Does race exist?

I just came across a great article and thought I would share it. What do you think?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/race.html

Both arguments seem to have merit...

[Yorick]

I agree with the antagonist.

Do Polynesians fall into Negroid or Mongoid?

The Japanese, even acknowledged by Japanese, are a blend or Caucasoid and Mongoloid. Indians have Caucasoid, blended with Australoid (which is very similar to Mongoloid except that it is the weakest gene, whereas Mongoloid is the strongest).

I've read books which threw out appearance as any way of tracing or defining European peoples, and basically grouped people under the languages they have spoken. Throughout history. Europe is a jumbled mess. There are descendants of Celts, Romans, and Germans in France. The Normans - a mix of French with Viking conquered England, as did Danes, Celts, Picts, Romans, and Germans. Spain has Celts, Romans, Moors and other pre Roman Iberian blood. Spainish blood has mingled with Amerindian blood (Mongoloid) in South America, and further mingled with Negroid blood in places like Peuto Rico etc.

I am yet to read the against argument, but I'm all for throwing out the defenitions, and have been for a while.

Great post Absynthe.

[Yorick]

Just read the proponent. Still in favour of the antagonist. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Sir Kenyth]

I beleive that discarding the concept of race will cause some to want to discard the concept that racism exists for their own agenda. We all know that biases according to physical appearances are still alive and well, albeit less common than they were in previous years. The generalized physical differences defined by the concept of race help define instances of discrimination. Protective laws have been built on this concept. To remove the concept may remove the protections from a legal standpoint. To add complexity to the existing structure may be the best answer. Just realize that greater complexity will give people more points to argue about whether or not their discriminating behavior is actually racism or not, according to the word of the law. This will, in effect, lessen the effectiveness of protective laws. The system in place for defining race and racism is far from perfect, but it does help.

[Azred]

Racism exists; race does not. Simple biological diversity does not split groups of people into "races"; the only way to do that would be to have different species of humans. Both those who engage in racist activities or hold racist beliefs and those who attempt to use race to gain some sort of advantage are guilty of being "racist".

Umm while I don't really care for NASCAR I do believe it exists

[khazadman]

the only reason for the continued obsession with race is to keep people divided.racists because they think they have some kind of natural superiority over other "races".and government uses it as a means of control over the people.the only real differences are CULTURAL differences.

quote:

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Originally posted by MagiK:
Umm while I don't really care for NASCAR I do believe it exists

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Hehe... I think that might even qualify as a presentation of a throwback gene, as in "Your mama is so ugly, your daddy musta had to throw back a lotta beer to have any chillun".

All that, and really bad puns at no extra charge...

[K T Ong]

Of course race exists.

I'm an Elf and I think humans are grossly inferior to my highly refined race.

(...Uhhhh... You're not about to take me seriously, are you?...)

[ 02-26-2002: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

[Jorath Calar]

There is a commonality to all human beings... we all suck.