Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Ah yes, the "it's all about me" view of history.

You think Pictish England was like this? Etruscan Italy? First Nation U.S.? Feudal Carolingia? I didn't see too many white males hanging out in the Empire of Mali. And vikings weren't particularly interested in whether you were white or black. The cheerfully sold white male Irish thralls to North African Muslims for fun and profit. By contrast, you'd be hard pressed to find any society where women (free women at any rate, not thralls -- who were all white, literally Caucasian in many cases) were as equal to men legally The Maori for 99% of their history? China? I don't remember white males showing up in Vietnam until fairly recently, as history goes.

History is an enormously complicated tapestry of the human experience. It is filled with a wide range of cultures and experiences that run the gamut from relatively idyllic to ridiculously oppressive, and not always in the same way. Ancient Greece was one of the single most sexist, misogynist cultures that ever existed. But it was a great place to be a male homosexual or bi. Same with Rome. But the Romans had absolutely no discrimination based on color, especially in the later half of the Empire after Caracalas when all peoples of the Empire were made citizens.

The fact that people who keep repeating this basically mean: "The history of Europe and European colonialism for the last 300 years." Even if we accept this as true, it is still a distinction that matters.Why? Because it shows us a better world is possible. The choice of society is ours. If the Iroquois Federation could manage successfully for hundreds of years, we can as well.

Nor is there some particular evil of white men. Yes, the history of the past 300 years -- more like 900 years if we are talking about sexism, although even here it gets complicated -- is a history of primarily white men going around enslaving other people and coming up with fairly awful theories to justify it despite a nominal commitment to liberty and equality. But again, that's a choice. It can be undone tomorrow. If, as you statement implies, the is the invariable and enduring truth of history, then our choices are to submit to it or overthrow the oppressors by force. or simply whine in our smug cynicism, happy to be relieved of our responsibility by powerlessness.