This is extremely close to being accurate for an alarming number of Americans too.
This same board could be used as a bingo style game any time an election or vote comes up.
To be fair though- “gypsies” doesn’t get as much play as it did 2 centuries ago and we’d maybe replace it with “snow flakes” or something, but surprisingly “witches” is still pretty strong.
I'd like to mention that it's usually not the villagers that decide what minority to treat like garbage. More often it's people in power arguing for a scapegoat. My personal favourite example of this is after the Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) when the princes of Europe decided they didn't want to pay back all those loans to Jewish bankers, mostly based in the Ottoman empire, and got the Catholic church to rally villagers to go to the Jewish ghettos and kill everyone while a couple of trusted guys went to the bank and set the bonds on fire.
I have mixed feelings. Even babies and children with persecute those they find different or simply “easy targets.” I agree 100% that such persecution is most often done by people who have something to gain- either to take money or land, eliminate competition, just elevate their own social status etc.
most often the people who can do this most effectively and stand the greatest gain are those in positions of power.
Then I question though- isn’t it the villagers who decide still? Those with the power can spread rumors and create a hostile atmosphere towards certain people, but we each decide for ourselves how to react or what to believe.
I had a bit of philosophical discussion with famousone some time back to this point.
Conspiracy and manipulation are tricky things. It is usually much simpler and much more effective to not try and trick people into doing what you want, but instead to figure out how to align the path to what you want so that others own self interest or proclivities will naturally work towards your goals. When a human being is a slave to their instincts, all we have to do is essentially give them a chance to act on their instincts and they will. Context matters- the flow of information and education through history varies, a majority of civilizations in history were not ran “by the people” or even representing them in government- in the modern world the people in power are just villagers basically. It is interesting to think about and as you say, we should be mindful of history and try not to repeat it.
This same board could be used as a bingo style game any time an election or vote comes up.
To be fair though- “gypsies” doesn’t get as much play as it did 2 centuries ago and we’d maybe replace it with “snow flakes” or something, but surprisingly “witches” is still pretty strong.
most often the people who can do this most effectively and stand the greatest gain are those in positions of power.
Then I question though- isn’t it the villagers who decide still? Those with the power can spread rumors and create a hostile atmosphere towards certain people, but we each decide for ourselves how to react or what to believe.
I had a bit of philosophical discussion with famousone some time back to this point.