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You seem to be defining racism as being interested in differences between races. I don't think that's a common definition. Personally, I'm interested in it bec
by lopmotr 9y ago
You seem to be defining racism as being interested in differences between races. I don't think that's a common definition.
Personally, I'm interested in it because there are so many people interested in blaming one race for the problems of another or in assuming that a large group of people of one race will behave the same as another in the same situation. People wonder why African countries are so poor and look everywhere for possible reasons except at the people themselves. People think the Chinese "should have" a religion because they're quite rude and inconsiderate but don't consider that they might be so genetically different that they don't need or can't sustain the fantasy of a religion the way white people can. I just made up that last one, but I'm certainly open to its possibility.
- jonathanstrange 9y agoThe point is that there are no races in the sense people talk about them colloquially. Phenotypical 'race' doesn't match genetic makeup well enough to serve as a reliable indicator of anything. Nationalities like Chinese have even less to do with genetic makeup, and Africa is a whole continent, so talking about African countries as a whole is pretty much nonsense unless you're referring to their geographical location on the same continent.
- lopmotr 9y agoThere really are lots of strong correlations between race and measurable qualities. That alone means it's a real concept - it has predictive power. Simple examples are hair color and eye coolor.