Catagorisations

This has been a long standing concern of mine
just what does it mean to be "racist" in a world where different NATIONALITIES and ETHNIC groups become races...
and what is the purpose of naming a group of individuals something when it says little about their race or ethnic group and vice versa
example
A Mexican in the US is termed "Hispanic" or in the colloquial "Brown"
WTF? brown how is that a racial classification? and how would anyone group Sammy Sosa of the Dominican Republic as Hispanic or Latino (ethnic grouping probably) when he is clearly a African Descent individual.
so Hugo Chavez (considered a "Hispanic or Latino") and Sammy Sosa, and Sophia Vergara (google this beauty) and Salma Hayak are all considered in the same "racial" group yet only share a similar ethnic character, there is no racial commonalities here (except maybe Vergara and Salma)

and how is Jewish a racial designation? when a person of Jewish faith can come from anywhere on the planet as well as how is Muslim a racial type? Indonesia and Malaysia have the fastest growing Muslim populations around and they are not the "classic" version of the Muslim which the governments have created a paranoia about.

I grew up and there were simple characterizations of Race (Asian/Oceanic/Caucasian/African) Yes a mixed few exist and there are blended area and populations but even there a bias towards one type exists... and Ethnicity was a characteristic of the person not what they were but who they were.
What is wrong with the world

[edit on 26-5-2008 by fiorano]

reply to post by fiorano


People usually say "racist" when they mean "xenophobic", which instantly clears up most of your issues.

Your desire to try to group people together, however, will take more work

i don't wish to group
i was pointing out what I have seen and experienced.
A national type of identity is the best way to go i feel (if you must label a group of people)
not broad sweeping terms based on phenotype and or religious practice which rarely go together perfectly or are even consistent in groups