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Race - definitions, please!
Henry Polard (henry@netcom.com)
Wed, 1 Feb 1995 20:56:44 GMT
Folks -
There has been a lot of argumentation about race.
No one who supports the validity of races has provided information
about the following:
1. What are the races of humanity?
2. Who are the members of each race?
3. How is interbreeding handled - for example, if I have one
grandparent of race G1 and three of race G3, what race am I?
4. Given person P, how can I determine that person's race according
to the classification in question 1? That is, if the races are based on
appearance, what trait is diagnostic for each race? If the traits
are not mutually exclusive for each race, how do I classify person
P if he has trait A which makes him a member of race Alpha and
trait B that makes a member of race Beta?
References to books are tolerated, but I want something like:
There are two races, Greenheads and Blueheads. Greenbheads are
composed of the following people, a's, who inhabit the great
continent of East Nacirema and B's, who live in X. Everyone else is a
Bluehead. Greenheads have green heads, Blueheads have blue heads. If a
person has at least one Bluehead grandparent, that person is a Bluehead.
I realize that the above reveals misconceptions about racial
classification (please correct me), but that is the degree of specificity
that I think would be useful in clarifying the concept of racial classification.
It seems to me that if a proponent for the validity of races can't
supply the above information, that position is rather tenuous.
For the purposes of this argument, consider me credulous slime.
After all, we all know that ad hominem arguments are invalid, right?
:-)
Henry Polard || He wants clarity on the Net? Kill him, the traitor!
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