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No, probably no ancient cultures were actually matriarchal. No, Jesus wasn't a nice guy just preaching peace and love. Probably psychedelics weren't the foundations of religion. That ancient culture with progressive values you like was likely actually also barbaric in other ways.

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Aella

@Aella_Girl

Ancient cultures did not magically share our magnanimous values, they did not get enlightened or spontaneously do feminism. History is not a romantic affirmation of what we believe today, it was uglier and messier and more complicated than we think.

7:52 AM · Dec 15, 2020

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Did I miss something; who is actually arguing this? Other than maybe like... Disney?

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I often hear people saying this stuff - jesus being a peace and love guy is a particularly common thing I hear

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For a fascinating glimpse into ancient populations of whom we have little archaeological record, see David Reich's "Who we are and how we got here"

google.com

Who We Are and How We Got Here

Who We Are and How We Got Here is a 2018 book on the contribution of genome-wide ancient DNA research to human population genetics by the geneticist David Reich. He describes discoveries made by his...

Just the coolest guy around

@Mrprofiel

Dec 15, 2020

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@Aella_Girl

I'm reminded of one of my favorite book covers for a non-existent book.

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I don’t necessarily see the two tweets as being dependent clauses. Matriarchal societies don’t have to be good, nor do psychedelics or indeed peace and love. Complexity is what makes a society good; so-called progressive ideas are only progressive if they, well, progress anything

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Lol. Level unlocked. FactBros decontextalising vibe.

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And all of this because these ideas are only even ostensibly viable in a world where technology and an extreme division of labor hides this "ugly" side from view; that which is the entire foundation for anything civilized existing at all. But alas, hubris tells us otherwise.

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I like this point and this isn't meant as an exception, but I do think it's cool that there were societies with nonbinary gender systems (e.g. "two-spirits" in several native american cultures)

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You're right. People believe what they want to. Humans have basically been the same in terms of behavior throughout all of history. There was no special utopia where everybody held hands and nobody was harmed. It's always been a mixed bag of good and bad.

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and

The great irony is that the idea of the noble savage is a purely western construct.

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