteered to fight, assuming they were not drafted. (Of course, there were exceptions.) The mythologization of the war in modern times has led to a much, much greater modern hatred of Nazi ideology than what existed in the 1940s, even in the postwar period. If you read newspaper articles and private letters from the period, it's really quite shocking the sentiments the average American, Frenchman, or Englishman had.
It is also of course always worth mentioning the enormous Soviet contribution to the war effort against Germany, without which Allied victory would have almost certainly been impossible - and the Soviet Union under Stalin was not exactly "the free world", to put it mildly.
German totalitarism was why they never held any serious legitimacy among conquered Poles and later Russians. Terror and more terror. It says something that, after long hesitation, Russians solidified around Stalin. Is it an anachronism as well? Did they see any hope for a prosperous post-war future with/under Hitler?
Unfortunately, yes.-
No viking visiting 10th century Baghdad would think 'the white man is clearly superior and is meant to govern the other races'.
My impression is that viking culture mostly could not afford decadent beliefs like racism. They raided their white neighbour, and if they somehow managed to get a hold of a black thrall with useful skills, they would take advantage of those skills. Similarly to how many women had decent rights. Not because they were 'woke', it was just practical.
An important source of income was the slave trade, where they got white slaves from Europe and sold them to the southern countries (Orthodox Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Middle Eastern Caliphate). So they were inclusive in the sense that they would sell their victims to slavery independently of the color of their skin ;-)