Marchesk

So would have Eurasia, which relates to the point of arbitrary categorizations, although I think land masses are a bit less arbitrary than super ethni...

Enjoy your pyrrhic victory.

Sure, I amended my wording. Although, you admitted continents were somewhat arbitrary divisions, but they can be admitted into science nevertheless. I...

Equivocating about what? I noted that Europeans have considered themselves to belong to different groups over time. You said that didn't have anything...

My argument was never about the range of melanin in Europeans (notice how Northern Europeans tend to have less than Southern). TGW decided to make it ...

It's irrelevant to this particular discussion on whether "whiteness" is a relatively recent invention.

So white people were enslaved and discriminated against in the West based on their whiteness?

That doesn't change the fact that black people were considered property, then were denied various rights and targeted by hate groups for a long time.

It's the different things people would think about dark people that is the entire issue of racism.

So you then the racial issues around slavery and Jim Crow laws in the past ceased being a problem shortly after the Civil Rights movement, or perhaps ...

But the idea of being dark would be the reverse of what black has been considered for the past several centuries in the west. That's the point I'm mak...

Let's try a thought experiment. Say history went different, and an Ethiopian empire dominated Europe and much of the globe for several centuries. It i...

I'd be interested to know what you think isn't delusional, since it seems you think everyone is delusional about the issue.

The idea of whiteness is, not the pinkish skin pigment, or relative relatedness on the European continent.

Sure, but there are plenty of minorities who do say it remains a real problem. And white people.

No, but the idea of being white as a racially superior category was.

You don't have to go to university to understand that racism, even if it's the subtle kind, is still an issue. But don't believe me, go ask any Americ...

It was a social construct that having light skin meant one was from a superior racial category that rightfully gets to dominate as a result. Or are yo...

I said it was social construct, didn't I?

To express racial superiority or inferiority, and the resulting advantages/disadvantages that go with that.

I already know the reason, and it's not to identify the geography of one's ancestors.

Higher in the hyperbole he used to get elected? It's not a promise he can deliver on, short of starting a war, which I doubt even the Republican congr...

The question is what the motivation is for lumping such large populations into a groups based on skin color. I've noticed that people of European desc...

So in our accurate description of ethnic groups, do we consider Eskimos to be yellow or red?

So by that you mean they are more closely related to one another and have darker skin? Do you think we would recognize an all-encompassing category ba...

There would be related groups of people from sub-Sarahan Africa, southern Asia, and Australia who had darker skin than everyone else. But they wouldn'...

I would add further, that if it weren't for the slave trade, there wouldn't be black people, there would be Africans of different groups. And there wo...

I understand that there have been many non-European colonizers. What I'm saying is that whiteness as invented to justify domination of non-European gr...

White people aren't white, and black people aren't black, if you want to get technical about it. So obviously we can use colors to denote something ot...

It correlated with being of European descent, particularly from countries like England, Spain, France, Germany, etc. But what being white meant was be...

Why in hell would Mexico do any such thing?

We can only hope, or it's going to be a very long four years.

Regardless of whether we can meaningfully categorize a large geographical population into one super ethnic group, that doesn't change the origin of do...

But you wouldn't say the same about Asia, right, considering that Hindus, Chinese, Siberians and natives of Paupa Guinea vary considerably? Just as yo...

1). They didn't originate there, unless it's sub-Saharan Africa, but okay, their ancestors lived there long enough to adapt. 2). To the extent it's pa...

There part of many different groups, migrating in and out, fighting and conquering one another across an entire continent over thousands of years. You...

I've never denied ethnicity. I've denied the concept of race based on skin color. The idea that an entire continent of people could be considered belo...

But there wouldn't be white, black , etc racial categories. Those were invented during the colonial era. There is no scientific evidence for a "white"...

It's not the idea of ethnic origins, of which there are many in Europe, it's the idea of race that is the issue. The idea of being white, brown, black...

Nice! Thanks.

I never said people weren't aware of ethnic differences. I said people considered themselves and others to belong to different groups over time, depen...

There was a Simpsons episode with Homer saying he was going to avoid his comeuppance. May have been when he became a food critic.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/race/#HisConRac

You mean like "pink" or "tan" or even light brown? I'm sure people have always noticed differences. A red headed, freckled person who burns easily in ...

The point is that people in Europe didn't consider themselves to be white before a certain point. They considered themselves to be in other categories...

Good questions. Wiki claims it was late 17th century for the term modern use of white, but I suppose you would want a more substantial source.

Also, what meaning is given to calling someone "Asian". It's a vast continent. What does a Mongolian have in common with a Pakistani, besides being hu...

Well, some things are "socially constructed". Maybe there is a better way of saying it. How about, people have considered themselves and others to bel...

There was no such thing as being "white" or being "black" before a certain time. There were various ethnic groups competing and sometimes allying with...

Particularly with the Neanderthal genes, but at any rate, the history of being in the white or black race is one of slavery and then deep discriminati...