Thread by @FlintDibble

Pseudoarchaeology and fake history causes real harm in our society

Many people think, what’s the harm of hunting for a lost city? It’s entertainment, right! It even exposes children to real science

CW: The harm leads directly to racism and eugenics
1/18

The host of #HuntingAtlantis (@stelpavlou), and unfortunately his wife, have claimed that their TV show inspires children to be curious about real facts, real scientific methods, and real archaeology

This might be true in some cases, but there are problems with this argument
/2

The show misrepresents researchers. Repeatedly, archaeologists on #HuntingAtlantis present fascinating, new finds

Then, it cuts to the hosts who explain how these finds support their Atlantis theories

The experts have no recourse to reply to this fantastical jump in logic
/3

And let’s say a teenager is watching this show on @Discovery. They become fascinated. There’s evidence for Atlantis. It appears as if it is being presented by real archaeologists

They wonder, is this true?

They use the internet, so they search the internet for answers
/4

And this is where the problem comes in

Unsurprisingly, the internet is full of fake archaeology, fake history, and conspiracy theories about Atlantis

Just a quick search of “Atlantis truth” on Youtube shows conspiracy theories in top results
/5

For anyone who continues down the rabbithole, you end up hitting real subversive sites. Like the Atl@ntean G@rdens by the extreme racist Robert S*pehr

This channel has 200k+ subscribers and most videos surpass 50k
/6

This is the dark side of pseudoarchaeology. It’s no longer entertainment, but extremely subversive and vile. Check out some of the things this individual has said on Twitter

(thanks to an anonymous colleague for this research, as I do not want to go down this rabbit hole)
/7

Racist pseudoarchaeology is closely aligned w/ Nazi scholarly theories about Atlantis

As Steph Halmhofer (@cult_archaeo) notes: “Atlantis also played a large role in 1930’s Nazi Germany when Heinrich Himmler and Herman Wirth founded the Institute for the Study of Atlantis.
/8

“The institute’s purpose was to find proof Atlantis had once existed to prove the superiority of the Aryan race because Himmler believed Blavatsky’s claims about Atlantis.”

Check out Steph’s great historiographical research: womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2019/09/the-ha…
&
bonesstonesandbooks.com/2018/06/02/the…
/9

Now, why is this story from Plato so closely aligned with racism?

The reason goes back to Plato’s dialogs where he presents Atlantis: Timaeus & Critias

Many of Plato’s ideas, esp from his more famous Republic have been used to support more modern philosophies of eugenics
/10

For example, in the Republic, Plato wrote, “You, then, the lawgiver… have picked these men & similarly will select to give over to them women as nearly as possible of the same nature.”

(5.458c: perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?do…)

Plato’s Republic directly influenced Nazi philosophy
/11

For example, in Alan Kim’s 2018 chapter, “An Antique Echo: Plato and the Nazis” he writes on page 215:

“Thus, the Republic is the mythic image of the common Aryan vision of the Staat, projecting the same ideal of total form”
/12

Kim continues (p217): “the Republic gives fodder to an even more extreme view: not only is the Volk to be kept free of alien blood, its own stock must be improved by a strict eugenic regimen.”

(published in Brill’s Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany)
/13

But the Platonic dialogs that the Atlantis story is part of (Timaeus and Critias) also include strong references to eugenicist ideas

Both in the prelude to Atlantis and in its destructive climax
/14

In Timaeus 19a, Socrates states (translated by Waterfield 2009)

“And we went on to say, didn’t we, that the children of good couples were to be brought up, while the children of bad couples were to be quietly sent away to other parts of the city”
/15

The story of Atlantis, (Critias 121a-c) ends with a description of how the Atlantides “divine nature… began to fade, as a result of constantly being diluted.” Zeus then “recognized the degenerate state of their fair line and wished to punish them”
/16

So, given this whole history, it should be no surprise, that it’s a short leap from a pseudoarchaeology show about Atlantis to far more subversive ideas of racism

Shows about Atlantis lead directly to dark ideas, both ancient and modern
/17

For these reasons, I fully oppose pseudoarchaeology in all its forms and am disappointed in the misrepresentation of archaeology in #HuntingAtlantis

Note: you can watch the show yourself and see how the researchers are never asked about Atlantis. It's obvious if you look
/end

If you want a more thorough debunking of Atlantis, check out my earlier thread here:

https://twitter.com/FlintDibble/status/1393689542914359297

If you want to read more about the pernicious role of racism in how we are taught history (in grade school and pop culture), read this thread on the amazing archaeology of Africa

https://twitter.com/FlintDibble/status/1271430158084423681?s=19

The N@zi responds

https://twitter.com/FlintDibble/status/1434233573968683008?s=19

This thread by @ISASaxonists is a really important addition here

https://twitter.com/ISASaxonists/status/1434262946830557191?s=19

And I really should have added this excellent piece by @SarahEBond on the dangers of pseudoarchaeology with a specific look at ancient aliens

google.com/amp/s/hyperall…

And I've just discovered this excellent piece that provides more detail to the Nazi link to Atlantis:

https://twitter.com/DSAArchaeology/status/1434485456008368128

My mentions are full of people saying, "Duh, of course Atlantis isn't real. Everybody knows that"

Why have scholars appear on an Atlantis TV show?

Why do 57% of Americans believe it is a real place?

Conspiracy theories are on the rise and are harmful

https://twitter.com/DSAArchaeology/status/1434169364085870595?s=19