Not everything was better in the past

Every now and then, something appears on this blog that doesn’t have much to do with digitalization or IT. Today, for example.

Robinson Crusoe vs. your password

February 1 is Change Your Password Day. Or Robinson Crusoe Day. Which one do we want to celebrate? A brief reflection full of cynicism and irony – just to pass the time if you have nothing to do at the weekend…

I know it’s hard to come up with a new password every year that has upper and lower case letters and numbers and special characters (but not the wrong ones) and is long enough for you to forget it quickly and get annoyed. Of course, if you do it right, you have to change the password for every account and every page and they must not be similar or even repeated. That quickly adds up to a few dozen, doesn’t it? But that’s why we all use a password manager and have stored a secure password ourselves. But where actually? And since when? Do I perhaps need to create a new one? Oh no.

1/3 Robinson

I can understand why people might want to celebrate Robinson Crusoe Day on this date, given the strenuous nature of the task. But how much do we actually know about what they celebrate there?

Daniel Defoe ‘s novel from 1719 still projects a glorified view of colonialism and the slave trade, the inherent racism and the system of violence of the 18th century. And I bet you that you only have the third part of the novel in mind, and most probably don’t even know that there are two more parts?
“Robinson Crusoe” was the first novel in adventure literature to deal with the theme of a person stranded on a supposedly desert island and is therefore still considered a classic of the genre today. The term “Robinsonade” stands for just such stories of people stranded somewhere on a desert island. There are now thousands of variations and examples. From the Fed-Ex commercial “Cast Away” to “Lord Of The Flies” and many more.
The novel still shapes many people’s idea of the term “island” today: palm trees, isolation, adventure, and also often vacation, beach, tranquillity and exoticism are associated with the term. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but it has little to do with an island like Pellworm, for example. And, of course, there have long been business people who have taken up this longing fantasy of pale Europeans and offer “Robinson Cruises”, “Robinson Club” and the “Robinson Crusoe Islands” for the modern colonialist.

World view from the 18th century

Many people only know the last part of Robinson Crusoe: Shipwreck, Island, Friday. But the story begins much earlier. Robinson had an extremely flexible relationship with morality – at least when it came to others. The fact that People of Color (PoC) were enslaved seemed to bother him little. When he himself briefly found himself in this “unpleasant” situation (a disgrace for a white Christian!), he took flight. In doing so, he throws one of his helpers into the sea and conveniently hands the other over to the Portuguese when he is rescued – as merchandise, of course. Robinson later runs a plantation in Brazil. Slaves are needed, bureaucracy is a nuisance – so he travels to Guinea to get supplies. However, fate has adventurous plans for him: another shipwreck, another desert island. For three decades, he defies nature and rules over his small empire – until he meets a tribe that he simply calls “savages”.

Author and hero – one heart and one colonial ideology

Robinson saves one of these “savages” from the others and generously christens him “Friday”. Why learn the real name? Friday is supposedly grateful for his new role as a submissive servant. Robinson trains him right away: new identity, new task – and no room for his own language or culture.
Daniel Defoe obviously thought similarly. A staunch supporter of colonialism, he held shares in companies that made their money from slavery. At the same time, he wrote economic writings in which he recommended exploiting colonies to the maximum – before other European powers did. A true visionary.

Password vs. Robinson

Perhaps Robinson Crusoe Day should therefore not only be used to dream of adventures and heroic struggles for survival. Instead, it would be a good opportunity to become aware of the racist prejudices and colonialist thought patterns that lie dormant in this story – and which, whether we like it or not, still live on unconsciously in many people’s minds today.

From this perspective, “RobinsonCrusoe*!719” is at best a suitable password 😊