Echo Magnum
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I was reading something on an interesting blog that's been on my mind for a few days now and thought I could share this with anyone who might find this interesting.
To avoid an extensively long post ( this post is already very long ) I will just give you the link to the blog
What is race?
It then goes on to describe how race is "inherited" , people of race inherit biological features, but they also inherit their moral and temperamental and intellectual features. The idea of race in other-words says that people of the same race are exactly the same biologically, morally, and intellectually/mentally.
This is not true because we can have two people of the same race who are completely different mentally, intellectually and biologically although they might share common physical features due to their geographical background and morals due to their similarities in culture/beliefs ( religion/dogmatic views e.t.c ) but beneath all this no two people even twins are exactly and perfectly homogeneous.
This brings about our next question. Racism.
( This might be a sensitive topic but bare with me )
With the ideology of race ( believing that different people of the same race are all the same ) , almost indefinitely, racism is born and as long as people think this way racism, even as mild stereotyping, might never stop.
Lets look at America because USA is the most diverse country in the world with a multitude of different cultures, people and "races" :
So the Irish where in a way the first slaves in America, although poor and enslaved ( worked endlessly for no pay ) they where not discriminated against ( apart from being slaves, obviously slaves are treated bad, but they was no racial discrimination ) not necessarily because they where also Caucasian ( although that might have played as a factor ) but mainly because the idea of race did not exist yet. It wasn't really a case of race, it was more of a case over ownership of land and wealth that made you accepted in young America.
Why didn't it continue like this? Why then was the idea of race invented ?
It was here when the idea of race was first introduced, why? because unified people, even slaves ( who had nothing ), are a very dangerous thing, when people unite regardless of cultural differences, ethnic backgrounds, physical features, and for the sake of simply looking out for one another, for "human-sake" they are more powerful than even the most controlling and powerful government system. This was a threat to slave owners, colonialists and the general system of control.
Slave trade began to shift more towards Africa than anywhere else.
But why Africa? Was it just because Africans look most different from Caucasians?
Not entirely, the main reason was...
One of the things we have to recognize is that slavery existed virtually everywhere. It existed throughout the Mediterranean, for example. Slavery was thousands of years old by the time the colonists in America established slavery. There was no need to justify slavery because the Spanish had slaves; the Portuguese had slaves. In other words, slavery was part of the normal state of affairs of the colonizing nations. It was part of their world.
But this was a time when the English themselves were expanding their own sense of freedom. Their ideas about liberty and equality and justice were part of the Enlightenment period that the English went through. That's the period from about 1690 to 1790. And even the poorest Englishman knew he had rights, which is part of that Enlightenment philosophy.
So the problem then became how to justify slavery, especially as the anti-slavery movement got started. At first it was heathenism. You could say, "Well, yeah. We could keep these people enslaved because they were heathens." But then, many slaves began to convert to Christianity. So what do you do with slaves who are now Christians and presumably have souls?
Pseudo Science in the 19th century was involved to justify slavery. Science did not create the idea of race, race was already invented, instead science was brought into the picture to help justify the idea of "race" and why it was " O.K " to miss-treat certain groups of people.
Scientists began to claim that that e.g because different groups of people "races" have different skull sizes than Caucasians they where less intelligent, this became "common knowledge" but this is wrong because skull size has nothing to do with intelligence, also most of the samples from some races ( presumably Native-Indians ) where taken from women/females who have naturally smaller bone structure than men, but even females ( women ) have been proven to be generally smarter and more mature than men, the brain is too complex an organ to simply state " the bigger the better" but then again in the 19th century most people where gullible and would believe anything "scientific" or religious.
So what are your thoughts on this:
Is race real? Are we all different species of humans?
Do you think that Race is an illusion?
What are your opinions on racism, is it a serious offense or is it to simply be accepted as "human nature"
Social upbringing influences a lot on our way of life, would you identify yourself with e.g your country?
What do you feel generally? Should we all live as one golbal village ( in a way we already are ) or does this hinder other cultures?
Why should we care anyway?
You don't have to answer all that just your opinion on this...
To avoid an extensively long post ( this post is already very long ) I will just give you the link to the blog
You don't have to read all of it if you dont want, I'll just talk specifically about what I found interesting an cut straight to the point, but it might also help in reading this if you feel like debating/ make a detailed comment about this and don't know where all this stuff is from. The entire article is an edited interview with Audrey Smeldy
Race- The Power of an Illusion
I don't read blogs much, I actually found this one by chance in one of my Google/wiki knowledge seeking marathons
Race- The Power of an Illusion
I don't read blogs much, I actually found this one by chance in one of my Google/wiki knowledge seeking marathons
What is race?
Race is an ideology that says that all human populations are divided into exclusive and distinct groups; that all human populations are ranked, they are not equal. Inequality is absolutely essential to the idea of race. The other part is that the behavior of people is very much part of their biology.
It then goes on to describe how race is "inherited" , people of race inherit biological features, but they also inherit their moral and temperamental and intellectual features. The idea of race in other-words says that people of the same race are exactly the same biologically, morally, and intellectually/mentally.
This is not true because we can have two people of the same race who are completely different mentally, intellectually and biologically although they might share common physical features due to their geographical background and morals due to their similarities in culture/beliefs ( religion/dogmatic views e.t.c ) but beneath all this no two people even twins are exactly and perfectly homogeneous.
Race wasn't invented because it is a set of beliefs and attitudes about human variation. It has nothing to do with the biological variation itself. You can have many societies with great diversity in physical features without the idea of race. Race represents attitudes and beliefs about human differences, not the differences themselves.
This brings about our next question. Racism.
( This might be a sensitive topic but bare with me )
With the ideology of race ( believing that different people of the same race are all the same ) , almost indefinitely, racism is born and as long as people think this way racism, even as mild stereotyping, might never stop.
Lets look at America because USA is the most diverse country in the world with a multitude of different cultures, people and "races" :
The earliest colonists came and took over whatever land they could get from the Indians. And by the 1620s or so, it was very clear they needed laborers to work that land. And that's when they established indentured servitude. Most of the indentured servants were Europeans, often Irish, Scots, English. Sometimes they were people who were captured in wars with the Irish - a phenomenon again that we also don't talk about very much. But the very first slaves that the English made in the Caribbean were Irish. And there were more Irish slaves in the middle of the 17th century than any others.
But there was really no such thing as race then. The idea of race had not been invented. Although "race" was used as a categorizing term in the English language, like "type" or "sort" or "kind," it did not refer to human beings as groups.
And what's important to understand is that the laborers and the poor fraternized together. They socialized together. They worked together, they played together, they drank together, they slept together, they lived together.
But there was really no such thing as race then. The idea of race had not been invented. Although "race" was used as a categorizing term in the English language, like "type" or "sort" or "kind," it did not refer to human beings as groups.
And what's important to understand is that the laborers and the poor fraternized together. They socialized together. They worked together, they played together, they drank together, they slept together, they lived together.
So the Irish where in a way the first slaves in America, although poor and enslaved ( worked endlessly for no pay ) they where not discriminated against ( apart from being slaves, obviously slaves are treated bad, but they was no racial discrimination ) not necessarily because they where also Caucasian ( although that might have played as a factor ) but mainly because the idea of race did not exist yet. It wasn't really a case of race, it was more of a case over ownership of land and wealth that made you accepted in young America.
Some Africans who got their freedom were able to buy land. They were able to establish themselves in a homestead, engage in trade and other activities with white farmers. They lent money to their white neighbors, for example, and they were involved in court cases. And this is where you see the equality clearly. Those Africans don't seem to be treated different from the white planters and other landowners. Once a person has land, then you have status.
Why didn't it continue like this? Why then was the idea of race invented ?
( referring to the slaves of that time )
When you read descriptions of the period you get the picture that color doesn't make much difference, physical features don't make much difference to these people, because they were all in the same boat. They saw themselves as having in common how they were related to the planters, the big owners. Servants were subjected to all sorts of cruel forms of punishment. They ran away together when they were unhappy about their situation.
By 1680, you see the beginning of the changes. What had happened - and this is a complicated story - was that colonial leaders had to deal with Bacon and that rebellion. The British sent a fleet of three ships and by the time they got to Virginia, there were 8,000 poor men rebelling who had burned down Jamestown - blacks, whites, mulattos. And it was quite clear that this kind of unity and solidarity among the poor was dangerous.
( referring to the government )
After that, they began to pass laws, very gradually. They passed laws that gave Europeans privileges while they increasingly enslaved Africans. They passed a number of laws that prevented blacks, Indians, and mulattos from owning firearms, for example. Everybody had firearms. Everybody in Virginia still has firearms!
When you read descriptions of the period you get the picture that color doesn't make much difference, physical features don't make much difference to these people, because they were all in the same boat. They saw themselves as having in common how they were related to the planters, the big owners. Servants were subjected to all sorts of cruel forms of punishment. They ran away together when they were unhappy about their situation.
By 1680, you see the beginning of the changes. What had happened - and this is a complicated story - was that colonial leaders had to deal with Bacon and that rebellion. The British sent a fleet of three ships and by the time they got to Virginia, there were 8,000 poor men rebelling who had burned down Jamestown - blacks, whites, mulattos. And it was quite clear that this kind of unity and solidarity among the poor was dangerous.
( referring to the government )
After that, they began to pass laws, very gradually. They passed laws that gave Europeans privileges while they increasingly enslaved Africans. They passed a number of laws that prevented blacks, Indians, and mulattos from owning firearms, for example. Everybody had firearms. Everybody in Virginia still has firearms!
It was here when the idea of race was first introduced, why? because unified people, even slaves ( who had nothing ), are a very dangerous thing, when people unite regardless of cultural differences, ethnic backgrounds, physical features, and for the sake of simply looking out for one another, for "human-sake" they are more powerful than even the most controlling and powerful government system. This was a threat to slave owners, colonialists and the general system of control.
Slave trade began to shift more towards Africa than anywhere else.
Then there was another change: There was a decline in the number of European servants coming to the New World. At the same time, there was an increase in the ships bringing Africans to the New World. By the 1690s or so, the English themselves had outfitted their ships to bring Africans back from the continent, and this is the first time that they had had direct connections.
But why Africa? Was it just because Africans look most different from Caucasians?
Not entirely, the main reason was...
Africans also had something else. They had skills which neither the Indians nor the Irish had. The Africans brought here were farmers. They knew how to farm semi-tropical crops. They knew how to build houses. They were brick makers, for example. They were carpenters and calabash carvers and rope makers and leather workers. They were metal workers. They were people who knew how to smelt ore and get iron out of it. They had so many skills that we don't often recognize. But the colony leaders certainly recognized that. And they certainly gave high value to those slaves who had those skills.
After 1690 things begin to change. All of the Europeans become identified as "white." And Africans take on a different kind of identity. They are not only heathens, but they are people who are perceived as vulnerable to being enslaved. And that's a major point. Africans were vulnerable because it became part of the consciousness that they had no rights as Englishmen. Even the poorest Englishman knew that he had some rights. But once a planter owns a few Africans, the idea that the Africans had no rights that they had to recognize became very clear. And that's why they were vulnerable to being enslaved, and kept in slavery. The laws that were passed after that all tended to diminish the rights of African people. But between 1690 and 1735, even those Africans who had been free and who had been there for many generations, had their rights taken away from them.
Once you magnify the difference between the slaves and the free, then it was possible to create a society in which the slaves were little better than animals. They were thought of as animals. And the more you think of slaves as animals, the more you justify keeping them as slaves.
After a while, slavery became identified with Africans. Blackness and slavery went together in the popular mind. And this is why we can say that race is a product of the popular mind, because it was this consciousness that blackness and slavery were bound together, that gave people the idea that Africans were a different kind of people.
After 1690 things begin to change. All of the Europeans become identified as "white." And Africans take on a different kind of identity. They are not only heathens, but they are people who are perceived as vulnerable to being enslaved. And that's a major point. Africans were vulnerable because it became part of the consciousness that they had no rights as Englishmen. Even the poorest Englishman knew that he had some rights. But once a planter owns a few Africans, the idea that the Africans had no rights that they had to recognize became very clear. And that's why they were vulnerable to being enslaved, and kept in slavery. The laws that were passed after that all tended to diminish the rights of African people. But between 1690 and 1735, even those Africans who had been free and who had been there for many generations, had their rights taken away from them.
Once you magnify the difference between the slaves and the free, then it was possible to create a society in which the slaves were little better than animals. They were thought of as animals. And the more you think of slaves as animals, the more you justify keeping them as slaves.
After a while, slavery became identified with Africans. Blackness and slavery went together in the popular mind. And this is why we can say that race is a product of the popular mind, because it was this consciousness that blackness and slavery were bound together, that gave people the idea that Africans were a different kind of people.
One of the things we have to recognize is that slavery existed virtually everywhere. It existed throughout the Mediterranean, for example. Slavery was thousands of years old by the time the colonists in America established slavery. There was no need to justify slavery because the Spanish had slaves; the Portuguese had slaves. In other words, slavery was part of the normal state of affairs of the colonizing nations. It was part of their world.
But this was a time when the English themselves were expanding their own sense of freedom. Their ideas about liberty and equality and justice were part of the Enlightenment period that the English went through. That's the period from about 1690 to 1790. And even the poorest Englishman knew he had rights, which is part of that Enlightenment philosophy.
So the problem then became how to justify slavery, especially as the anti-slavery movement got started. At first it was heathenism. You could say, "Well, yeah. We could keep these people enslaved because they were heathens." But then, many slaves began to convert to Christianity. So what do you do with slaves who are now Christians and presumably have souls?
Pseudo Science in the 19th century was involved to justify slavery. Science did not create the idea of race, race was already invented, instead science was brought into the picture to help justify the idea of "race" and why it was " O.K " to miss-treat certain groups of people.
Scientists began to claim that that e.g because different groups of people "races" have different skull sizes than Caucasians they where less intelligent, this became "common knowledge" but this is wrong because skull size has nothing to do with intelligence, also most of the samples from some races ( presumably Native-Indians ) where taken from women/females who have naturally smaller bone structure than men, but even females ( women ) have been proven to be generally smarter and more mature than men, the brain is too complex an organ to simply state " the bigger the better" but then again in the 19th century most people where gullible and would believe anything "scientific" or religious.
Louis Agassiz became convinced by Morton that Africans were a separate species.
Types of Mankind went through nine editions before the end of the century. It was widely read. But even people who were not literate knew what the findings were. And the findings demonstrated, or at least supposedly confirmed, that Africans were naturally inferior and they should be kept in slavery. They could not function independently of slavery. That's the whole gist of the Types of Mankind.
Types of Mankind went through nine editions before the end of the century. It was widely read. But even people who were not literate knew what the findings were. And the findings demonstrated, or at least supposedly confirmed, that Africans were naturally inferior and they should be kept in slavery. They could not function independently of slavery. That's the whole gist of the Types of Mankind.
So what are your thoughts on this:
Is race real? Are we all different species of humans?
Do you think that Race is an illusion?
What are your opinions on racism, is it a serious offense or is it to simply be accepted as "human nature"
Social upbringing influences a lot on our way of life, would you identify yourself with e.g your country?
What do you feel generally? Should we all live as one golbal village ( in a way we already are ) or does this hinder other cultures?
Why should we care anyway?
You don't have to answer all that just your opinion on this...