you really encounter a large number of different and distinct ways of classifying groups of people
Sure. But you’re implying a nirvana-fallacy argument: that classification by race is not perfect. Of course it is not. It is, indeed, one of many many different ways. The interesting question is whether this classification reflects (imperfectly) some underlying joint in the territory, or whether it’s an entirely arbitrary construct. It doesn’t look like an arbitrary construct to me.
the weighty edifice that is “race”
Haven’t noticed it being a particularly weighty edifice. A hot button, a battlefront, a trigger, a minefield, a mindkiller, etc. etc., but an edifice..? :-/
Sure. But you’re implying a nirvana-fallacy argument: that classification by race is not perfect. Of course it is not. It is, indeed, one of many many different ways. The interesting question is whether this classification reflects (imperfectly) some underlying joint in the territory, or whether it’s an entirely arbitrary construct. It doesn’t look like an arbitrary construct to me.
The use of skin color, as opposed to other criteria, is historical accident and entirely arbitrary. The importance placed on it, therefore, is entirely arbitrary. Does it look non-arbitrary? Well, I can only recommend you read the first book of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson and consider how non-arbitrary the primary depicted culture thinks its sorting mechanism is. (Seriously, if you haven’t read it, read it. Bloody good, and does for racial attitudes what The Wheel of Time does for gender attitudes.)
As for whether it reflects an underlying joint? In our sterile, “This set of clusters, and that set of clusters, have something like a joint between them, even if the joint has a spot-weld right in the center” sense, yes. However, people who talk about race are never talking about genetic clusters, as a rule, they’re talking about skin color, and worse, the skin color of people in the middle of the damn spot weld.
Because we’re not comparing the Hutu and the Zulu and the Sara and the Ovimbundu to the Aegeans and the Sardinians and the Bulgars and the Romani and the Magyars. We’re comparing two groups of people in a country where every ethnic group that comes over gets dumped into a blender set on “chunky”.
Haven’t noticed it being a particularly weighty edifice. A hot button, a battlefront, a trigger, a minefield, a mindkiller, etc. etc., but an edifice..? :-/
Yes. Edifice. There is a huge volume of significance attached to something that doesn’t support it.
The use of skin color, as opposed to other criteria, is historical accident and entirely arbitrary.
Citation needed. I don’t think just a bland assertion will suffice :-)
We’re comparing two groups of people in a country where every ethnic group that comes over gets dumped into a blender set on “chunky”.
Maybe you are. I’m not. The world is bigger and more interesting than the United States. In particular, Americans are notorious for looking at the multicoloured world of races in a just-black-and-white way. I’m not arguing that the racial classification the US government uses makes any kind of sense :-/
Sure. But you’re implying a nirvana-fallacy argument: that classification by race is not perfect. Of course it is not. It is, indeed, one of many many different ways. The interesting question is whether this classification reflects (imperfectly) some underlying joint in the territory, or whether it’s an entirely arbitrary construct. It doesn’t look like an arbitrary construct to me.
Haven’t noticed it being a particularly weighty edifice. A hot button, a battlefront, a trigger, a minefield, a mindkiller, etc. etc., but an edifice..? :-/
The use of skin color, as opposed to other criteria, is historical accident and entirely arbitrary. The importance placed on it, therefore, is entirely arbitrary. Does it look non-arbitrary? Well, I can only recommend you read the first book of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson and consider how non-arbitrary the primary depicted culture thinks its sorting mechanism is. (Seriously, if you haven’t read it, read it. Bloody good, and does for racial attitudes what The Wheel of Time does for gender attitudes.)
As for whether it reflects an underlying joint? In our sterile, “This set of clusters, and that set of clusters, have something like a joint between them, even if the joint has a spot-weld right in the center” sense, yes. However, people who talk about race are never talking about genetic clusters, as a rule, they’re talking about skin color, and worse, the skin color of people in the middle of the damn spot weld.
Because we’re not comparing the Hutu and the Zulu and the Sara and the Ovimbundu to the Aegeans and the Sardinians and the Bulgars and the Romani and the Magyars. We’re comparing two groups of people in a country where every ethnic group that comes over gets dumped into a blender set on “chunky”.
Yes. Edifice. There is a huge volume of significance attached to something that doesn’t support it.
Citation needed. I don’t think just a bland assertion will suffice :-)
Maybe you are. I’m not. The world is bigger and more interesting than the United States. In particular, Americans are notorious for looking at the multicoloured world of races in a just-black-and-white way. I’m not arguing that the racial classification the US government uses makes any kind of sense :-/
You’re also overestimating the blender rpm.
Not quite. People usually call Colin Powell an African-American even though his skin isn’t that dark.