Science: No Such Thing as Race!

Science says that our idea of Race is total BS... Now... Can we just get on with life without all the crazy racial divide? If we HAVE to judge someone, which we all do, we can just call it as we see it instead of using race as a factor or argument.

"One of the traits that most people would associate with race – skin colour – is a terrible classifier," geneticist Sarah Tishkoff from Penn University told The Atlantic. "The study really discredits the idea of a biological construct of race. There are no discrete boundaries between groups that are consistent with biological markers."

- Source

There you have it folks... There is no such thing as race. You can't be racist if there is no such thing as race. What we are is simply prejudice. The funny thing is, prejudice applies to EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Colors, tastes, smells, types, languages, mindsets, religions and the list goes on.

Maybe this is something that should be taught in schools. Sorry Jimmy, there is no such thing as race! It's just a skin color.

Oh about skin color... It was widely believed and argued that everyone was once black and the various colors went from there. This may not be so.

The team's hypothesis is that some of the skin-lightening variants, including those around HERC2 and OCA2, may have arisen in Africa almost a million years ago, before being spread to Europe and Asia.

If they're right, that means our ancient ancestors might not have had dark skin, but lighter skin, before adapting to new conditions.

All prejudice aside, it's actually a pretty interesting article. It's pretty up front with what we as an intellectual human 'race' should have understood and accepted since the beginning of reason. I suppose the word race would only differentiate between humans and various animal species.

Screw it... Let's just level the playing field across all planes of existence... Let's just call it all 'LIFE'.

There are biological differences in bone structures, etc. How do you think they can tell race by the skull and other things, when a bones are found?

We all have our differences. Celebrate that. In the end though we are not so different, on a cosmic level.

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You're missing the point. It's doesn't define race. It defines differences. What you are noting is the exact same thing that determines if you might end up with cancer or heart disease. Genetics... Something you pass down to your child and so forth.

I think what we define as Race is just localize environmental adaptations. As humans settle in certain areas we adapt to it through genetic selections. We look different, our physique and other abilities might be affect by it. But in the end, it matters little since technology is making the world smaller and smaller and humans will become more homogenized.

Race is and always has been more a social and political concept than a scientific one.

The fact that it had no real basis in genetics will not in anyway stop racists bring racist.

Mehhhh....

India has 23 races and 36 nations.
they all hate each other with passion.

originally posted by: ScepticScot
Race is and always has been more a social and political concept than a scientific one.

The fact that it had no real basis in genetics will not in anyway stop racists bring racist.

exactly. it's all well and good to say that technically the concept is bogus, but that doesn't lead directly to 'therefore no one can be racist so we can just stop talking about it'. there's still problems that need to be fixed because of people's leveraging their power to enforce their prejudices.

that said, i'm all for teaching the kids how much BS racism is, early on. my mom did and i think it was a good thing.

originally posted by: StallionDuck
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You're missing the point. It's doesn't define race. It defines differences. What you are noting is the exact same thing that determines if you might end up with cancer or heart disease. Genetics... Something you pass down to your child and so forth.

I don't mean to be rude, but this sounds like a game of semantics when you say:

It's doesn't define race. It defines differences.

The 'differences' became labeled as race. Now that 'race' is a hotbed term, you/they wish to drop the label, yet admit that the differences still exist. I don't understand how it actually changes anything?

What we need is for people to not belittle others for their differences, with or without the term race coming into play.

It's not about race, it's about culture.

I've always believed that the entire concept of race is crap. Sure there are physical differences between people, but where do you make the distinction between someone being black, or white, or asian, etc? I know white people who have darker skin than some black people, and I know black people with more asian looking eyes than some asians I know. Everyone is somewhere on the spectrum of human traits, and trying to make an arbitrary decision as to where 'white' ends and 'black' starts, or any other variation of racial delineation, is completely absurd.

The REAL fight in our country (USA) right now is NOT about race, it's about CULTURE. We have 2 cultures in this country right now: Mainstream American Culture, and what Thomas Sowell (one of the great black intellectuals of our time) refers to as the 'Black Redneck Culture'. Black people and white people generally get along just fine in this country, it's just this certain sub-culture of blacks that are often in conflict with the rest of the country. This is the sub-culture of blacks that mostly reside in the inner-cities that glorifies violence and eschews education, among other cultural traits that go against typical mainstream American cultural traits. These traits are NOT racist in nature, they are purely cultural.

You can have a melting pot of race, that is never an issue, it's when you start to have conflicting cultures within the same country that you begin to have problems. You cannot have a country with two separate and distinct cultures, and expect peace and prosperity forever. At some point, the minority culture is going to have to assimilate into the mainstream, or you're going to end up with some very, very big problems.

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
There are biological differences in bone structures, etc. How do you think they can tell race by the skull and other things, when a bones are found?

There is only one race and we all belong to it: Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

Bones can show traits that relate to large population groups: a Chinese man and a Finnish man may have slightly different skulls, but they are both Homo Sapiens. Bone structure only shows adaptation to different environments.

Races have no biological basis, and the more are aware of this, the better, as racism has always relied on the fake belief that race is biology. And it's not.

It's like the science of climate change, more a matter of perspective than actual science.

I tend to see only the human race with varying degrees of ignorance within it.

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
There are biological differences in bone structures, etc. How do you think they can tell race by the skull and other things, when a bones are found?

We all have our differences. Celebrate that. In the end though we are not so different, on a cosmic level.

The point is, you can't pick a combination of attributes that are consistent across the racial demographic. Race as a classification has no basis.

a reply to: ausername

I see you don't understand the science of climate change.

a reply to: StallionDuck

At least copulation has proven we are all members of the same species!

originally posted by: StallionDuck
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You're missing the point. It's doesn't define race. It defines differences. What you are noting is the exact same thing that determines if you might end up with cancer or heart disease. Genetics... Something you pass down to your child and so forth.

What about sickle cell anemia ?

originally posted by: Agartha

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
There are biological differences in bone structures, etc. How do you think they can tell race by the skull and other things, when a bones are found?

There is only one race and we all belong to it: Homo Sapiens Sapiens.


Races have no biological basis

tell that to every government form ever existed...

race is defined differently to every one from what an anthropologist may give as a definition, because it is two different things.

yes we are all of the human race, but we have a second definition of race. basically the color of one's skin.

this wouldn't be the first time there are 2 different meanings to a word.
to generalize is just circumnavigation of our issues with race... so yes there is a scientific definition of race in the animal kingdom (which includes hominids), and there is another definition which helps us identify ethnicity...

originally posted by: bananashooter
What about sickle cell anemia ?

What about it? Sickle cell anemia is an evolutionary adaptation that makes carriers poor hosts for the malaria virus.

It affects people in Africa, India, Middle East, Mediterranean etc.

originally posted by: bananashooter

originally posted by: StallionDuck
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

You're missing the point. It's doesn't define race. It defines differences. What you are noting is the exact same thing that determines if you might end up with cancer or heart disease. Genetics... Something you pass down to your child and so forth.

What about sickle cell anemia ?

Ummm...what about it...?
I have a version of it...where my red blood cells are kind of folded over...are poor at oxygen saturation...and...break down 20 to 30 days earlier than the norm...

I'm one of those privileged white boys...who just happens to have some aboriginal North American ancestry to boot...



YouSir

Then why do all different colored people act/live so different?

I disagree with "science".

originally posted by: Jefferton
Then why do all different colored people act/live so different?

I disagree with "science".

This thing called "culture". But disagree with reality you want, I guess.