@Prismeru:
The best one was that it started with like four castas and they had to keep expanding it because everyone kept fucking outside of their casta.
Spanish: Ok, there done! now don't touch each other! You're a different Casta.
Turns around
Moaning starts
Spanish: GODDAMIT GUYS!
Must have been fun times.
@Monkey:
I'm wondering how much of modern racism has to do with a sort of weird "Wow I could fucking destroy you without even trying due to technology I have, haha you fucking suck, you're like…lesser evolved or something."
When the Japanese realized they could beat the ever loving shit out of the Chinese in the 1880's their attitudes toward the Chinese went from hero to zero, from thinking of them as ancient cultural gods to dumbassed backward ape-men. I'm not even kidding.
So look at modern racism and how it sure seemed to line up with the huge jump in West European technologies combined with taking those technologies on tour to some of the less developed parts of the earth. And it's a match made in sociological hell.
People will rush to dehumanize even similar looking people if they can look down on them culturally or developmentally somehow. See above with the Japanese feeling toward the Chinese and Koreans of those times. See the historical attitudes toward the Irish from the English.
And of course even Hitler had to categorize the Slavs as such due to how less developed East Europe was. Meanwhile king racist himself and his racist armies made exceptions for the Japanese due to the opposite reason.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
I guess you could say a sort of zoomed out classism is at the heart of it almost.
@Monkey:
The Chinese are kind of similar given their historical role was similar to Europe's more modern one (at least in the region).
The Chinese world view was either you were Chinese, barbarians trying to be Chinese (Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese), or straight up barbarians.
Of course this wasn't modern racism either because it was all culturally based, barbarian was a matter of how Chinese you were culturally.
I'd be interested to see how much that applies to modern China, like if I moved there and completely assimilated aside from the "Whoa that dude looks crazy different" how much inclusion would be allowed me. I get the impression that Japan is however not like that, but isolated islands versus giant land empire results in differences like that I guess.
For your own countries historic context I always found it interesting that the Mesoamerican civilizations looked down on the more nomadic less developed indians north of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichimeca
And then the Spanish showed up and did the same to them.
And then the martians showed up and did the same to the Spanish, but that's next year.
Wow this is amazing, so informative and fun to read. I really liked the video link as well. I have to admit that I initially thought that you are terrifying and only that, since your reputation precedes you, but now I see you in a new light and respect you. Great knowledge, man. I have to say, in my humble opinion, you perform to your maximum level here more so than the manga sections. Looking forward to your other informative posts. I just wonder if this has to do with your job, your readings, or you are just that culturally well versed?
@Ubiq:
Nazis march in support of getting rid of Nazis.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/german-neo-nazis-tricked-by-town
They sure used them for a good cause. Hilarious.