Race. Whats the point?

[Newfoundsky]

To...win?

[New Kereptica]

:eek:
Mixed-race sorry.

[New Kereptica]

To...win?

The only way to win is not to play the game.

[Yootopia]

Race is important because it's a part of our individual identities and is sometimes a basis for the formation of communities.

Quite, like in Seth Efrica.

[Czardas]

To...win?

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Fixed.

[New Kereptica]

To...win?

A strange game. The only way to win is not to play.

Fixed.

Forgive me. I've not seen the movie in a while.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

:eek:
Mixed-race sorry.

[Czardas]

To...win?

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Fixed.

Forgive me. I've not seen the movie in a while.

Nor have I. Fixed again.

[Anti-Social Darwinism]

Race is a convenient way of ignoring the real problem, which is the difference in cultures. If we (white people) had landed in Africa and found a bunch of black people living in cramped, dirty cities, wearing uncomfortable, dirty, itchy clothes filled with fleas, lice and other neat little parasites, worshipping one intolerant deity and bathing infrequently, we would have hailed them as brothers and equals. Instead we found them living in small, easily moveable villages, wearing as little as possible and swimming at whim. They worshipped many deities in open spaces with odd rituals instead of in closed in churches with odd rituals. I'm not saying they were perfect (they had the odious habit of capturing each other in tribal wars and selling each other into slavery and they weren't always kind to their women and children - apparently this wasn't enough common ground for the white man), but their culture(s) were alien to us and, so, intolerable.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

To...win?

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Fixed.

Forgive me. I've not seen the movie in a while.

Nor have I. Fixed again.

The movie of the game is very good.
Though I always seem to lose.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

Race is a convenient way of ignoring the real problem, which is the difference in cultures. If we (white people) had landed in Africa and found a bunch of black people living in cramped, dirty cities, wearing uncomfortable, dirty, itchy clothes filled with fleas, lice and other neat little parasites, worshipping one intolerant deity and bathing infrequently, we would have hailed them as brothers and equals. Instead we found them living in small, easily moveable villages, wearing as little as possible and swimming at whim. They worshipped many deities in open spaces with odd rituals instead of in closed in churches with odd rituals. I'm not saying they were perfect (they had the odious habit of capturing each other in tribal wars and selling each other into slavery and they weren't always kind to their women and children - apparently this wasn't enough common ground for the white man), but their culture(s) were alien to us and, so, intolerable.

If they were in the same position do you think they would of done the same?

[New Xania]

To...win?

The only way to win is not to play the game.

speaking of which I just lost the game.

On topic race is just another thing for people to laugh at and make fun of as in the end it's ultimately meaningless.

[WallachIX]

there is no such thing as 'race' within our species. in biology, races are subspecies/semi-species and on average differ at least 12% genetically. humans, sharing 99.9% of our DNA, are far too genetically similar for races to exist.

so it doesn't make sense.

[Yootopia]

If they were in the same position do you think they would of done the same?

Erm some of them did, the Barbary pirate types.

[Ashmoria]

ooooo this topic gives me the chance to link to this "a softer world" strip!

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=478

[Daistallia 2104]

I don't get the concept of race. Really, what difference does melanin levels and recurring traits make in a person's character?

It doesn't.

The term race under it's biological definition, as already mentioned, doesn't apply to Homo sapiens, unless you count the recently (in a biological time frame) extinct Homo sapiens idaltu, which appers to be the only other race of Homo sapiens along with us - Homo sapiens sapien - to have existed. The proper biological term would be population or clinal gradation.

In it's anthropological definition, the term has also been largely (but not completely) abandoned, for a number of reasons.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/gill.html (argument for)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/brace.html (argument against)

Generally, the better terms for what we now call race would be population, nationality, or ethnicity.

Race is a mild regional variation in genetics caused by geographic isolation. The genetic variation between individuals is far greater than that caused by isolation and that geographic isolation no longer exists. The races as they exist now are obsolete, yet for some reason people feel somewhat attached to their own brand of isolated variation. There always seems to be someone willing to wail and gnash his teeth over his inability to keep something that constantly changes from changing. I think under other circumstances it'd be amusing.

there is no such thing as 'race' within our species. in biology, races are subspecies/semi-species and on average differ at least 12% genetically. humans, sharing 99.9% of our DNA, are far too genetically similar for races to exist.

so it doesn't make sense.

Indeed. The one point missed in ya'll's descriptions is that races is interbreeding. Races don't naturally interbreed. Human's of all "races" do. (And thank the random causes of the universe for that!)

One big problem with the concept of race not already mentioned is that there is no set agreed upon definition. Different cultures use different definitions. Even anthropolgists differ (see above).

Also, in most cases, race is either self-selected (US census and many medical studies for example) or selected on very subjective grounds (a lot of anthropology).

Those two problems create significant validity issues in any attempt to study "race".

Anywho, race, in it's modern US conception, was essentially (tl,dr version) originally set up to explain why Europeans were better than non-Europeans, and continued in the US as a general means of suppressing non-WASPs.

[Daistallia 2104]

If they were in the same position do you think they would of done the same?

Erm some of them did, the Barbary pirate types.

Indeed, indeed.

[Wilgrove]

Hey, dark skinned people are just angels, reincarnated as humans, who refused to pick a side when Satan rebelled against Yahweh!

At least that what Mormons taught until the 70s.

Seriously though, race is as outdated as vinyl records.

[Bavin]

Race Culture is important because it's a part of our individual identities and is sometimes a basis for the formation of communities.

Fix'd

[Daistallia 2104]

Hey, dark skinned people are just angels, reincarnated as humans, who refused to pick a side when Satan rebelled against Yahweh!

At least that what Mormons taught until the 70s.

And don't forget that the "white race" was a product of that evil scientist/magician Yakub...

[North Wiedna]

Seriously though, race is as outdated as vinyl records.

But the songs on vinyl records are still popular today. What does that mean?

[Wilgrove]

Hey, dark skinned people are just angels, reincarnated as humans, who refused to pick a side when Satan rebelled against Yahweh!

At least that what Mormons taught until the 70s.

And don't forget that the "white race" was a product of that evil scientist/magician Yakub...

*laughs* Hmm, but what about Asians?

[Wilgrove]

Seriously though, race is as outdated as vinyl records.

But the songs on vinyl records are still popular today. What does that mean?

They're on iTunes, so it's all good.

[Wilgrove]

Damn DP.

[Niicha]

there is no such thing as 'race' within our species. in biology, races are subspecies/semi-species and on average differ at least 12% genetically. humans, sharing 99.9% of our DNA, are far too genetically similar for races to exist.

so it doesn't make sense.

Yes. this is very true.
Any evolutionary biologists may want to correct me if I'm wrong, but "race" exists only as a genetic variation in our species. All humans were originally Africa, or came from the area we now call Africa. Some migrated north to areas like Europe. Here's where Darwinism comes to play. Humans, the ones in Europe, who had a favored characteristic of less melanin, were more likely to survive. Why was this a favored trait? In individuals with heavier concentration of melanin, I.E. "black people", it is much harder to convert the sun's energy into vitamin E. This vitamin is indeed vital to us. So, in the north, where the weather is not so "bright" so to speak, the "white people" survived and reproduced. Whereas back in the south, in the Motherland, it was more favorable to have heavier concentrations of melanin due to the weather conditions. It is sunny, so people with a natural protection to skin cancer, melanin, had a favored characteristic.
Yeah, so essentially "race" is a social construct to keeep funny looking people distant from us. Race also made it easier to justify slavery. "They are not OUR race, they are different. Therefore, I can own them with no moral qualms." You gotta love justification like that...