A user on Twitter asked the following question:
The short answer is no.
Let me put this in real-world terms. I know someone who believes Mexicans are lazy, not because of biological essentialism, but because their “culture” is lazy. That Black people’s high imprisonment rates are because their “culture” is belligerent & criminal.
If you say Drow aren’t born evil but their culture is evil, you’re just replacing biological essentialism w/ cultural racism. Can a nation push harmful ideals? Absolutely. But is the whole culture evil? Maybe aspects of the culture have been twisted to evil (any culture can be). Maybe the Drow nation or leadership is pushing harmful, “evil” policies. But that shouldn’t be implied as culturally indicative of all Drow. To label the race’s entire culture as “evil” mirrors an IRL euphemistic racist justification.
What about saying the Drow nation is evil, referring to the political power structure? It’s still a drastic oversimplification that perpetuates harmful stereotypes. We can do better & still keep things simple enough for a game.
For example: Here’s a napkin-sketch for replacing Drow-as-evil (without tackling the obvious colorism in the race as written):
- State religion: Cult of Lolth
- Societal Structure: Matriarchal
- Values: Family loyalty, personal achievement
- Enemies: Dwarven kingdoms, Deep Gnomes
Now, Drow as-written need to be reworked entirely (they shouldn’t be a literal representation of dark-skin as a curse, to start), but this is my 3-minute sketch of how D&D could quickly & clearly describe a nation (not a race) without the alignment descriptor at all.
This is why we need to educate ourselves on RL historical racism. Replacing “race” with “culture” isn’t a new idea. It’s been used to justify enslavement, colonization, and genocide, even by people who didn’t believe in biological essentialism.
So no, having “evil cultures” isn’t a fix for fantasy racism. An evil cult? Fine. A destructive, militant nation? Go for it (unpack it first*).
But an “evil culture”? That’s just a euphemism and doesn’t fix jack.
*By which I mean look at whether your nation is an analogue for a real-world group, at what stereotypes you’re perpetuating, give the nation dissenters & rebels, imagine what the society might look at if a different group was in power, etc.