What if racism is an evolutionary response?

[pitabread]

The only way to solve the race/racism problem is widespread interracial marriage.

I doubt that would actually solve the problem. You'd still have people segregating based on differential characteristics among populations.

 

[NerdGirl]

The only way to solve the race/racism problem is widespread interracial marriage.

I don't agree, lol.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I don't agree, lol.

I made the comment with tongue-in-cheek.

The comedian Paul Rodriguez on this subject once quipped, "As soon as we all look like Filipinos the happier we'll be."

 

[loveofourlord]

The only way to solve the race/racism problem is widespread interracial marriage.

That kind of thing just breeds race realists and the whole, "White genocide." nonsense. The racists just find reasons to fear it and attack and threaten people over it heh.

 

[pitabread]

That kind of thing just breeds race realists and the whole, "White genocide." nonsense. The racists just find reasons to fear it and attack and threaten people over it heh.

And the core of such fear seems to be a complete lack of understanding of how genetics works.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

That kind of thing just breeds race realists and the whole, "White genocide." nonsense. The racists just find reasons to fear it and attack and threaten people over it heh.

That door swings both ways. Many blacks fear losing their 'blackness' through intermarriage.

 

[Gene2memE]

Oh, FFS.

Trying to rehabilitate scientific racism? Really?

Race is a social construct. It has no basis in biology.

It's like you geniuses haven't discovered genetics yet. Some remedial reading of the basic science from about 70 years ago should clear things up.

But, for some of the posters here, I guess understanding something that is less than 100 years out of date is a challenge l.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Oh, FFS.

Trying to rehabilitate scientific racism? Really?

Race is a social construct. It has no basis in biology.

It's like you geniuses haven't discovered genetics yet. Some remedial reading of the basic science from about 70 years ago should clear things up.

But, for some of the posters here, I guess understanding something that is less than 100 years out of date is a challenge l.

Science doesn't determine the 'social construct'.

 

[Gene2memE]

Science doesn't determine the 'social construct'.

Correct. People do. Racism has no evolutionary basis.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Correct. People do. Racism has no evolutionary basis.

There are those who believe it does.

 

[RDKirk]

There are those who believe it does.

There are those who believe the earth is flat and also believe that's the historical Christian tradition...being wrong in both.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

I think racism is mostly a byproduct of bad experiences, or profound differences, in this day and age.

I'd add plain ignorance (of the 'other'). The unknown or unfamiliar can be threatening just because it is unknown and/or unfamiliar.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I'd add plain ignorance (of the 'other'). The unknown or unfamiliar can be threatening just because it is unknown and/or unfamiliar.

That door swings both ways. Knowledge of the 'other' can confirm your bias. So-called racism is a favorite study topic of mine. What I have found explains a lot of it. You also cannot discount experience; lack of knowledge notwithstanding.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Correct. People do. Racism has no evolutionary basis.

I think there's a reasonable argument that it does - if our predisposition to tribal behaviour has evolutionary origins and if racism is an example of tribal behaviour...

 

[RDKirk]

I think there's a reasonable argument that it does - if our predisposition to tribal behaviour has evolutionary origins and if racism is an example of tribal behaviour...

Except that racism, per se and by definition, has not been with us from time immemorial, but is rather a product of the "Enlightenment" period and the age of "science."

Two thousand years ago, what we define as "race" was perceived merely aesthetically.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

That door swings both ways. Knowledge of the 'other' can confirm your bias.

True, but from my experience, knowledge and familiarity and the understanding that follows are more likely to reduce it. There is often a dehumanising tendency in tribalism that can be overcome by discovering that the 'other' is far more similar to you than different; i.e. they're just folks too.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

True, but from my experience, knowledge and familiarity and the understanding that follows are more likely to reduce it. There is often a dehumanising tendency in tribalism that can be overcome by discovering that the 'other' is far more similar to you than different; i.e. they're just folks too.

To me it confirms that the 'other' has a long way to go, by their own effort, to achieve what they lack. What we do easily would be a sea change for them.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Except that racism, per se and by definition, has not been with us from time immemorial, but is rather a product of the "Enlightenment" period.

Two thousand years ago, what we define as "race" was perceived merely aesthetically.

Sure, how we define different groups changes over time, but our responses to groups that are perceived as 'other', for social or cultural reasons, tend to follow a tribal pattern, whether they are racial, political, geographic, sporting, etc.

 

[Petros2015]

Do you think that extermination is the only solution in this instance?

"HMMM. LET ME THINK A MO-MENT..."

 

[OldWiseGuy]

There are those who believe the earth is flat and also believe that's the historical Christian tradition...being wrong in both.

I meant that there are evolutionists that believe it.