Refuting
Refuting Racial Myths

The Germanic character of Portuguese achievement
As if it wasn't enough to be forced to put up with Arthur Kemp's gross mistakes about Portuguese and Spanish history, now we also have to put up with Refuting Racial Myths' attempts to expose his (lack of) knowledge about Portuguese culture, once again to claim that our greatest poets were of Nordic stock and not native Iberians.
Refuting Racial Myths writes:
The Germanic character of Portuguese achievement
Starting in the fifth century, Germanic tribes assumed control of the Iberian peninsula. It was the descendants of these tribes who (with some help from the Franks and other Germanic peoples of Europe) would reconquer Iberia from the muslims.
Traditionally, the reconquest of Iberia from the Moslems began with Pelayo "the Goth" and the battle (e. 721) near Cangas de Onis, below the Pe�as de Europa in Asturias. . . .
Alfonso II asked for and received aid from Charlemagne in 795. The aid of the Franks made possible Alfonso's advance into Middle Portugal, which reached at least as far as Lisbon. (Source)
The truth
Actually, the Moors invaded because the Visigoths couldn't unite themselves. What is amazing is that Refuting Racial Myths somehow missed the previous chapter of his own source, which mentions the reasons why the Moors invaded in the first place. Here is a transcript:
By the year 711, the condition of affairs within the Iberian Peninsula was such that the success of almost any well-organized body of men bent upon conquest was a foregone conclusion. It should be a surprise to no one that it occurred, but perhaps one might wonder why it had not occurred some time earlier. The incredibly easy Moslem conquest of the whole peninsula, except for small areas in the northwest undesirable to Africans, can be explained only in part by their fervor and organization. The Visigothic kingdom had been dreadfully pauperized, materially and in spirit, by the continuous internal conflict between king and nobles or between Catholicism, Arianism, and the Jews. Added to this confusion was a general restiveness, due to the gradual disappearance of small properties. Such change and its accompanying economic maladjustment had been brought about by the necessary grouping around feudal strongholds in times of persistent warfare.
The immediate cause of Moslem entry into Iberia and its original success was due to the bitterness engendered when the Visigothic nobles rejected the claims of the family of King Vitiza to hereditary rights. Rebelling against the decision of the nobles, the Vitiza party -- probably by the intervention of Archbishop Oppa, brother of Vitiza -- invited Tarik, the leader of the Moslem forces, to land on the Iberian shore to fight in their cause. Rodrigo, the Visigothic king, not realizing the facts of the situation, entrusted two wings of his army to Oppa and to Oppa's brother, Sisbert. Sanguine because of the numerical superiority of his forces, Rodrigo confidently entered the battle, only to be betrayed by Oppa and Sisbert.
As you all read, the Moors successfully invaded because the unruly Visigoths invited them and because many of the Visigoths themselves allied with the Moors against king Rodrigo.
Now, if the Visigoths noblemen were allying themselves with the Moors, who started the Reconquista? Well, the answer is obvious - the people that had nothing to lose: the Ibero-Romans. It isn't correct to call one people the "Visigoths" and the other "Iberians" because the truth is that they had mixed extensively with each other (as explained previously). What we would see, would be an aristocracy (instituted during the Visigothic invasions), and the masses of Ibero-Romans. The aristocrats chose to side with the Moors because they quickly found out that they would keep their lands if they changed sides and converted to Islam (something many of them did). The masses on the other hand, fought for their culture and for their religion. Let us read more about what happened:
The Moslems were amazed by the ease with which they were able to sweep through the peninsula in the first years of their conquest. However, after the first shock was over Christian groups in various parts of the peninsula planned and attempted revolts, especially in the west.
It is pretty obvious why was the conquest so easy since many Visigoth aristocrats weren't willing to fight off the invasion. The Christian groups rebelling against the Moors were the native Christian populations, which didn't tolerate to see their religion sold to foreigners by their own aristocracy.
Historically, the Reconquista started thanks to a man called Pelayo who defeated a small contingent of Moors in the battle of Covadonga. Pelayo is nowhere mentioned as "The Goth", so I can only imagine where Refuting Racial Myths pulled that one from. As I will show, we know very little about the man but apparently Anon knows what no one else does.

According to the same source Refuting Racial Myths used:
Rodrigo was not to have his position for long, however. The treachery of the family of Akhila furthered the Moslem conquest, and after the death of Rodrigo in 711, in the battle which opened the peninsula to the Moslems, their services were rewarded. Akhila was established as surrogate for the Moslem rulers. Isidore of Beja, the first chronicler of the time, does not end the list of Visigothic monarchs with Rodrigo, but continues with Akhila and then Ardobast. In view of this fact, it may be said that the official Goths were Moslem allies. Actually, however, not all Christians accepted this relationship, and many dissidents took refuge in the north and northwest of the peninsula. One of these refugees, Pelayo, is given credit for the origins of the Christian resurgence.
For the period after his escape there is a hiatus of several years in our knowledge of his actions and affairs. He is an obscure figure and the record is far from clear. One Portuguese scholar advances an interesting argument with regard to the lost years. He suggests that Pelayo spent this time in the northwest, in the Portuguese Minho or Galicia, and not in Asturias as commonly believed. There is some reason for such a belief, as Pelayo had formerly lived in the western area. It would have been natural for him to return to the place where he was known and had friends and where Moslem power had never been established. This seems a possibility, particularly in view of the fact that Asturias, the commonly accepted place of his refuge, was held during those years by the Berber, Munu�a, who had his headquarters at Gij�n.
THE BATTLE OF COVADONGA
The whereabouts of Pelayo became a matter of record again at the time of the so-called battle of Covadonga which took place near Cangas de Onis in present Asturias. Although this affair has been greatly romanticised since its occurrence and perhaps should not be termed a battle at all, there was a skirmish, sometime between the years 721 and 725, and Pelayo's group may have included as many as three hundred men. His forces are said to have emerged victorious, although perhaps the Moslems would not have concurred in this judgement. It seems that Pelayo used the hit-and-run tactics common to the Portuguese area and especially notable under the Lusitanians. His forces damaged the Moslem contingent and then took refuge in the hills. The Moslems may well have taken this to be a retreat and credited themselves with the victory.
Subsequent to this fracas little is known of Pelayo, and his successor, F�fila, was obscure.
As we have read, the Goths caused the Muslim invasion and they lacked the courage to fight for their own land while the native populations rebelled against the Moors until the battle of Covadonga happens. Who was Pelayo? Legend says that he descended from the Visigothic kings, though that would be an excellent way for him to show himself to his men as a legitimate champion of the Christian cause. The truth is that we don't know who he was.
As usual, Refuting Racial Myths is dead wrong.
Refuting Racial Myths writes:
Later, it was people of the same Germanic stock who would launch the age of exploration.
The truth:
That would be swell, considering that the Goths were the reason why the Moors invaded in the first place. Unfortunately, that is obviously not true since most of the Gothic aristocracy took the side of the Moors and converted to Islam.

Refuting Racial Myths writes:
That the Germanic element was preserved among the more important classes can be seen in the description of Portugal's greatest poet, Lu�s Vaz de Cam�es (1524-1580), author of "Os Lus�adas":
He was of the old blue blood of the Peninsula, the Gothic blood, the same that gave birth to Cervantes. He was blond, and bright-haired, with blue eyes, large and lively, the face oval and ruddy -- and in manhood the beard short and rounded, with long untrimmed mustachios -- the forehead high, the nose aquiline; in figure agile and robust; in action 'quick to draw and slow to sheathe,' and when he was young, he writes that he had seen the heels of many, but none had seen his heels. Born about the year 1524, of a noble and well-connected family, educated at Coimbra, a university famous for the classics, and launched in life about the court at Lisbon, he was no sooner his own master than he fell into troubles. (Woodberry 1920, 203-4)
The truth:
I don't know  how to break this to Refuting Racial Myths, but there are no descriptions of Cam�es worthy of any credit. After he wrote his masterpiece "Os Lus�adas", the Portuguese king Sebastian - the homosexual enfant-terrible Arthur Kemp seems to love so much - awarded him a pension of 15,000 Reis (which makes about 40 Reis for each day). On those days, a carpenter used to make around 160 Reis everyday.
That much shows that Cam�es was never given any credit during his lifetime. The common drawing we have of him, was drawn some 30 years after his death. To put it bluntly, we don't know how he looked like, and anyone who says otherwise is lying.
One thing we do know, is that Cam�es was from a modest (yet educated) family and that he had connections to the aristocracy. We also know that his father and his mother fled from Spain in the late XV century... If you haven't guessed it yet, let me explain: it is in fact very likely that Cam�es had Jewish blood. We can't really state it as an absolute truth, because we don't really know much about the man. Here is what a Sephardic site says about Cam�es:
(...)and even the greatest poet Luis Vaz de Cam�es, author of "Os Lus�adas" because his parents also migrated from Spain to Portugal. Were they Jewish ? I think so.
It seems that everyone is trying to claim the Portuguese poet, but at least the Sephardic Jews have something to base their claims on (unlike Refuting Racial Myths).
Refuting Racial Myths writes:
In addition to being Nordic himself, Cam�es subscribed to a Germanic ideal of beauty in the opposite sex.
And who can boast he never felt the fires,
The trembling throbbing of the young desires,
When he beheld the breathing roses glow,
And the soft heavings of the living snow;
The waving ringlets of the golden hair,
And all the rapt'rous graces of the fair?
(Excerpt from Portuguese epic poem "Os Lus�adas")
The truth:
For those of you who haven't been following my clash with Anon in the past few years, let me just say that the only reason why Refuting Racial Myths knows who Cam�es was and what the Lus�adas are, is thanks to me - Anon claimed that the Portuguese had been tainted with slave blood, and I responded by saying that after being supposedly "tainted", Portuguese scholars produced masterpieces such as the mentioned book. That was more than enough for an idiot like Anon to become obsessed with Cam�es.

Cam�es was born at a time when according to Arthur Kemp, Portugal already a bi-racial country. What is amazing (it is actually logical but it will still surprise Refuting Racial Myths' followers) is that our best scientists, writers, artists and physicians, lived for the most part after the Age of Exploration.  
As to the Nordic ideal of beauty, let me teach something to Refuting Racial Myths: it isn't a Nordic ideal of beauty, it is the Venetian ideal of beauty. Venice was the place to be in XVI century Europe. It was sophisticated, rich, and the Venetian courtesans were renowned for their beauty and lack of morals. Since Anon is the kind of guy that needs visual support, I would advise him the movie Dangerous Beauty (A destiny of her own). It clearly explains what I have been saying.
Throughout his life, Cam�es also fell in love with many women from different parts of the world. In the poem "Endechas a B�rbara escrava", Cam�es proclaims his love for a slave (she could be either a Moor or an African woman, one can't really say from what is written in the poem):
Endechas a B�rbara escrava

Aquela cativa
Que me tem cativo,
Porque nela vivo
J� n�o quer que viva.
Eu nunca vi rosa
Em suaves molhos,
Que pera meus olhos
Fosse mais fermosa.

Nem no campo flores,
Nem no c�u estrelas
Me parecem belas
Como os meus amores.
Rosto singular,
Olhos sossegados,
Pretos e cansados,
Mas n�o de matar.

U� gra�a viva,
Que neles lhe mora,
Pera ser senhora
De quem � cativa.
Pretos os cabelos,
Onde o povo v�o
Perde opini�o
Que os louros s�o belos.

Pretid�o de Amor,
T�o doce a figura,
Que a neve lhe jura
Que trocara a cor.
Leda mansid�o,
Que o siso acompanha;
Bem parece estranha,
Mas b�rbara n�o.

Presen�a serena
Que a tormenta amansa;
Nela, enfim, descansa
Toda a minha pena.
Esta � a cativa
Que me tem cativo
E, pois nela vivo,
� for�a que viva.

Luiz de Cam�es		 [Loose translation]

That captive
Who captured me,
Because in her I live
Does not want me to live.
I have never seen [a] rose
In soft bundles,
That [was] to my eyes
More beautiful.

Neither in the field flowers,
Nor in the sky stars
Look to me as beautiful
As my love.
Unique face,
Quiet eyes,
Black and tired,
But not [tired] to die.

A living grace
In her eyes lives
To be the mistress
of the captive.
Black is her hair,
and the people, vain,
loses all reason [in saying that]
Blond is beautiful.

Negritude of Love,
So sweet is her figure,
That the snow could swear
To have changed colour.
Joyous softness,
Accompanied by seriousness;
Odd, to me
But not barbaric.

Serene presence
Tamed by her torment;
In her, alas, rests
All my sorrow.
This is the captive
Who captivated me
And, for I in her live,
Is the strength to live by.
While Refuting Racial Myths finds a hole to hide himself, it should be noted that in this last poem dedicated to a slave girl, Cam�es describes her black skin (somewhat relative, since the North Africans were also considered "black"), her dark eyes, and her black hair. Even more important, is the part where Cam�es says that the people is foolish for believing that blond hair is more beautiful than black hair. Nordic ideal of beauty? I don't think so...

Cam�es was a poet who was constantly falling in love with all sorts of women. His romantic, emotional and wandering nature actually has a lot more to do with a Latin man, than with a Nordic one.
Once again Refuting Racial Myths exposed his ignorance. I will use the chance to type a link to a page from the Instituto Cam�es, which hosts the biography, the works, and everything else one would need to know about the poet.
Refuting Racial Myths writes:
Keeping in mind the above, it becomes somewhat irrelevant to racial readings of history whether all Portugal's Negroid blood was introduced as a result of the Atlantic slave trade, or if, as seems likely, Negroid genes had also previously entered Portugal during the Neolithic. Some would suggest that Portugal sank to the sorry state we find it in today as a result of the Germanic-descended elite being absorbed into the Negroid-mixed Mediterranean masses.
The truth:
Yes, the Iberian populations received most of their Negroid genes during the Neolithic. If Refuting Racial Myths refers to himself and to Arthur Kemp as some, so be it. No scholars would agree with either of them. If he wants to search for the causes of the decay of the Portuguese empire, I would suggest him a few history books concerning this period of time. Maybe he would then be able to read about the English and Dutch pirates, about the Methwen treaty, or about the relationship that England had with Portugal from the XVII century onwards.
Or maybe I will just use the opportunity to quote a few paragraphs from a book I read recently. The book is called Rodrigues, the interpreter. It is the biography of the XVI century Portuguese Jesuit Jo�o Rodrigues. This amazing individual would write the first studies of the Japanese language, meet the most important people in XVI and early XVII century Japan, be praised by the Chinese emperor himself, and accomplish many other things throughout his life - a life which clearly deserved to be put on film. From Michael Cooper's book, I found an interesting paragraph about the Dutch and English pirates that were trying to storm the Portuguese city of Macao in 1622 (be reminded that Portugal had an alliance with England since 1383, but that never stopped them from raiding our colonies):
pag 352

"However, when a Dutch fleet of 13 sails [ships], accompanied by the English ships Palsgrave and Bull approached Macao in the 21 of June of 1622, the invading force had all the reasons to be optimistic about the imminent assault. In the morning of the 24, eight hundred men disembarked covered by a naval bombardment and curtain of smoke, and their first attack on the beach received a weak resistance. But the Dutch soon endured an unexpected setback when a random shot wounded their commander, who was forced to be removed from the frontline. This set back was followed by another shot, equally accidental, fired by the Italian Jesuit Giacomo Rho who was in charge of the artillery of the fortress of the S. Paulo hill. That shot hit a gunpowder barrel, and the subsequent explosion caused heavy losses amongst the invaders. At this time the defence forces composed by Portuguese soldiers, citizens of Macao and black slaves, assisted by the Jesuits and the friars, performed a decisive counter-attack which killed the Dutch commanding officer and disorganised the Dutch frontline, soon followed by a full retreat towards the ships. In the heat of the battle, the Jesuit Adam Schall, later made famous for his astronomical work in Peking, threw himself over a Dutch officer and captured him. In the end, only half a dozen Portuguese was killed in the defence of the city, while the Dutch losses added to three hundred dead, many captured officers and the loss of all their artillery. (...)"

pag 356

"But the danger of future attacks couldn't be ignored, and the city remained as vulnerable to the invasion as previously. Jer�nimo Rodrigues was sent to the Philippines in 1623, to obtain a new shipment of cannons. In what concerns the defences of the city, the citizens started reinforcing several fortified areas, as recommended by the monarch and by the governor Francisco de Mascarenhas, having started the construction of a strong fortress. (...) There had been given guarantees to the Chinese authorities by a Christian mandarin who visited the city, Dr Miguel (Chang Wen-tao), that the fortresses were destined to be used solely against the red-haired or yellow-haired men, but the Chinese were nevertheless alarmed."
As it can be easily understood, the average Portuguese of the Age of Exploration was neither "red-haired" nor "yellow-haired". Where they "mixed race" like Arthur Kemp claims? If they were, they were still brave enough to defeat a superior force of Northern European pirates.
I really think that it is time for Refuting Racial Myths to stop addressing countries he doesn't know anything about. It is uncomfortable to expose him for what he is - ignorant - but it would be even more uncomfortable to  allow this sort of racist garbage roam unchecked.
Refuting Kemp
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