Race only skin deep - S.J. STUDENTS DISCOVER GENETIC LINK

Mercury News ^ | Mon, Feb. 09, 2004 | Katherine Corcoran

[CobaltBlue]

More than half of the class at San Jose's Piedmont Hills High School, students from numerous racial and ethnic backgrounds, are linked in their DNA to the same ancestor, born more than 100,000 years ago in central China or Taiwan.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The French and Germans look alike to the Western eye, but that didn't stop them form going to war three times in the last sesquicentury.

[cyborg]

Northern Ireland isn't looking so peachy keen these days either.

[Doctor Stochastic]

"form" should be "from"

Spell checquers our good.

[Dan Evans]

Juries are not systematically kept in the dark. That's a naive generalization from some very unusual trials like the OJ trial. "Proof" that Africans have average IQs of 70 is a scientifically set up IQ test of Africans showing that Africans - by which I assume you must been those with lots of melanin in their skins.

Link me the studies. I wonder what causes the low IQ? Melanin? Curly hair?

Not melanin, myelin. "We hypothesize that part of the common genetic factors underlying IQ and inspection time are factors that determine myelination of axons" also: IQ and the Wealth of Nations.

[CobaltBlue]

It's more like the difference between Swedes and Sicilians. The Tutsis are very tall and slim, the Hutus very short and stocky. The Tutsis are related to the Masai. The Hutus are Buntu.

[Nebullis]

But I think my point is still valid. It's true, for example, that, say, Pima Indians are more likely to get Type II diabetes than other ethnic groups,but you wouldn't call Pima Indians a "race."

Race is not the only classification of distinction. Within races there are smaller consanguineous groups and within those there still smaller groups.

If you look at sub-Saharan Africa, "they" may "all look alike" to the Western eye, but to them the difference between, say, Hutus and Tutsis is enough to kill each other.

True. Emnity between groups need not involve race. Even brothers will kill each other.

[ffusco]

Thanks.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The point is that for most people, one can find someone who earns ten times as much money, but one cannot find someone who is ten times as tall.

[ffusco]

True, but growth is incremental and bound by the laws of thermodynamics while income limits are asymptotic :)

[Age of Reason]

Sounds like Mein Kampf to me.

I wouldn't know; I haven't read his struggle.

I think for myself.

[Age of Reason]

The point is that for most people, one can find someone who earns ten times as much money, but one cannot find someone who is ten times as tall.

Hey, that's my idea.

Actually, I figure the most anyone can fairly earn would be dependent upon working so much faster times so much longer times so much smarter.

But once someone accumulates enough money, he has reached an escape velocity that takes him beyond the bounds of normal economic physics--to a place where money goes to money.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

After all where did they think they came from?

LOL. Exactly.

Any man would be far better off if he just agreed, whether he believed it or not, that we are all descended from Adam.

[OldEagle]

"Not really, as this is also essentially a minor cosmetic difference. There is as much difference in builds within members of the same race as there is between races."

I disagree. There are builds that are race-specific and which are not seen in other races. You might not have considered this before, but if you are really observant, it is hard to miss.

[OldEagle]

"That's a good question. Our thinking on race is essentially binary: black or white (or whatever other combination). Up until recently, there was no box on the census for "Mixed-race" (though, again, why is the half white/half black person "mixed?" How is their racial make-up any less distinct than anyone else's?)"

It is entirely possible that there are more "mixed-race" people now than there were a hundred years ago and it increases exponentially.
I still do not understand why race is such an important statistic.

[Cronos]

If we cannot survive of our own, then there is something seriously wrong.

No, you are wrong. Every successful civilisation has imported great men and women from other nations -- the Roman Emperors TRajan and Hadrian were both of Spanish descent, and later Emperors came from North Africa, Britain, etc. TRajan's ancestors may well have been those celtIberian tribes who fought AGAINST the Romans in the Second Punic war.

Our kids are pampered because they live in plenty, they are brainwashed to think that dumb is good and that they should not work hard, but expect jobs to fall in their laps (not all of them, but most, can't really blame them if you allow them to watch the brainwashing rubbish on the lib media). So importing talent is good.

Importing German and European Jews before and during WWII improved our scientific endeavours to no end. importing German talent like von Braun proppelled our quest to the moon. Importing Indian and Chinese talent helped in the founding of numerous silicon valley companies and pushs many r&D labs. Importing the Italians and Eastern Europeans during the 1800s boosted us from a second rate to a first rate power.

[Cronos]

Even though I may have 99% of my genes in common with an Asian man, the small handful of genes that make up identifiable characteristics are what we perceive as race.

Actually you'd have nearly 100% in common with them. the article does say that different folsk outside Africa have practically the same genes, so you may have more in common with say Raj from Delhi than Rob from down the road.

[Cronos]

There is no point in classifying by 'race', a better one is classifying by ethnicity or culture.

[Cronos]

Sub-Saharan Africa is 99% black, not because few white people have happened to wander there

Sub-saharan Africa is 99% black/Negroid BECAUSE NO white/Caucasians managed to cross the dividing Sahara desert in any great numbers. When they did, they formed Arabic desert states. Ditto in the East, white/Caucasians from Central Asia/India/Persia moved into China -- the Tocharian culture but never managed to get past the Gobi desert or Siberia.

[Cronos]

We seem to be talking at cross purposes here. Am I correct in saying that you too believe that we should stop considering race as anythign more than folks looking different? We should stop having interracial communication as just have interpersonal communication? If that's what you're saying, I agree. Stop the hyphenated american syndrome.

[Cronos]

Factors like intelligence, manners, and initiative are cultural, not genetic. Western culture values these things, so they are encouraged.

Ok, intelligence. Eastern cultures have dominated 'intellectual' stuff for millenia up until the industrial era and are doing so again. Manners, well, the Japanese have always been highly mannered. Arabs display impeccable manners and hospitality to their guests. Initiative, hmm.. how can you say Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, etc. have or had no initiative?