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GKC
Guest
Which suggests that Bishop Williamson doesn’t understand history, either.
Indeed, that is the most charitable judgment.
GKC
Why Can't Anyone Have A Different Opinion About The Holocaust?
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Indeed, that is the most charitable judgment.
GKC
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tomarin
Guest
Technically there is only one human race because our species constitutes a single gene pool. Scientific racism is a discredited theory and race is no longer considered a biologically meaningful concept among the vast majority of people who study human evolution for a living. It may still be socially or culturally meaningful, but not biologically meaningful. In other words, it’s not real.
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Middleman
Guest
Is that so? Do you have a link supporting this newer viewpoint? I hadn’t heard that the definition of race had changed since I was in school, I’d be interested in reading up on it.
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Peter_J
Guest
It strikes me sometimes that, in practice, there’s a thin line between the concepts of “race” and “ethnicity”. (I could be totally wrong.)
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tomarin
Guest
I don’t have any links handy, but you might want to check out Stephen J. Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man.
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Ghoti
Guest
I had heard the same thing, once I got to university – the concept of “race” was nothing other than a social construct, same as “culture”.
At one time there were four races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid, and Australoid. I don’t know if the three-system or the four-system came first: either the Australoids were absorbed into or branched out from the other three.
Of course there were many “sub-groups”, many of whom were “mixtures” of two or three: I think the Ainu of Hokkaido were initially labeled Caucasoid-Mongoloid.
Anyway, to me it’s only a system for encouraging divisiveness and exclusion, especially with “biracial” or “multiracial” people who are either urged to “declare” themselves one way or the other, or who are denied “membership” in a particular race because they are “tainted” by some other.
Personally, I am pro-miscegenation. I’d like to see every different “race” and colour freely mixed together for a number of generations. To me, race purists are one step away from inbreeding. Mutts rule!
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tomarin
Guest
Groups that were once seen as different races have been “promoted” to ethnicities. See my post # 115.
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sedonaman
Guest
“Race” is a subset of “ethnicity”:
ethnicity (eth-nis-uh-tee)]
“Identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group’s customs, beliefs, and language.” – dictionary.com
It should be noted that “culture” is a learned trait while “race” is a genetic [physical] one.
The line becomes “thin” when people equate culture with race, thus imputing cultural traits to genetic ones, in order to play a race card.
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Peter_J
Guest
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tomarin
Guest
Except that there’s no biological basis to the concept of race, at least according to the vast majority of evolutionary biologists who study humans and other primates. There are still a few holdouts or controversialists who defend scientific racism, but they are few and far between.
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sedonaman
Guest
Then what is race? Besides, the fact remains that “racist” is still a powerful disarming accusation, and its strong implication is that the accusee believes that his “race” is superior to others genetically.
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Peter_J
Guest
Right. Just because someone believes that “race” is something real, doesn’t in any way mean that he/she supports scientific racism.
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Middleman
Guest
Exactly and well put! If there is no races, then actually racism also is a non-entity. What you are left with is cultural differences, likes and dislikes.
I feel like the word racist is thrown about all too freely, and used as slur when a group doesn’t get its way. For instance, Muslims who want to have their way in Western societies claim racism when their prophet is attacked. Black people who don’t want to take responsibility for their actions cry racism at the drop of a hat, when in fact they are individually responsible for their personal deficiencies.
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tomarin
Guest
It’s a system of cultural categories that express social distance. There’s no denying that human variation is real, but it doesn’t add up to separate “races” according to the criteria a biologist would demand say, when studying bird species. For one thing, humanity constitutes only one gene pool and secondly, the human variation that you can’t see (in terms of blood proteins and the like) doesn’t overlap with the observable characteristics that normally define race, like skin color, hair texture, eye shape and the like.
Not denying that discrimination based on race exists. But that doesn’t mean the underlying concept of race is valid in terms of biology.
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Lujack
Guest
This is the definition that I got in Anthropology class this fall, for whatever its worth:
Race has no biological basis, and is a social construct. However, while it is purely a social construct, it is also real.
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Soutane
Guest
The person who does not agree that 6,000,000 Jews were killed is either an anti-semite with an agenda or simply a credulous person to be pitied.AND corrected.
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Dauphin
Guest
People who believe in intellectual and religious freedom have a lot of explaining to do as to how they can justify the crusade against Bishop Williamson. What are they going to do next? Water-board him? Put him on the rack?
Any reasonable person can see how absurd and self-defeating the attacks on the bishop have been. If his views are so absurd, why don’t people just ignore him, like you would a crazy preacher on the street?
Instead, Jewish groups launch a massive assault, not just against the bishop, but against the Catholic Church, thereby provoking defensive reactions and leading more people to question the Holocaust. It’s difficult to imagine a more foolish strategy.
Any reasonable person can see how absurd and self-defeating the attacks on the bishop have been. If his views are so absurd, why don’t people just ignore him, like you would a crazy preacher on the street?
Instead, Jewish groups launch a massive assault, not just against the bishop, but against the Catholic Church, thereby provoking defensive reactions and leading more people to question the Holocaust. It’s difficult to imagine a more foolish strategy.
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Valke2
Guest
Because he is not a crazy street preacher. Considering he appeared on television to voluntarily discuss his hatred – oops – I mean belief that there was no holocaust, I can hardly find sympathy with the belief that there is some sort of crusade against him.
I can imagine a more foolish strategy based on ignoring people of influence who preach holocaust denial. That would be a more foolish strategy.
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Soutane
Guest
This is hardly a crusade against Williamson(he is no longer to be considered to be a Bishop)but it HAS turned into a crusade against the Church-which is precisely why he has been disciplined and ordered to apologise.Lies of this order MUST be exposed to daylight so that they can shrivel,blow away,and not infect others.Cover-ups just make things worse as all Catholics have learned to their chagrin.
Leading more people to question the holocaust?The usual suspects maybe.
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Valke2
Guest
I was impressed with the way the Pope and Church handled this when it was exposed. I agree with your assessment.
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