Washington Post looks into anti-blackness and transphobia in the Byzantine Empire to help us understand the roots of hatred

Isn’t it curious how mainstream media outlets seem to feature certain books? That book arguing that the Second Amendment isn’t about guns but rather anti-blackness was featured on CNN and NPR. And the author of a book about how white supremacy has polluted yoga enjoyed a lengthy interview on Yahoo News. Now the Washington Post is taking a look at “Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages” by art history professor Roland Betancourt.

In the Middle Ages, anti-blackness and transphobia existed and intersected in complex ways. Understanding how they existed in the Byzantine Empire can help us to understand the roots of these "ideologies of hatred" today, writes @ProfBetancourt https://t.co/6RlvJA8nPQ

— madebyhistory (@madebyhistory) June 16, 2021

🤡🌎

— HippieSpeedball (@SpeedballHippie) June 16, 2021

I for one am shocked a medieval Christian empires social mores don’t line up with intersectional 21st century views. Really insightful piece

— colin (@colinblute_) June 16, 2021

This is so psychotic.

— james 🇻🇦🇻🇦🇻🇦 (@james50690602) June 16, 2021

Woke ahistorical gibberish is so absurd. Other countries must be baffled by this phenomenon.

— Hernan Cortes (@CyberPunkCortes) June 16, 2021

Can confirm

— Nikopol (@Nikopol5) June 16, 2021

This article in itself deserves to be preserved as an artefact of the insanity of our current historical period.

Beyond parody.

— Philip Saunders 🍀 (@_physes) June 16, 2021

Future generations are going to look back on these bizarre behaviors and trends and laugh.

— Turk Twig (@TwigTurk) June 16, 2021

cc: @TitaniaMcGrath

— Brian Knotts (@brianknotts) June 16, 2021

Nothing protects a scholar like the ignorance & indifference of the masses. But if most people who even know the meaning of “Byzantine” were on Twitter, I suspect you would end up being one of the most ratioed people in the history of the platform. & you would richly deserve it.

— J. Pauline Spaghetti (@JPaulineSpaghe1) June 16, 2021

At what point do we pause and address the epidemic of pseudo-scholarship performed under the cover of sanctimony?

— Honus 💾 (@HonusWenger) June 16, 2021

This is one of the most moronic things I have ever read. The fact that it was even published says a lot about not only the author but about the publication.

— John Barbagiannis (@JBarbagiannis) June 16, 2021

Alternative title: "I'm an elitist narcissist with a useless degree, let me tell you how everyone everyone else ever is a racist transphobe"

— A.L. (@ayolord) June 16, 2021

This is truly one of the most ignorant and horrendous caricatures of Byzantine society and civilization.

Not that it needs more proving, but the grievousness of these errors in this piece demonstrates the maladapted and deranging influence of race-obsession as applied to history

— Dom Fenucchae (@DomFenucchae) June 16, 2021

Terrible. Please don’t promote this ahistorical garbage.

— Charlie Boardman (@charlieboardman) June 16, 2021

A lot of people don’t know this, but there was a time back in the 20th century when the Washington Post was a serious, respected newspaper written for adults. I’m not kidding – look it up

— Mr. Smythe (@MrSmythe5) June 17, 2021

NPR will definitely have the author on for an interview if they haven’t already.

Related:

CNN features scholar’s ‘fast-moving’ new book that claims the Second Amendment isn’t about guns but ‘anti-Blackness’ https://t.co/yCB4wpCZbG

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 3, 2021