Skin color gene found!

[Winner]

Well, it appears that a very tiny mutation in a single gene changes the baseline human skin color from dark to light. And it appears that humankind started out dark. Us white folks are the result of a recent mutation (perhaps a few score thousand years ago) that took place after humans left Africa.

What's new? White skin allow us to synthetize more D vitamine with less sunlight present in the northern regions.

I think that the racist arguments are far more complicated and cannot be reduced to a simplistic "who was first" idea. Read some of their books, you will be astounded by the complexity of their ideology.

For example, they claim that because the Northern people (=whites) were exposed to a harsh enviroment, their intelligence developed more than the intelligence of people from regions with relatively friendly enviroment.

 

[The Last Conformist]

That's why the KKK hail the Eskimoes as the master race.

 

[MobBoss]

send this to stormfront or aryan nation or the kkk. let them read that they are actually descended from 'mutants', that their ancestry ain't so 'pure' after all.

Actually, any Klanner worth his hood would claim that all this shows is that whites are truly a more "advanced" human along the evolutionary path and thus shows their superiority.

Never underestimate the ability of the racist mind to make sense out of nothing.

 

[skadistic]

This is why I was not pleased with the use of "mutant" in the article; people just don't understand what it means. Without mutations there could be no evolution, and without evolution there could be no species. Past mutations are what make you human.

I was making a half arsed joke there. I have studied alot of the writings on evolution and understand full well the sience behind "survival of the fittest".

 

[Birdjaguar]

Here is the link to Science that published the research. The entire zrticle is not available on line.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/310/5755/1782

 

[Stylesjl]

Actually, any Klanner worth his hood would claim that all this shows is that whites are truly a more "advanced" human along the evolutionary path and thus shows their superiority.

Never underestimate the ability of the racist mind to make sense out of nothing.

That is exactly the explanation that will be given by those racist morons. No matter how much evidence contradicts something there will always be people who will adapt around it

 

[Birdjaguar]

But by accepting such a scenario, they will have to buy into an earth older than 6000 years.

 

[El_Machinae]

What percentage of supremacists are (purportedly) Christian?

 

[Birdjaguar]

What percentage of supremacists are (purportedly) Christian?

In the US a lot (most) of white supremists are christian. Their version(s) of christianity tends to be fundamentalist. I think they are primarily racists who have adapted christainity to support their racism. I think Cierdan falls into that camp. With them race has a higher priority than religion.

 

[Harbringer]

They also help in giving our beleif a bad namewith there misconskewed version of the bibleand our beleifs!Peg another ontothe board of morons, thanks racist christian fundamenatlists!

 

[Birdjaguar]

They also help in giving our beleif a bad namewith there misconskewed version of the bibleand our beleifs!Peg another ontothe board of morons, thanks racist christian fundamenatlists!

Extremists of every variety give more mainstream adherents a bad name. They make everyone who is less radical feel a bit uneasy if not very uncomfortable. You see it in all religions, but it is most noticeable in the western religions.

 

[ironduck]

I dunno, right now it seems most noticeable in islam.

edit - or does that qualify as 'western' religion to you?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I dunno, right now it seems most noticeable in islam.

edit - or does that qualify as 'western' religion to you?

Islam is, in my thinking, a western religion. It is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

 

[ironduck]

I guess I just tend to think of the middle east as 'central' if anything.. and islam has spread more to the south and east than to the west.. though I understand classifying budhism, hinduism, taoism, etc as the eastern.

edit - also, the main western religion that exists today (christianity) went through a period of enlightenment along with the culture, something that did not happen to islam as it existed in a different culture.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I guess I just tend to think of the middle east as 'central' if anything.. and islam has spread more to the south and east than to the west.. though I understand classifying budhism, hinduism, taoism, etc as the eastern.

edit - also, the main western religion that exists today (christianity) went through a period of enlightenment along with the culture, something that did not happen to islam as it existed in a different culture.

This is not very clear. Do you mean that Christianity benefited from 17th C European enlightenment and Islam did not?

Islam peaked as a enlightened, scientific culture from about 750 to 1250 AD. Islamic scholars were the most advanced and led the world in many areas. As muslim scientists began to explore empirical observation of nature as a source of knowledge, the religious leaders had doubts and shut them down. It took Europe another 500 years to beg, borrow and steal what the muslims knew. By then the church had less power and could not prevent the acceleration of science.

Many Republicans today are trying to roll back the clock against empirical science much like the imams of Islam in 1200 AD.

 

[ironduck]

I'm quite aware of the wonders of the golden age of islamic culture. But it only progressed so far, then it reverted back to an irrational theocracy based on sharia law.

In the European culture (so to speak) and christian religion (hard to truly separate, but in my view christianity was forced to open itself up and did so, dragging its feet and all) the enlightenment progressed and kept building upon itself to create an open society based on rationality and democracy, separating religion from politics and placing it in the sphere of the individual.

Islamic culture, on the other hand, has for the most part stayed as a theocracy in which the religion is not separate from policy, rather it dictates policy.

I'm obviously generalizing here, and there are pockets of funnymentalists christians that kept doing their thing as well as progressive muslims that progressed as the cultures evolved.

Many Republicans today are trying to roll back the clock against empirical science much like the imams of Islam in 1200 AD.

The US is a case of its own in many ways.. it used to be one of the most progressive societies compared to most European countries (that still had some monarchies to shake off), but now it's dragging its heels on some issues related to these things.. Still, most Americans are not interested in a theocracy to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Xen]

HA-HA!

I remember full well a thread sometime ago in the History Forum where I argued alone that mankind started out black, and white skin is a mutation. I don't remember all of my adversaires, but I do remember one of them was Xen(and his argument that since chimps have white skin underneath the fur the first humans must have been white). Where are you now, Xen?

:flirt kiss kiss luvah, right here- its not like I made a tizzy over it; but without genetic evidence (and we had noen at the time) it wasnt proper to speak in certianties, as you rpoceeded to do; that you turned our right dosent matter, if you dont knewo somthing for sure you shouldnt act like you do

 

[Birdjaguar]

if you dont knewo somthing for sure you shouldnt act like you do

Damn, Xen, I guess I have to stop posting.

 

[Birdjaguar]

In the European culture (so to speak) and christian religion (hard to truly separate, but in my view christianity was forced to open itself up and did so, dragging its feet and all) the enlightenment progressed and kept building upon itself to create an open society based on rationality and democracy, separating religion from politics and placing it in the sphere of the individual.

The religious and political fragmentation of Europe encouraged competition between people, governments and denominations that permitted progress in spite of any opposition. One of the reasons for the rise of the west after 1500 AD was this competitiveness among political entities. Prince or king Bob may not allow such a thing, but Harry over there would, just to piss off Bob or because he saw some advantage in it. There was no over riding body to squash innovation in any field of endeavor. Europe was the first area in the last 1000 years to have such conditions.

 

[ironduck]

I like that analysis..