- Joined
- Jun 4, 2020
I feel obligated to point out that this is not a real phenomenon in actual Norse history. The source is Gautreks saga, which contains a comedic story about a family of people who'd rather kill themselves than lose net worth. Before the family patriarch, Skafnörtungr (literally "bark-eater", i.e. miser), throws himself off the ættestupor (ättestupa, literally "the family cliff"), he asks his children to not procreate so that they can keep the inheritance for themselves.Eldercide, voluntary or otherwise, has been around in cultures going far back - the Vikings called it Ättestupa, for instance.
This story was translated to more modern Swedish in the 17th century and it captured the imaginations of many people. Including severe autists.
I see it as the equivalent of a future historian looking at a Scrooge McDuck comic and thinking that this says something real about life in capitalist America.
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