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Re: Race, Science, & Political Correctness
Arthur Ed LeBouthillier (pendragn@cyberg8t.com)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 13:00:13 GMT
On 24 Nov 1996 21:44:53 GMT, Ron Kephart <rkephart@osprey.unf.edu>
wrote:
>The rejection of 18th century taxonomies of humans "races" has nothing
>to do with "political correctness." It is a result of the refinement
>of our knowledge about how life forms, human and otherwise, change thru
>time and also vary over geographical space. This is what science is
>supposed to do for us: help us refine our analytic models of the
>universe.
Race didn't originate in the 18th century. The 18th century scientists
were trying to explain an observable difference.
>For the record, the phrase "political correctness" is tossed around
>mostly by right-wingers who use it defelect attention away from the
>discussion of important issues, such as "race", ethnicity, gender,
>sexual preference, and the like.
Ah....race, ethnicity, gender and sexual preference? You forgot
national preference and what about ice cream preference.
Political Correctness is used as a moniker for the twisted and
anti-White viewpoint of people like you. Political Correctness
refers to the decades-long propaganda campaign by people
like you to destroy my race and culture.
> Anything that upsets their world view is labeled "politically correct."
> This is very unfortunate, because it gets in the way of our work, part
> of which is to educate people about these issues from an anthropological
> perspective.
Anthropological Perspective? You? Be real. If race is not a biological
category, then it is at least a cultural one. In fact, race represents
kin groupings. It is only since the Darwinists came along that it has
meant anything else. Anthropologically, the ideology of race is an
ideology of society based on kinship.
>It seems too bad that there appear to be so many people out there
>whose lives only have meaning when they are defined in terms of
>"us (whites)" versus "them (blacks, etc.)".
Look at yourself in the mirror. Besides, it is good that people think
in terms of "us" and "them" as long as it benefits their race.
> Well, unfortunately for all of you, these categories, while socially and
> culturally "real" and important, are not biologically "real". This is what
> science has taught us over the last century or so. It's time to get over
> it, and move on to the really important task, which is understanding why
> and how these sociocultural categories are so important to us, anyway,
>and then helping our society figure out what to do about it.
Blah, blah, blah. Thanks for misusing science. Science is a positive
endeavor, and can only tell us what *IS*. It becomes politics when
you parade your normatives as positives.
Race is a very real phenomenon. At least, it represents the other
major form of societal organization: on kinship rather than territory.
On that basis, I would say it is the anti-racists who are the most
ignorant and hateful in their attempts to destroy long-lived
communities and societys.
14 Words
Arthur LeBouthillier
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