Rastafarians aren’t just hippies with good weed, good music and a spiritual worldview. The religion also includes a lot of misogyny and homophobia (which appears to have come from the Old Testament as translated through British Victorian-era Christianity). That’s assuming one looks at the actual Afro-Caribbean syncretic religion, rather than “rastafarianism” as it’s given by clueless white dudes who like to get high but want to feel spiritual about it.
I’ve been starting to learn some Afro-Latin jazz as part of my piano study, and it’s gotten me into listening to reggae as well, and I’ve really been enjoying it. There were naturually a ton of repeat references to things I knew nothing about. The Wikipedia page on Rastafarianism was enough for me and a Youtube video about the significance of Haile Selassie to the belief system instantly set off a whole bunch of conspiracy theory alarm bells.
I’m not in the market for any religion, but even if I were, I don’t think this would be in my top 3. I’ll stick with learning piano instead.
![Rastafarian [beetlemoses]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3de5e135-c082-4676-96d7-a0a6fb31ce57.jpeg){kind=link}
Rastafarians aren’t just hippies with good weed, good music and a spiritual worldview. The religion also includes a lot of misogyny and homophobia (which appears to have come from the Old Testament as translated through British Victorian-era Christianity). That’s assuming one looks at the actual Afro-Caribbean syncretic religion, rather than “rastafarianism” as it’s given by clueless white dudes who like to get high but want to feel spiritual about it.
An Abrahamic religion based around worshipping a hereditary monarch is problematic? Colour me amazed.
I’ve been starting to learn some Afro-Latin jazz as part of my piano study, and it’s gotten me into listening to reggae as well, and I’ve really been enjoying it. There were naturually a ton of repeat references to things I knew nothing about. The Wikipedia page on Rastafarianism was enough for me and a Youtube video about the significance of Haile Selassie to the belief system instantly set off a whole bunch of conspiracy theory alarm bells.
I’m not in the market for any religion, but even if I were, I don’t think this would be in my top 3. I’ll stick with learning piano instead.
Thanks for the educational PSA. Sad to see but good to know.