It’s genuinely worrying to me how often white supremacist misogynist dudes have a weird Viking obsession. The Vikings did not agree with you. Stop dragging the Vikings into this.
Right-wingers: We should treat the Muslims like the Vikings did! Me: You mean travel thousands of miles to strike up profitable trade deals with them in their own countries and establish mutually beneficial business arrangements? Right-wingers: Wot?
Speaking as the genetic equivalent of a jar of mayonnaise smeared on plain white bread, I think it’s because unless you’re actual nobility, the Vikings are kind of the only really glorious-sounding white people from Northern Europe we have for the average modern white peasant to want to ethnically associate with. Not a lot of ethnonationalist glory to be found in dressing up like an oppressed serf tbh. Hard to drum up that white supremacy bloodlust when you remember your ancestors spent most of their time looking like the extras in Holy Grail, and only really stopped when they started murdering non-white people abroad instead.
Unfortunately I think a lot of these people take Skyrim as Historical Documents and go from there?? Like there’s a lot of Viking ‘inspired’ popular depictions that have very little resemblance to actual Vikings. And tend to be all white. And can be read to support an alt-right fundamentalist worldview.
