Re: OT: [Let_It_Be_Forever_Islam] THE WORLD OF THE JINN
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Friday, October 17, 2003, 1:49 |
|---|
On 16 Oct 2003 at 16:39, Costentin Cornomorus wrote:
> --- Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> > Quoting Costentin Cornomorus
> > <elemtilas@...>:
> >
> > > I'm not sure I'd buy into capitalising "Gay"
> > (any
> > > more than "Straight"), though, neither
> > > racio-ethnic terms. Those are kind of like
> > > capitalising "green eyed".
> >
> > I thought is was usual practice to capitalize
> > the more scientifquesque race-
> > labels like "Caucasoid", "Mongoloid" and
> > "Negroid"?
>
> I don't know, really. I personally don't use
> those terms (and probably wouldn't capitalise
> them when I do), and scientifically would balk at
> them.
I assume you'd scientifically balk at terms like "male" or "Irish",
too.
There is a continuum of gender, not just mentally, but physically
too, with a number of different kinds of androgyny possible, and yet
we still talk, even in scientific terms, of "male" and "female".
Likewise, the lines on the map of the world that delineate Ireland
(or any other country) are a completely artificial construct, created
for our convenience. There is virtually no genetic basis for them,
and precious little linguistic basis (if anything, the lines on the
map drive the language(s) people speak, and not the other way round).
OTOH, there are several very real basises(?) for the use of simple
terms for sub-species stocks with the human race. There is seldom a
variable continuum from one race to the other (absent interracial
breeding) in terms of pure genetics as well as in cranial
characteristics, facial types, and various skeletal measurement
ratios. Various diseases strike one particular race, but are rarer or
even impossible in other races (lactose intolerance is more prevalent
in Mongoloids, sickle-cell anemia only occurs in Negroids, Down's
syndrome occurs mainly (but not exclusively) in Caucasoids).
In fact, one could argue that there is a stronger case for
classifying people by race than there is on the basis of gender.
Paul
Replies