Originally posted by masqua
Thanks for all the positive replies.

I seriously doubted that anyone would actually disagree with the OP and those that do would be very slow to publicly say so. That's a good sign, imho.



Kiwifoot... thanks for linking into your thread to make a point.

People would be surprised if they ever had a genetic blood test done. They would likely find that their distant relatives had all skin colours covered.

Pidgeon holes are for pidgeons, not people.

No probs mate, in my thread I'm a bit appalled, the guys who are showing ignorance are getting starred, and those pleading tollerance aren't.

It's funny, in a place like ATS, you'd think we'd find more open minded and aware people, but I guess even bigots believe in UFOs and stuff!

Peace mate.

They say that in a few thousand years almost all humans will be 7 feet tall and have light brown- brown skin.

That's what I heard. Of course it depends on certain factors.

[edit on 5-6-2009 by star in a jar]

If it makes you feel better to know that the entire planet is one race, than so be it. But the fact is that we coexist with multiple "races" whatever the definition of that word may be. Scientifically we are not one race exactly. We are different sub parts of the human race, different and the same.

You could then argue that we are all the same, everything in the universe exactly the same, because we came from the same thing. Sure, this is true, but just because something orginated from same thing, doesn't mean it will always be the same exact thing.

We are genetically different, and the same. If you, or the world, is not mature enough to live and coexist in harmony with multiple 'races' because this implies in the immature mind that one must be superior to the other, than so be it.

In the end though, we are all one, on whatever scale.

I'm sitting here lurking/posting occasionally and it starts to become clear to me just what race is all about.Race for all intent and purposes is the the way we feel about our history and ancestors.I think that people get mad at racist comments because it's like talking about someones mother.By the same token if I were to write that black and white are the two major races The Hispanics would be up in arms for being left out, so there is a pride in ones race that is undeniable.Why do all the butt kissers feel its necessary to tell other people how great they are?, is it guilt?I am a white proud man and if that somehow diminishes you as a black brown yellow or red man/woman well that's to bad.I certainly did not invent racism but I don't see whats wrong with it ,we have favorite baseball teams favorite animals favorite cars favorite religions favorite foods to think for one second we wouldn't have a favorite race(our own) is naive. By the way I always believed there were three major races Negroid Caucasoid and mongoloid,now that is what I was taught in school so take that for what its worth.Proud Caucasoid does not mean negroid or mongoloid hater I just love my myself

I do have a question about this. It may sound racist but it is not meant to be. It's just one of those cases where 'you won't know if you don't ask.' It stems from some information in the works of Darwin, who did indeed have some rather blatantly racist material in his writings.

Basically, according to evolution and biology, all creatures have different subspecies, breeds, etc. So why is it we can accept that for every other life form on earth but our own?

That always made me curious how we're very quick to categorize every single other species on earth but when it comes to humans, we hear the 'we are but one race, the human race' from the very same people?

And by that, Masqua, I don't specifically mean you. It's more of a scientific question, I suppose, to biologists and evolutionists. I definitely do not believe any particular race is superior to another personally but I suppose I've always felt it to be a bit hypocritical of humans to classify everything else but suddenly become politically correct when it comes to human classifications of race according to an evolutionary standpoint.

The above may sound like a silly question, even juvenile and simple minded, but it always made me curious and I thought I'd at least ask. I've never been able to adequately answer that question.

Classifying and defining by superiority is definitely wrong. But is there some factual/scientific basis to racial classifications of physical attributes? Very interesting thread.

[edit on 6/5/2009 by AshleyD]

A general comment, to no one in particular:

(Though it was a thought triggered by AshleyD's post)

Actually, Masqua touched on it in response to SkyFloating. Has anyone mentioned 'speciation'? Because, in all the various discussions there are usually things pointed out that are slight physical variations, and of course great ethnic/cultural differences....but, really the defining aspect of our species is that we, no matter what we look like, we can interbreed. This alone defines all Humans as belonging to one 'race'...better word is 'species'.

Example in the wild: Chimpanzees, our nearest "cousins" from an evolutionary standpoint belong to the ape family...(we do too, BTW) but, just because I used the words "cousins" and 'family', it should not cause people to react negatively. "Cousins" in this sense does not denote familial connections between us and chimps. It is more a way to understand the classifications of groups, that I used, to define species that are very close, but have diverged. Biologists have far more technical terms and definitions.

My point is, although the apes are close, and have certain undeniable simularities, they are speciated. This occurs at the cellular, and DNA levels, between species.

Another poster brought in a UT link to a great, great series titled "The Journey of Man"....I highly recommend it for understanding the nature of OUR species.

And animals that humans have domesticated are usually pointed out as examples to counter evolution...but, outward appearances and physical characteristic differences aside, those species are all one. Again, because they can produce viable offspring. It was OUR interference in normal natural selection pressures that produce domesticated varietal differences in these animals.

In a way, we are doing a similar thing to ourselves...selectively 'choosing' what the offspring will look like. Except, in the real world....it's called falling in love.

Oh, there are nightmarish scenarios of "designer babies" and all that, through gene manipulation....eye/hair color, gender....still, those offspring will still be Human, regardless.