visaisahero
New member
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2009
- Messages
- 557
- MBTI Type
- ENTP
Well the concept of "race" is as a scientific category is rubbish and discredited, as there are more genetic differences within "races" than between them. In socieities more civilized than our own, someone's skin colour would be no more notable than hair colour, eye colour, height, etc., i.e. another simple physical feature.
But our societies construct race as a social division, and therefore I am of a certain "race", or shall we say "ethnicity" ("race" is too much of a loaded term tied to pseudo-biological theories), because society classes me as one. there is no point ignoring this fact. We can fight to change it - in fact I think we should - but until it's changed, you're not racist for stating the fact. Nationality is also socially constructed, but it's not xenophobic to state that someone is Namibian.
And yes, you probably need new friends
I am in completely concurrence with everything you've said! (Are you a political science or anthropology enthusiast?) Regarding the bolded statement (emphasis mine), it's something that I think about too. It makes sense that humanity would be better off without those divisions, but it also stands to reason that they're not about to go away very quickly. Then and again, we have made substantial progress collectively over the generations, and there is no doubt in my mind that we will continue to do so. What I wonder is, to what extent can we truly influence this rate of progress?