Racial Assignment is Arbitrary
By Wendy
@jerzgirl (9384)
United States
May 2, 2012 4:37pm CST
Races are relatively arbitrary. If you study anthropology, the lines blur where the different ethnic groups come together because of intermarriage/breeding. Dark skinned peoples live along the equator with fairer skinned people, incrementally, towards the poles. Dark-skin was a natural protector from the damage of the increased sunlight at the equator. In between, everyone blended.
The arbitrariness of all of this came about when people assigned "value" to skin color. At one time, anyone who was white, but tanned, was looked down upon as inferior. Only manual laborers worked in the sun; therefore, they were only worthy of servitude. There are a very few things that can be associated with certain ethnic groups genetically, otherwise, we are no different from one another physiologically.
The fact that there are some people who continue to insist on difference and degrees of "value" only shows THEIR inferior status as a thinking human being.
Agree or disagree? If you disagree, why do you? Remember, this is about race, not culture.
1 response
@maximax8 (31042)
• United Kingdom
3 May 12
I visited Kenya and the people there live in a hot country close to the equator. They have black skin to protect them from the strong sunshine. I went to Singapore and Malaysia. Those people look like Chinese people to me. The have a yellow tinge to their skin again to protect themselves from the sun. I traveled to Scandinavia and many the people there had a white skin, blue eyes and blond hair. Up there the people have a cool climate. I traveled to St Lucia in the Caribbean and they look like the black people from Kenya. Recently I visited South America and I got chatting to a lady that spoke good English. She was white skinned with a pale complexion. She looked Scandinavian to me and the surprise was she was from Southern Brazil. My guide book said that many Germans emigrated to Southern Brazil in the last century. I live in the UK and here is multicultural with all skin colors. One of my friends is white and he married a black lady. She is a lovely lady and I see no problem with that. A dark skin is attractive but in the Victorian times it would have been a field worker. How times change and I am glad I live in a multicultural society. Every person has feelings and it would be boring if we all looked the same.
