Noncommunist 19:41 09-20-2015
Originally Posted by wooly_mammoth:
What I wanted to say in the initial part that you quoted is that fantasizing about the practice of primitive cults wouldn't make much sense for civilized characters, since civilization tends to erode belief in such things. The fact that he imagined Haitian negroes or eskimos to indulge in dubious ritual is partly based on reality (Haitians still practice voodoo to this day, right?) and partly because it's a pretty damn cool fantasy (like chanting to the cthulhu spawn under the northern lights and whatnot). I think that some stories did include anglo hillbillies dabbling in forbidden rites (maybe the Dunwich Horror or Dreams in the Witch-House), which again makes sense since they are uneducated and superstitious characters.
"Civilized" cultures also have had some pretty wacky beliefs too.
Originally Posted by wooly_mammoth:
I can agree with you on the breed mixing part, but not on calling him racist because he imagined a community of Portuguese demon worshipers. That's just fantasy. Otherwise every writer ever who imagined a foreign character being the harbinger of something bad could be qualified as a racist?
I think it's more of a problem that foreigners never seen to be portrayed positively or with decent characterization.
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