Text 3911, 69 rader
Skriven 2006-07-15 11:58:00 av Robert E Starr JR (4384.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Atheists: America's m
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* * * This message was from Josh Hill to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
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On 14 Jul 2006 04:04:21 -0700, "ravend03x" <rkimd3@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Josh Hill wrote:
>>
>> Commie librul though I am, I'm afraid I have to agree, though I agree
>> wholeheartedly with Bill's sentiment: It's been pointed out often that
>> the genetic differences between people within races is far greater
>> than the genetic differences between the races. Unfortunately, that
>> doesn't keep people from exaggerating the significance of minor
>> genetic differences or stereotyping entire groups.
>
>My understanding is that many current social/ behavioral science
>courses are becoming more aware of the use of "race" and prefer the
>term "ethnicity" in order to be more precise.  The genetic differences
>seem to be more correlated with the geographic area of a person's
>ancestry more than any "racial" lines.
>
>Race is used as an "easy" way to decide allocation of funds in the
>government and it would incur great expense to revamp all of the forms
>that are structured to identify a person by race.  Think of the census,
>for example.
>
>I use ethnicity in my head but understand how race is used out there.

There was an academic movement a few years back to prove that there
were no races because genetic diversity within races is higher than
between them. But well intended as it was from a social perspective,
it was manifestly silly from a scientific one -- an example IMO of
politics intruding on science (right wingers aren't the only ones who
do that) -- and it seems to have petered out now that productive
research is being done on race-associated susceptibilities to disease.
In that respect, it really is important, because there are racial
variations, e.g., high blood pressure is more common among black than
white Americans, and it's important to understand why that is so that
effective treatments can be devised.

Technically, a race is a subspecies -- a population that interbreeds
with others of its species but is isolated enough, typically by
geography, to develop observably different characteristics. That has
to be placed in context, though: Italians have a different
distribution of genes than the British, but they're considered members
of the same race, and for that matter, the Smith family has a
different distribution of genes than the Joneses. So at some point the
distinctions are arbitrary, with the largest groups being called
races.

-- 
Josh

"I love it when I'm around the country club, and I hear people talking about
the debilitating
effects of a welfare society. At the same time, they leave their kids a
lifetime and beyond
of food stamps. Instead of having a welfare officer, they have a trust officer.
And instead
of food stamps, they have stocks and bonds."

- Warren Buffett
                                                                               
                    
--- SBBSecho 2.11-Win32
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