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Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 19, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Well, the video you linked does not claim that those myths were introduced "to undermine the revival of old European religions." Rather, it is suggested that some of those myths may have been introduced to undermine or subvert the people the god represents. We complain about Hollywood doing this all the time.

'Mythological figures change with the times, this has always been the case and is not merely a recent phenomenon caused by wokeness run amok. But it's also true that culture-creators change or undermine mythological figures with the specific intention of engaging in hostility towards the people represented by that figure. Of course this same phenomenon would have occurred in the ancient world as well, with plays and poems in the Dionysia for example presenting some extended lore that humbles the god and by extension the people he represents.

The point is they don't accept the mythos wholesale, they are going to retcon what they perceive as not belonging there according to the intentions of the mythos. This also happens all the time. Jews did not accept the extended lore portrayed in the Gospels, most christians do not accept the extended lore portrayed in the Book of Mormon. Dan Brown wrote Jesus as having had Mary Magdalene as a lover and a bloodline, which is perceived by most Christians as an example of "hostile extended-lore". The entire Talmud is nothing but a fandom of autistic wordcels arguing over Hebrew lore.

The notion that a revival European religion would retcon stuff that doesn't belong is perfectly sensible, and there's no contradiction there.