Race

[David]

Hey people I just wrote this for my blog at www.pyramidhead.mindsay.com and I thought I'd post it here so I can hear some opinions/discussion about it . Apologies for the slightly rambling nature of it, as I have a tendency to write like that, but hopefully you'll find it an interesting read anyway.

One of the most untouchable subjects in the last few decades has been the argument about whether racial characteristics exist.

It is interesting, because it was assumed a few centuries back that this was the case - and stereotypes which still exist in the minds of many (even though they are hesitant to admit it) were established... e.g. Asians are smart, Jews are greedy, Black-skinned people are primitive. This sort of thinking was one of the many contributors to the rise of the nazis (as they were big believers in racial characteristics) and thus the holocaust. It is also the primary reason why so many Africans were sold into slavery until the late 1800s, as it was viewed that they were inferior and primitive compared to white European culture.

Today, it seems to be only the domain of white supremacists and political parties such as One Nation that purport such an idea - that racial characteristics do exist. The trouble is, even discussing such a possibility is so politically incorrect that there is no scientific research available that I am aware of. This is a shame, as it is a crucial investigation that could help solve problems, such as the problems in Africa and racial tensions in Australia and other places. Admittedly, it could be used as a tool of white supremacists, but let's face it they are a very small minority who have little respect from the majority.

So, let's take a step back and look at it logically. Are there certain bred characteristics that exist in certain races as opposed to others? We know that certain physical characteristics seem apparent, anyway. For example, it is well known that the Inuit people are generally short and fat, while Ethiopians are tall and lanky (and good sprinters). Also, there is of course skin colour itself. So, if there are physical characteristics, could there also be mental characteristics? Now we are getting into very dangerous territory indeed. Are African countries so badly run because, well, the rulers are simply too dumb to know how to run it properly? I'll come back to that.

On Tuesday night, I went to see a movie called Ten Canoes. The movie is based in Australia, centuries before European occupation. For those who are not familiar with Australian history, the Australian Aborigines lived quite primitively, even compared to some of the tribes in Africa. The movie I believe is very authentic as it was written in close association with an Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Do you know what I saw in the movie? Not natives. Just normal people, like you and me. True, their lives were quite basic and much of their society was founded on a rather wacky religion, but they still had very strong definitions of right and wrong. Sound familiar? The fact is, while they did not have the technology that people in England had at that time in history, their laws and way of life was very complex, and basically as advanced as they could be in the circumstances. The characters in the movie talk to each other (albeit in an Aboriginal language, with subtitles) exactly the way we do today, whether it's enjoying crude humour or trying to hit on a girl. They really were not any different to us today. The only thing that was different was their culture. I don't know if you can say one culture is better than another. Certainly the European culture had the advantage of advanced technology, which made it better I guess. For example, in the movie a guy's wife goes missing, so after a few enquiries he spears a suspicious stranger. If there was a postal system, she could have written a letter explaining where she was. See what I mean? Their culture was the best it could be, but with advanced technology it would have been better. But their immediate clash with European culture was simply too big a jump. The immediate temptations of alcohol and other things, which they were obviously not used to, not to mention white inteference, basically stuffed everything up. What are the young guys going to do when their elders are lying in the street drunk? You could develop this further but I think this sufficiently explains the problems that Australian Aborigines have today. And, what do you know, it applies to the problem with Africa I talked about earlier as well. Their system of government, in the tribes, was probably perfect as far as it could have been. As far as I know, they had few of the problems they face today, such as AIDS etc. Then the continent was settled by Europeans, and they were suddenly expected to conform to a completely different culture's way of life. How can someone adapt to that?

So, then, what is the solution to the problems in Africa and elsewhere? Sure, they'd be better off if we'd never came, but it's too late for that now. You could say that they should just go back to tribal lifestyles, but that's ludicrous. They're hardly going to want to give up the benefits of advanced technology, who would? Yet at the same time, the military regimes continually destabilise the countries. So are African rulers just too "stupid" to look after their countries. In a way, yes. But not because they were born any less intelligent than the rest of us. It's education. Obviously education is poor in Africa, what with disease, famine and everything else. Most of the generals in charge of the countries have probably not received much in the way of education. So, no wonder that they can't run the country properly. And all the diseases and so forth just make it harder. Forget about some live aid rock concert that donates 10 million dollars or whatever to African dictatorships. It's not going to work. What needs to be made a priority is education, right up there with health and economics. The better educated you are, the smarter you are, thus you are more able to run a country properly. I don't know how this will be implemented though, because it's hard to receive education when you're struggling just to survive. I guess I don't have the solution, but someone smarter than me maybe could work out something based on these premises.


And a bit of a poser at the end that is sort of related to the first part of this entry... if all mankind is equal, and race is merely an ideology (which I believe to be true), why is there a NAIDOC week where we are supposed to say sorry for the crimes people of our "race" committed against people of the Aboriginal "race"? Are we suggesting that somehow white people are worse than black people, and that they would not have done the same if the situations had been reversed? You know what? I know they would have. Because we are all the same in the end. No matter what colour our skin is.

[Pa Marmo]

Just on that skin colour bit young David, we are all the same colour just in differing shades.The pigment that colours all our skin is called melonin and the only thing that varies is the concentration. The only thing that has caused the differences in people is breeding. If all the really white people bred whit all the really dark people we would return to mid brown where it all began.

[David]

Thanks Nuxta that is an interesting point, and to be honest I wasn't aware of that. Although when I said skin colour I guess I meant all the physical differences associated with races.

[Pa Marmo]

I wouldnt even call them races, I like to refer to the differences as people groups. There is a very interesting series of doco`s that have been run on Foxtel about genetics and the whole topic is how it seems that every person on the planet are descendant from one original pair. The doco says this must be the original apes we have evolved from but I believe it was Adam & Eve.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

A very well thought out and interesting read David. I do believe that access to educational resources and the way they are administered play a vital role in our community and are major differences between the 'white European' and African cultures.
Obviously there are physical differences due to the adaptation to our natural surroundings over thousands of years which would explain theories such as the 'white men can't jump' and 'black men can't swim' but as far as intellectual capabilities are concerned I like to think we're all the same. We all have a capacity to learn, I think our surroundings dictate though just how much we can and need to

[Dr Alf Andrews]

[HAL]

How did you hear about HAL?

[Pa Marmo]