Why do some people still believe in racial science?

[LesCanadiens]

In the last sixty seconds I've encountered two people (one on another forum, one in a chatroom) that endorse racial science. That is to say, they endorse the notion that there are legitimate physiological/anatomical differences between people of different races. They believe this, in spite of the fact that racial science has been debunked as the pseudoscience it is for a long time. It was quite breathtaking to have contact with people who still believe that nonsense.

Have you ever encountered anyone who still seriously believes this? Is it their parents, or is public education in Finland and Germany (the locations of these two people) just that horrible? Why do you think some people cling to racial science?

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Why do you think some people cling to racial science?

Convenience/Ego/Put-down.

 

[Trajan12]

As a piggyback, what's with people who still use the term "Caucasian?" What's next, we're going to be calling Asians Mongoloids?

Some people are just willfully uninformed, I suppose.

 

[LesCanadiens]

As a piggyback, what's with people who still use the term "Caucasian?" What's next, we're going to be calling Asians Mongoloids?

Some people are just willfully uninformed, I suppose.

I do make sure to point out to all my co-workers and friends that Caucasian is a racist term. Most of them just say "white" anyways.

 

[Berzerker]

they endorse the notion that there are legitimate physiological/anatomical differences between people of different races.

The Watusi and pygmies would agree

 

[Lone Wolf]

The Watusi and pygmies would agree

Do pygmies qualify as a "race" or only as a "people"?

 

[mangxema]

What do you mean by 'physiological/anatomical'? 'Cause it's fairly well known that that blacks tend to get sickle-cell anemia more often. Etc.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Doesn't racial science imply that there are more then just physiological differences?

Convenience/Ego/Put-down.

Exactly. The wish to put the blame on someone else for the evils of the world, too.

 

[LesCanadiens]

What do you mean by 'physiological/anatomical'? 'Cause it's fairly well known that that blacks tend to get sickle-cell anemia more often. Etc.

Maybe, but that isn't contingent on their race. Racial science is saying things like "all black men have huge penises to compensate for their tiny brains" and other such drivel. If you said "black people get sickle-cell anemia more often than white people because they're black," that's racial science.

 

[potatokiosk]

Define anatomical difference, does a difference in skin tone count?

 

[LesCanadiens]

Define anatomical difference, does a difference in skin tone count?

No. Skin pigmentation is not anatomy.

 

[Arwon]

Racial science isn't just saying they're different, which is slightly true because there are slight variations in frequency of different alleles (Tay Sachs, Sickle-cell, propensity to grow facial hair or have noses of a certain shape) and about a half-dozen recognisably quite distinct groups of humans (whites, blacks, asians including native americans, aboriginies, bushmen, and pygmies).

No, racial science is the practise of ascribing massive value to those very slight differences, holding those differences to be important and even determinant about people, countries, etcetera. It's saying Africa is poor because it's black. It's wanting to write policy based on this "science", and it's racist "scientific" judgements about people because of their race.

Plus it's utter rot, since most of them can't even agree on where to draw the lines in their baseless and spurious people-categories.

 

[Berzerker]

Do pygmies qualify as a "race" or only as a "people"?

Yes, Africa is home to the greatest genetic variation (our original homeland) and the split between pygmies and Watusis (and most other Africans) goes way back, even to before the time Africans were leaving the continent. I dont know why or if there's even a link, but tropical jungles can produce pygmies while colder climates take ~20,000 years to produce more pale skin/hair/eyes so our African ancestors entering Europe may have had black or dark skin. Race is mostly about geography and climate, the DNA tends to follow as the new environment "selects" for advantageous genes.

 

[Arwon]

Yeah, "race" realistically only means the deepest, oldest genetic splits in people (those half dozen groups). Everything else is ethnicity and identity and doesn't have the same clearly demonstrated DNA basis.

 

[Berzerker]

What do you mean by 'physiological/anatomical'? 'Cause it's fairly well known that that blacks tend to get sickle-cell anemia more often. Etc.

The Mediterranean seems to be the focus of sickle cell with people on either side with slight variations. I dont know that it shows up in Africans throughout the continent. You'd think India would see sickle cell since its a response to malaria but I dont know how prevalent it is there.

 

[potatokiosk]

No. Skin pigmentation is not anatomy.

Technically no, although it's physiological, a term you did mention in your OP.

The point is there are some differences anyone would accept as true (such as differences in melanin) so people who believe in racial science are merely believing in some additional differences.

 

[emzie]

The Mediterranean seems to be the focus of sickle cell with people on either side with slight variations. I dont know that it shows up in Africans throughout the continent. You'd think India would see sickle cell since its a response to malaria but I dont know how prevalent it is there.

India has the highest distribution of sickle cell outside sub-Saharan Africa. It's also common around the Persian Gulf.

 

[Berzerker]

Maybe, but that isn't contingent on their race. Racial science is saying things like "all black men have huge penises to compensate for their tiny brains" and other such drivel. If you said "black people get sickle-cell anemia more often than white people because they're black," that's racial science.

They do get sickle cell more often than white people because they're black. The black African ancestors of white people moved away from the tropics long ago and lost any apparent benefits of genes that evolved to deal with malaria. Well, we're not totally vulnerable but you get the point. As for tiny brains, Eskimos have the largest brains. That also appears to be driven by climate, Neandertals had large brains too. I dont know the averages for various groups but I wouldn't be surprised to see any differences tied into latitude and climate and the surrounding geography, ie how hard is life. Kicking back on some equatorial beach dont require the same intellectual effort as traversing a glacier to get a seal

 

[Lone Wolf]

Hmm, living in the hot steaming jungles isn't too easy either.

 

[Berzerker]

India has the highest distribution of sickle cell outside sub-Saharan Africa. It's also common around the Persian Gulf.

Yup, low lying equatorial/tropical swamplands - home to mosquitos and malaria. How far south in Africa does it show up?