Quote:
Originally Posted by Hasbinbad
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Tell me, what makes up a race? "Scientists" used to think there was such a thing, but upon further examination, they found that there really is no such thing. Provide me with evidence of the validity of such a term, and I will discuss it with you. However, I beseech you to first consider that more learned people are now discussing the differences between groups of people using 3 separate criteria: ethnicity, nationality, and culture. It is actually along these three lines that make up the major differences between people. For instance, it is extremely fallacious to call all white people one group, as it is to call all black people one group. To say that an Irishman is within the same group as a Romanian man is ludicrous, there are by far more differences than similarities. The same goes for saying that an American black man is in the same group as an African; both men might have the same ethnicity, but the differences in culture and the implications of their different nationalities make them about as similar as an apple to a cucumber.
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Race (for humans) is a concept that allows us to quickly distinguish between various people. At one time that was solely skin color. As we progressed we realized that skin color was not nearly enough to encompass all that a person is. As such, race is now a much more complicated topic. Here is the current US Census Bureau definition. However, I can guarantee you that in ten years it will be different.
From Wikipedia: The OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the US Census as not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference."
As far as it being ridiculous to group an Irishman and a Romanian? It is entirely about your goal. If your goal was to separate based upon an umbrella color (i.e. white, black, red, orange, etc) then you are correct and have distinguished correctly. However, you could also say that their skin tones do not match exactly and that it is now an incorrect grouping. Hell, you can take two Irishmen and say they don't belong in the same grouping. You are entirely too hung up on this notion that there is a "correct" way to differentiate between people. There isn't. It is entirely about motives, goals, assumptions made, and whether it is ethically correct to do so.