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Comment by dilawar | Hacker News Reader

> Egyptians don't like the notion that "they moved there from somewhere". They claim their own unique, uninterrupted, history and connection to the land as well as their civilizational independence from Mesopotamian, Asia Minor, Europe, and Africa.

Same here in India.

These ideas about civilization and racial purity/superiority are a scientific nonsense but very useful for getting people to hate each other.

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The same ideas exist in China, which claims a whole (and scientifically since disproven) distinct origin of humanity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_Man

Chinese mythology says they came from 崑崙 (Kunlun Mountain). The description of which sounds like Egypt coincidentally.

Translated something like: “To the south of the Western Sea, along the banks of the Flowing Sands, beyond the Red Water and before the Black Water, there lies a great mountain called the Kunlun Hill.”

The idea must have had some currency in the middle of last century, since Tolkien decided to place Hildórien, the birthplace of the Edain, in the Far East.

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hild%C3%B3rien

Human populations almost never sat still in one place and avoided mixing with others. Go back far enough, and Europeans and Indians are related. Go back further, and they're both related to Native North Americans. Go back far enough and we're all related. Anyone making claims that their ethnic group is somehow "pure" is ignoring linguistics, genetics, archaeology, and basic human nature.

We move around. We meet people. We make new people.

Go back further still, and we're related to cyanobacteria.

“LET’S SET THE EXISTENCE-OF-GOD ISSUE ASIDE FOR A later volume, and just stipulate that in some way, self-replicating organisms came into existence on this planet and immediately began trying to get rid of each other, either by spamming their environments with rough copies of themselves, or by more direct means which hardly need to be belabored.” Cryptonomicon. Page 24.

https://xkcd.com/2608/

“Pure” usually means having genes from a narrow, selected group, so the offspring show predictable traits—like size, intelligence, or appearance. That’s why dogs and farm animals are called “purebred.” But making pure breeds often requires inbreeding, which, unless done carefully, can cause serious problems.

Reminds me of that scene from Community (#sixseasonsandamovie) with Pierce's dad:

"Swedish dogs! Your blood is tainted by generations of race mixing with Laplanders. You're basically Finns!"

Populations can be homogenous though. If a hundred random humans were placed on an island to breed for 100 generations, they might homogenize into a distinct "type" and maybe that's something worth preserving or being proud of.

It's interesting that in Judaism, it's the opposite. Always moving in and then forcibly moved out. Abraham came from Ur (Mesopotamia), then Exodus from Egypt into Canaan, then Babylonian exile and back to Judea.

In myth-making, you've got to work with the established facts on the ground. It makes sense for China, India and Egypt to perpetuate the "always been here" mythology, but obviously for Jews being forcibly moved around and discriminated against is a given, so you build around that.

I have heard that the story of Moses was developed as way to unite the northern people Judah with the southern Israelites.

They needed a central story to unite the ideas.

I’m no expert but I think I have the theory straight.

I never know anyone claiming that in India

Look up the Harrapan Continuity Hypothesis. Very few scholars in India take it seriously but somehow it still finds its way into high school textbooks.

https://www.voanews.com/a/petition-in-india-s-supreme-court-...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/30/hardline-hindu...

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