Human Races

K

kriminal99

Registered Senior Member
Ok after arguing with a couple of blithering idiots on another forum, I am now curious as to what the deal is behind the claim that there is "no such thing as race". Before I was hoping someone could explain to me in simplest terms (if that is possible without making it obvious the claim is rediculous) why race does not exist. The things being said on the other forum made no sense whatsoever. I am irritated by the other people but I will not flame if I am not flamed first.

So can someone tell me why it is not signifigant that:

Two groups say blacks and whites.
A: Have traits that are different from one another and do not cross this racial boundary i.e. black skin

B: Only 2.5% of the limiting population interbreed with each other despite given full access to one another (taken from us statistics)

C: Have babies that remain in the same group as them and has the same traits, IE its not as if a white person has a black baby and then that baby is simply moved to the other group.
 
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please post in the human science subforum, there are already three threads regarding race there. no need cluttering this subforum also.
 
Paul samuel when I want your opinion on where I should post Ill give it to you. Judging by the way you stopped responding to me and the kinds of things you were saying something I said could be a valid position held by biologists and you don't want to confront it. You are completely dishonest and I have no interest in hearing from you. Besides this isn't just a human science topic.

To others: I am waiting to get a more clear version of the argument before I say anything. The arguments presented in the other forum are severly flawed logically and I was curious if there was another angle to this before I completely dismiss the argument.
 
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if you're asking from a biological perspective, then no there is no such thing as race. the genetics across different races are the same. there is no more variation from one race to another than there is from one family within a given race to another of the same race. but only biologically. if you start talking sociologically, that's another story.
 
there are already three threads regarding human race in the human science subforum. please respond in those threads. i don't think we need a fourth thread going in here. jeez, next we'll have a human race thread going in every subforum, then the racists will really have taken over. they're already well on their way to taking over the science section.
 
StarOfEight said:
Fish, wouldn't skin color disprove the "no more variation" thing?
Click to expand...
The genetic difference in skin colors is no more significant than the genetic diference between people who have blue eyes and people who have brown eyes. It's a single trait, the amount of pigment in one's skin does not dictate race genetically, nor does a combination of traits.
The distinction of "race" is really just a semantic argument anyway. It all depends on how you define it socially. Genetically there is no basis for different "races" but in terms of strict definitions (ie accordint to Merriam-Webster) socially humans do seem to segregate themselves into " a class or kind of people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics" but there is no biological requirement for this. You can belong different races, according to the definition, and it does not require you fit into only one even socially.
I guess what I don't understand is that some people feel the <i>need</i> to <i>believe</i> there are different races, that we shouldn't be free to move between, they really seem to want that sort of restriction to justify their prejudices. I'm not saying that was the basis for this particular thread. So I guess my question really is, why do you care? Why would it matter if there were? What difference would it make to you, to any one, to the world?
 
i'd like to add to that:
coloration genetics, while sometimes multi-loci, isn't terribly complex nor does it occupy more than a miniscule fraction of the genome. there is the same tiny difference in pigmentation genes between any two given people, regardless of which "race" you classify them as.

to support my point...if you've ever taken a genetics class you'd know that the first thing you learn is pigmentation because it is so easy to learn and illustrates simple genetics. there's nothing easier than genotyping pea plants or eyes by color. you move on to multi-loci skin color to learn bell curve but that's still so simple a kindergartener could do it.
 
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