race & anthro and history of both

fcattus@aol.com
8 Dec 1996 06:38:05 GMT

It is bizarre to see the acting out of Marxist prophesy by right-wingers
cruising this ng. Specifically, the return of the race argument for the
second go-around, this time as farce! Altho it can and does hurt just as
much at the ground level, it is weirdly funny to see if you have a
sardonic, despairing sense of humor!

Franz Boas's semi-serious suggestion that governments encourage
"miscegenation" in any way possible as the one way to eliminate the
idiocies of racism seems all the more prescient today. He thought that
the distinctions were arbitrary and unreal yet harmful, so he suggested
rewards for intermarriange between supposed races, adding that if the
biological folks were right, this could only result in greater genetic
"hybrid vigor," and if not it might at least shut up some of the racists
running loose if all their kin were getting social encouragement and tax
breaks for "intermarriage"!

--John