your view on "race"

AnTiFreeze3

What exactly is wrong here? It's difficult to draw a conclusion from a vague, poorly written statement.

The Smithsonian unveiled an exhibit last year called RACE: Are We So Different? The main purpose of the exhibit (from what I've read from various blogs and the website of the exhibit itself) is to examine the various factors that have played into the separation of humanity that has been attributed the terminology of race. These range from religion, in the Middle Ages, to the current widespread interpretation of race; mainly skin color and facial appearances.

I don't see how anything that we have discussed thus far contradicts the exhibit at the Smithsonian. Sure, some of us have pointed out that there are slight genetic differences, and how the pigmentation of skin is clearly different for beneficial reasons regarding protection from the sun, but nobody here has expressed any belief that races are different, and some of us wonder if "race" is a word that we should even be using.

I'm mainly just confused about your post. If you were attempting to agree with what has been said so far, then your mentioning of that exhibit fits in very well with the discussion. It's the phrase "something is wrong here" that makes me think that your intentions are elsewhere.

nevere

if i post i'll look like a racist, lmfao

Ryan_m_b

If your information is incorrect and racist then you will yes, if it is the result of credible science then no you wont.

Curious3141

Oh dear, methinks Evo hath spoken too soon.

Ken Natton

This can be a delicate and sensitive subject, but it is very silly if it becomes unmentionable. The only real problem, of course, comes when someone begins with a particular agenda, and builds an interpretation specifically to support that agenda. For anyone asking honest questions with an open mind, it ought to be a subject that can be discussed without offence to anyone. My understanding is that anthropologists are reasonably satisfied with the evidence that today’s population of the world, outside Africa, is descended from a migration from Africa that dates to about 70,000 years ago. That, in evolutionary terms, is a mere blink of an eye, and thus it should not be a surprise that whatever our diversity of appearance, we are all demonstrably the same species, with extremely recent common ancestors. Modern communications that mean that we are now essentially a single world community date so recently that it should also not be a surprise that previous isolation between different populations has been sufficient for the ethnic diversity we observe today to have developed. But this ethnic diversity is very shallow and only a matter of appearance. Those modern communications and the reality of human nature means that those distinctions are already beginning to blur, and it won’t be so long before the very concept of ‘mixed marriage’ will become anachronistic.

There are undoubtedly some things that have to be addressed carefully. One elephant in the room has been the dominance of black people in athletic sprinting events, for example. A recent program on British television, presented by the black American athlete Michael Johnson, considered opinions from geneticists that suggested that the harsh realities of the transportation of slaves from Africa to America meant that survivors had a tendency to be those with high testosterone levels. There is therefore a credible possibility that this has lead to a high proportion of people with higher than the mean levels of testosterone among the black population of the Americas. But it is a vital point that this, by no means constitutes evolution. It is far too short term for that. And again, the way in which modern society works means that concentration of high testosterone levels will tend to re-disperse through the broader population. And it remains equally credible that social differences in lives of the different communities is at least as much of a factor. Whatever may be the case about that, those who seek to suggest that this dominance of black athletes constitutes any kind of evidence of deeper levels of differences between ethnicities are usually motivated by some kind of racist agenda and their arguments are not difficult to refute.

cheahchungyin

When genes get more and more international, hopefully one day the younger generations will forget the meaning of the word 'race'.

Well, the meaning of race? Race cars!! :D

Woopydalan

Call it whatever you want, but it is clear that people in different geographic regions look different from each other in appearance.

crabrol

In my own views, it's all about the genes differ but whatever races you belong we are all the same i.e., have heart to be able to feel things and have mind to be able to think, discover and learn things that will find on earth.

ImaLooser

It is possible to determine race through DNA tests, examining hair, etc.

Some people seem to think that they can get the human race to forget the troublesome concept of race. I do not think that they will succeed.

SHISHKABOB

I think it's more like the troublesome concept of "people who are different from you". And people can be different in more ways than just race.

Ryan_m_b

DNA differences amongst populations is not a signifier for "race", that is a social construction.

Evo

Unfortunately the thread went downhill as expected, with citations of two heads of a racist hate group.