Does "race" exist?

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barbad0s

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I bet a bunch of people are itching to have their say on this issue.

Not looking to come to a conclusion on this by creating this thread, just interested in what people have to say. ;) I want to leave this verryyyyy open.

So does "race", or however you want to describe this idea, exist? What is the importance of race? Ethnicity? Culture? Background?

Feel free to share personal stories or whatever you feel you want to talk about.
 
I believe in only one race. Human.

However there are different cultures, and there are pros and cons to each culture. I would say that there is no culture that is better than another culture.
 
Heh. :)

Technically, no. Biologically there is no difference - "race" is an adaptive system to protect folks against the elements (in theory, anyway). Realistically, it's become a separation of cultures, peoples, and identities that have both pros and cons. Diversity is beautiful; prejudice is not. I love seeing and experiencing new cultures - but I do not like nationalism. I do not like ideas that promote separation at the expense of one culture or another, just because one culture has the majority voice.

Socially, we're in bad shape because we don't see each other as equal and we use "race" as a way to force imagined superiority of one group over another.
 
Ultimately, I cannot identify just how much of my way of thinking, preferences, and things like that are a result of which cultures I have been exposed to in my upbringing. I am guessing... they have strongly influenced me. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are a part of me or I have accepted them wholly.

I think culture exists. It doesn't mean a person is tied to a culture just because there are outer heriditary indications (based on association) that they should.

I think the ethnic backgrounds that these cultures have come from are infinitely malleable. But one can make some associations. These associations are what the concept of "race" is based on.

Imo in most all contexts race is not useful in concrete terms. There are some uses. Example: if you come from a certain line of genetic ancestry, you may be more prone to certain health issues.

Gosh I have a lot to say about this. I'll come back with more later.
 
The concepts are illusory identifications that we indulge in. They are identifications formed due to tribal tendencies innate to our species. Under that same tendency comes alliance with football teams, political parties, religious sects, baseball card collecting clubs, professional gatherings (conferences), national pride, etc. Most don't love their nation because they've evaluated their nation is good, but because they were born there and feel a connection to it. The same with family, race, and one's local football team. We feel more at ease around people who are "similar" to us in superficial ways - and some superficialities are more important than others. Skin color and facial features, for instance, are more identifiable and constant within people of a region than eye color and hair color.

We get angry and threatened if our political party loses because we identify with them. If you don't identify with an aspect of your persona, you hardly even notice. It is because we have differences that we identify with some things and not with others. When was the last time you got angry when you saw a news story of some class you were identified with getting arrested, misused, etc. You identify with it, so you were abused. Take a look at when it conflicts though. THERE is where it gets interesting! What does a black republican who identifies HEAVILY with both traits say when he sees a white republican running against a black democrat? What wins out? His idiocy does, and his delusional attachment to happenstance traits that have nothing to do with his identity.

What is culture? They're tribal rituals meant to reinforce the tribe and make its uniqueness concrete. Outsiders aren't allowed. The marines have their HUAH! and the blacks can call each other nigga'. Traditional asian families may scoff if a frenchman tries to cook one of their traditional dishes and, even if it may turn out as good or better, they'll likely say "Well, it's french food. It's nothing like traditional food. You have to be traditional vietnamese and have heritage in vietnam to cook traditional vietnamese food."

You're race is as relevant to you as whether you have connected earlobes or hanging earlobes. That is not to say it is irrelevant. Connected earlobes or hanging earlobes can be VERY relevant to you if you think it is relevant - if you somehow find it important. So, corrected, it would be: Your race is as important to who you are to the degree that you believe it is.
 
niffer said:
I bet a bunch of people are itching to have their say on this issue.

Not looking to come to a conclusion on this by creating this thread, just interested in what people have to say. ;) I want to leave this verryyyyy open.

So does "race", or however you want to describe this idea, exist? What is the importance of race? Ethnicity? Culture? Background?

Feel free to share personal stories or whatever you feel you want to talk about.
Click to expand...
culture, ethnicity, etc are the wonderful spices in this stewpot called life. i celebrate each and every one as a valid and important part of our world.
i will admit there are some cultures i would never want to be part of, but that doesn't mean they aren't good. just not good for me.
i will also admit that i find it intimidating to be the only white person in a room, but that's more because i feel spotlighted, not because i think being caucasian is a problem.
 
All I know is that it feels good to be a gangster.
 
My issues is we as human beings haven't learned how to leverage race into a broader sense of social solidarity. In that we haven't learned how see those around us as with us unless they share a very distinct cultural variation (race). It doesn't help people are alienated from each other, anyway. The use of race is often intended to do damage not build solidarity. Or its a us vs them. Because it feels good to separate others from us as long as we do the separating.

Basically what I'm saying is at this current time race is not serving a positive purpose. Right now your stuck in it or out of it. There is no true solidarity in telling someone your either like us or against us.
 
DrShephard said:
You're race is as relevant to you as whether you have connected earlobes or hanging earlobes. That is not to say it is irrelevant. Connected earlobes or hanging earlobes can be VERY relevant to you if you think it is relevant - if you somehow find it important. So, corrected, it would be: Your race is as important to who you are to the degree that you believe it is.
Click to expand...

Or to the degree that other people or society believe it is, in many situations.
 
Well on a medical level it does, for example if you need a bone marrow transplant you need someone of near identical genetic composition and one of those factors is 'race'.

Now if it should matter anywhere else; Nope. People are just people, there really isn't anything wrong with being different and if you can't bring yourself out of yourself long enough to accept that go loose yourself in a lava pit, please and thank you.
 
niffer said:
So does "race", or however you want to describe this idea, exist?
Click to expand...

Genetically, race doesn't really exist. PCR and other genetic analysis tools have revealed that the vast majority of humans are a hodge-podge mix of diverse genes from populations that would ostensibly appear to be "racially different." This is good because genetic diversity confers biological flexibility on an organism (i.e., "hybrid vigor"). In fact, for all animals, the more specifically adapted (i.e., genetically specialized) a population is, the weaker it is in the face of evolutionary pressures. There is really no such thing as "racial purity," and for this, we should be glad.

However, "race" has been defined, in terms of ethnicity and culture, as comprised of those who are the "other," that is, those who are different and, perhaps, to be feared. So, in this sense, race does exist, will continue to exist, and has always existed. As everyone knows, history is rife with racial conflict and oppression. Unlearning the primitive, lower brain-mediated fear of those who are different has proven difficult for many. Perhaps, analogously, this is also why the rarer personality types who don't conform to the expected norms of behavior have such a hard time.
 
wtfgirl said:
Well on a medical level it does, for example if you need a bone marrow transplant you need someone of near identical genetic composition and one of those factors is 'race'.
Click to expand...

It may be a minor factor only because there is still a better chance of getting a match within one's own ethnic group, but this is really a minor issue. There are many transplants done where the donor is one "race" and the recipient is another "race." A few years ago, Warren Brown, automobile reviewer and car industry reporter for the Washington Post, received a kidney from a long time friend of his at the Post, Martha Hamilton, a white woman.

I donate platelets once a month and these are used in people of all "races."
 
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Norton said:
I may be a minor factor only because there is still a better chance of getting a match within one's own ethnic group, but this is really a minor issue. There are many transplants done where the donor is one "race" and the recipient is another "race." A few years ago, Warren Brown, automobile reviewer and car industry reporter for the Washington Post, received a kidney from a long time friend friend of his at the Post, Martha Hamilton, a white woman.

I donate platelets once a month and these are used in people of all "races."
Click to expand...

To capitalize on this, studies have shown that African-Americans are so mixed with different genetic materials that we actually have far more in common genetically with Europeans than we do with Africans. I would propose that it could be the same for European-Americans, that they have far more in common genetically with African-Americans than Europeans (interesting study: http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030236)

Also here (which explains how ancestry is a far bigger factor than race itself - and yes, they can be different: http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/full/ng1435.html)
 
Norton said:
Genetically, race doesn't really exist. PCR and other genetic analysis tools have revealed that the vast majority of humans are a hodge-podge mix of diverse genes from populations that would ostensibly appear to be "racially different." This is good because genetic diversity confers biological flexibility on an organism (i.e., "hybrid vigor"). In fact, for all animals, the more specifically adapted (i.e., genetically specialized) a population is, the weaker it is in the face of evolutionary pressures. There is really no such thing as "racial purity," and for this, we should be glad.

However, "race" has been defined, in terms of ethnicity and culture, as comprised of those who are the "other," that is, those who are different and, perhaps, to be feared. So, in this sense, race does exist, will continue to exist, and has always existed. As everyone knows, history is rife with racial conflict and oppression. Unlearning the primitive, lower brain-mediated fear of those who are different has proven difficult for many. Perhaps, analogously, this is also why the rarer personality types who don't conform to the expected norms of behavior have such a hard time.
Click to expand...

I agree with this.
 
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I would argue, yes, race does exist. In practice their are differences between cultures based upon genetics that have evolved due to environmental differences in each area of the globe. However, much like specialisation in breeding animals 90%+ of people are a mixture of different races to some degree.
 
As has been stated, the "reality" of race depends on the beholder. It has what meaning we give it, just like anything else. Personally, I think we get ourselves in trouble when we focus too much on anything external.

Shared experience has value, race in and of itself doesn't. If you assume that sharing external attributes with someone will always mean that you share experience/history/values with them, be prepared to be surprised.

Two days ago, a man left space for me on a bus and talked to me all about his life for 20 minutes because he looked at me and thought I was Ethiopian, like him (which I'm not). I was able to share in the conversation with him, but I suspect that we had both more and less commonality than he assumed. In terms of culture and values, we were nothing alike. But what he wanted just then, a good-natured person who could relate to his life and listen to him, I was able to be - nothing to do with race.

IMO, race is a self-serving and self-destructive illusion.
 
There are biological differences as many have already mentioned but there are cultural and ethnic differences. I think we confuse race with culture too often. We assume that race as a biological quality presupposes particular behavior, actions, or attitudes or beliefs which are innately different from those of another race. This allows us to then depend too often on racial categories to shape our understanding of people's identity.

Because we believed in racial differences so long and allowed ourselves to act or behave in ways which reinforced stereotypical behaviors or attitudes or socially expected or accepted ways, we believed race was "real" and acted on that belief. Right now, we are slowly attempting to address the history inequalities of racial discrimination so in the future, our children will not be defined by race but by who they choose to be.
 
Over the next few days I will type up this article I have on this question.
 
Race exists in the same way the types do. It's an arbitrary system of classification concocted by humans.

In any case: White Power!
 
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