I had some thoughts and wondered if there were rational people who would like to discuss them? 1) Race is not real. I hear my friends in Singapore say they are Chinese-Singaporean. What does this mean? I become a Chinese citizen - am I now Chinese? If I'm Caucasian can I be Chinese? My Japan friend said she was not Asian but Japanese? Should I say I’m German-American? But wait I speak English and have English culture (ie: Bill of Rights) - then should I have said English-American? What would an English person make of that! Or hey Caucasian-American? Or better I'm a Cauc-Asian. The same holds for the words Arab and Jew. People seem to think they denote different races? First off Judaism is just another religion not a race. I know Asian Jews. Let me repeate I know "Asian" Jews Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ((see above for paradox/conundrum)) To be a Jew is to be the child of a Mother who is Jewish? Can I be an Atheisitc Jew? Jew is NOT a race label but a religious label. What is an Arab? Is there a DNA code for it? Is it more than 0.000001% different than the DNA of a person that is of the Jewish faith? There is no such thing as a race. 2) It’s not unheard of for an Arab to say that "the Jews/Israelis are invading "their" counties". Whose counties? When did they become "their" countires? By that logic all Arabs should leave Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, etc.. and go back to Arabia. Maybe the Assyrians and Kurds can have Iraq back .,.,. with NO Arabs in Iraq? Is that right? What is? Might makes right? If might makes right then maybe Amercians (of all races) should now own Iraq? If might does not make right then leave Iraq to the Assyrians (any Hittite takers left?) Iraq is a made-up country - it was made by the English drawing lines on a map. 3) The "zionist" Jews should leave Israel to the Palestinians?Should the non-aboriginals leave Australia? How about the Chinese leave Taiwan to the Aboriginal Taiwanese? How about the Chinese leave Singapore to Malaysians? Oh I got one: we should genetic test all Japanese sending the ones that have DNA like the average DNA in a Korean to Korea and likewise to Mongolia leaving the all of present day Japanese islands to the Ainu! 4) Can you see the logic in the notion that Tibet will eventually be Tibetan and not Chinese? My Chinese friends think that is foolish for me to say. In 500 years we’ll see who’s foolish. The only way to ultimately take the land off another people seems to breed them out (Japan) wipe them out (Tasmania) fight them out (Israel) or give it back (Lebanon). I wonder what will happen in the Middle East? 5) How many times have I heard: “We have a great an ancient culture unlike the Americans”? America has the oldest constitution still in use. So when you define culture you better leave out government completely – as if rulers could be divorced from culture. Roma with no mention of the Republic? Second, Native Americans (incidentally Inuit are decedents of the Ainu so they get the Islands of Japan and all of the Americas) have a culture before recorded time – they don’t count? What about the Australian Aboriginals 50000 year history. Do they count? Just some thougths
I'm not sure exactly where you are going and what you want to discuss. That may of course be related to the fact that I'm sipping my 3rd JW Black on the rocks, but I'll wait for some other comments so that I can see where this goes. At any rate, welcome aboard.
I am cuban, polish, and english. On my english side I also have Italian (roman), scottish, Irish, French (eew), and norse. On my cuban side I have spanish and moor. On my polish side I have russian, french, germanic, and mongol. IM A MUT! The nazis would put me down in an instant and that makes me proud.
Well, i could go on about isolation and allopatric speciation, but then again, i dont think i will be heard.
I'm just some cracker with no clue. I like it like that. Race IS an illusion. At least it's stupid that it ever is considered as important. I would say though, that most prejudice is based on the culture, not the race.. it's just that people of the same culture and race seem to be the same people. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Thusly because people are of a certain race, the associaed culture is judged and thusly the person is judged as shitty because they are of an inferior culture. It's just stupid. Everyone has a subjective experience. It's cool to draw generalizations, but to attempt to apply them to an individual can only be justified in terms of being precautionary, not accusational. For instance if I were beat to near death by random purple people on a daily basis for a year, I'd be stupid if I didn't think "I'd better pay attention so I can flee if this person tries to hurt me." when I saw a purple person. I would be simply WRONG if I were to attack or change my ethical relationship to them because of it.
People here is a priori, and is not a constant. There is no such thing as souls responsible for experiential consciousness.
When they feel threatened, the chimps band together and shriek at their fierce foe. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Race is merely a tool to benefit a few people, just like all other divisions. Chances are, if someone isn't in your imediate family, then they aren't more genetically similar to you than anyone else. We are such a young species, and very mobile too. Chimps have been around long enough to have minor differences between distant populations, but humans are not even close.
I think most people would agree that race is an illusion. What got me thinking about this was the 3-week war in Iraq and the hatred/distrust between various peoples in the Middle East. To me race (together w/ religion) play a significant role in that hatred (really people everywhere). It seems to be human nature to take an “us – vs – them” stance. For some I guess it makes them feel better about their sad-selves. I’m not belly-lint but part of something! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in another country only to run into a fellow American running that country down. I always wonder – why did you leave the USA? And could you go back? It’s usually takes the form of: “this place sucks, no one speaks ‘American’, we’re greater for bla bla bla”. I sometimes say ‘we’ who? What have ‘you’ done? I assume this sort of reasoning lends itself well to race and also religion. So the reason for post was to ask some questions and look at some examples of where the “race” thing brings us. I’d say many of us would agree that race is an illusion . . . . as for religion, well that’ll be a tough meme to crack!
Here is a propostion: how about instead of working to ensure homo sapiens stays a single unit (are you a gene thief?), how about we work to increase isolation, and thus give new recessive genes the chance to be expressed in these sub-groups, as after all, new mutations, the primary driving force behind new characteristics, are nearly always recessive. Are you a soldier for a black planet? And why? View things in terms of objective consequences, instead of throwing loaded terms like prejudice, etc. Would you sacrifice the diversity of mankind on the altar of your own phenotype being regarded as moral as regarding a priori assertions which you probably do not have the courage to question? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Race is very real. This doesn't mean racism is not stupid. But why pretend there are no races? If mohamed ali could still throw a punch he would throw one in your directionPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! What does this have to do with politics?
I didn't say anything like that. You don't know much about Mohammed Ali do you? (I wish I could spell his namePlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!)
You damn homo-erectus bastards, us neanderthalis are vastly superior Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Race must be climatic influenced. Monotheists believe that we are all the decendants of adam. So we all started as one race....what else could have caused the racial variations in humans that exist today.
It is my understanding that there are only three races. Caucasion, Oriental and Negro. There is no Chinese race, or Jewish race, or master race, or... Many of us are a mixture of these three and so can claim to be multi racial, but still, there are only three races.
I was very surprised when I came to the US at 17 and was told to check my race as caucasian or white....My parents are Egyptians. I understand Indians are also caucasians??
Initially it was believed that a group of Africans migrated to Europe and become white. They went as far as India. Those in India didn't turn white, but people call them Caucasian nevertheless. But later people found out they went as far as China and later couple families migrated to North America and become Indians, it doesn't make sense to called Chinese or Indian "Caucasian" because racial distinction is no longer necessarily. We all come from Africa afterall.
