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Hmm ... my take on this ..
No such thing as *race*, just country of origin, and religious background.
In the end, if you believe in what has happened for thousands of years, we must have all come from the same source.
Hmmm... and my take on this is that the term "race" is a misnomer. And I agree that homo sapiens originated on the African continent. However that development of modern man took place about 200,000 years ago. And considering that human beings are just animals, we are still evolving. So naturally, there are some genetic differences between the word groups of people due to geography, climate and environmental circumstances. Look at all the different dog and horse breeds. They can still all intermingle their genes and breed, but there are distinct differences in appearance and other traits.
But for the most part, all human beings have more in common than being different. And as to varying brain and muscule capacity between all the groups of human beings, we all only use a mere fraction of our brain power and most of us never push out bodies to our physical limits, so those differences are not important.
As to all human beings being mutts, it really depends on a person's historical heritage. For instance, a lot of mixings happened during the Ancient Greek and Roman campaign conquests. Anytime one aggressive human group bullied another one, they tended to subdue or kill off the males of the weaker group and then breed with their women. And some groups of human beings were more nomadic than others, and mixed with the other peoples along their travel route. But if a group was isolated due to extreme geography for many centuries or thousands of years (Australian aborigines, certain African tribes, Eskimos, Native Americans, most Asian groups), then for all intents and purposes, those groups are purer in genetic makeup.
Anyway, in terms of frictions between various diverse groups of human beings, they seem (to me) to be more due to the result of cultural and/or religious differences, national pride or remembered past conflicts, or fights over limited resources (clean water, arable land, jobs) and NOT due to the colours of their skin.
miu, good point in the last line. I agree. Race is generally an ideal of culture and religion, at least as it is sensationalized by the news (shiite muslims just being one example you hear a lot lately).
Anyway, in terms of frictions between various diverse groups of human beings, they seem (to me) to be more due to the result of cultural and/or religious differences, national pride or remembered past conflicts, or fights over limited resources (clean water, arable land, jobs) and NOT due to the colours of their skin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JBMallory
miu, good point in the last line. I agree. Race is generally an ideal of culture and religion, at least as it is sensationalized by the news (shiite muslims just being one example you hear a lot lately).
These are good points. Because America is so racialized, I think that it is instructive to think about this issue in that context. Before the 19th century, religion and language were commonly used to identify groups. However, after the 19th century physical characteristics became the defining feature. Thus, it became the belief that physical characterictics and behavior somehow created human differences. Although these physical characteristics were arbitrary, they still became defining features of what we now describe as race. If you look at the history of America, then you can see how these differences in physical characteristics have taken on a powerful social meaning. Race is still a social construct. However, the outcome of this construction (i.e., racism) is very real.
When it comes down to it, it doesn't matter what you think, it only matters what the gov't agencies think who set the guidelines for determining the definition. Based on US gov't guidelines, there are 5 relevant races: White, Black, Asian, American Indian, and Pacific Islander (pretty much all based on geographical origin). You can also be more than one of these.
In addition, you can have the ethnicity of Hispanic/Latino - basically a person of Spanish culture or origin, that is separate from the race.
I'm sure everyone has a legitimate claim to what race/ethnicity means, but ultimately it's what the gov't dictates what these categories are and how they are used.
Wikipedia will explain exactly what is a race. It is exactly the same as a Subspecies, the word zoologists now use in order to avoid receiving death threats in the mail.
In zoology, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (4th edition, 1999) accepts only one rank below that of species, namely this rank of subspecies or race.
Criteria
Members of one subspecies differ morphologically or by different coding sequences of a peptide from members of other subspecies of the species. Subspecies are defined in relation to species.
If the two groups do not interbreed because of something intrinsic to their genetic make-up (perhaps green frogs do not find red frogs sexually attractive, or they breed at different times of year) then they are different species.
If, on the other hand, the two groups would interbreed freely provided only that some external barrier were removed (perhaps there is a waterfall too high for frogs to scale, or the populations are far distant from one another) then they are subspecies. Other factors include differences in mating behavior or time and ecological preferences such as soil content.
Note that the distinction between a species and a subspecies depends only on the likelihood that in the absence of external barriers the two populations would merge back into a single, genetically unified population. It has nothing to do with 'how different' the two groups appear to be to the human observer.
These are good points. Because America is so racialized, I think that it is instructive to think about this issue in that context. Before the 19th century, religion and language were commonly used to identify groups. However, after the 19th century physical characteristics became the defining feature. Thus, it became the belief that physical characterictics and behavior somehow created human differences. Although these physical characteristics were arbitrary, they still became defining features of what we now describe as race. If you look at the history of America, then you can see how these differences in physical characteristics have taken on a powerful social meaning. Race is still a social construct. However, the outcome of this construction (i.e., racism) is very real.
I read an interesting article today about an Italian research study where they mapped the brain activity of people while they were watching videos where a hand was hurt with a needle or gently touched with a fluffy q tip. They tested whites and Africans and found that when racists of either race were watching hands of the opposite skin color being hurt with the needle, their brains showed strongly reduced empathy as opposed to hands of their own skin color being hurt. With hands whose color was hidden by applying a pink filter the empathy was not reduced, obviously the brain thinks it is better to feel empathy just in case the person being hurt is of one's own race.
The same phenomenon, i.e. strongly reduced or absent empathy is commonly observed in psychopaths (independent of the race issue).
Originally, three races were identified: Aryan. light colored people or white, of which the Brahmans of India belonged to, Mongolian, which were the people of ancient China and the Mongols, and the Black race, which includes red people, from deep in the depths of Africa.
The caste system of India was much created around these races.
Yes, race was derived from color in ancient history. We may feel pressured to be politically correct and say, race is language or whatever but the truth is race was derived from color in ancient history
Originally, three races were identified: Aryan. light colored people or white, of which the Brahmans of India belonged to, Mongolian, which were the people of ancient China and the Mongols, and the Black race, which includes red people, from deep in the depths of Africa.
The caste system of India was much created around these races.
Yes, race was derived from color in ancient history. We may feel pressured to be politically correct and say, race is language or whatever but the truth is race was derived from color in ancient history
The caste system in India originally was much like the old European estates of the realm, based on professions (warriors, farmers, etc.), not on race. There was even the possibility of changing one's caste, but it all got perverted into racism as Hinduism evolved.
CASTE AND RACE IN INDIA (http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/caste.html - broken link)
To Neuling
the above is an African site, and fits well with what I was taught in school
The caste system in India was originally based on race After the Aryan tribes invasion of the Shudras (black skinned), this racial caste was developed. This caste system regulated language, professions, and many other aspects of social life. The Aryans were on the top of the caste, the mixed races were in the middle and the Shudras or blacks were at the bottom rung.
Where did you get your information that the caste had nothing to do with color?
Last edited by tinynot; 05-30-2010 at 02:35 AM..
Reason: added who I was directing my post to
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