Tribal Instinct

About the word "race", and how it is used in context with the whole of humanity. We see people every day talk about racism, in the news, and even in our neighborhoods. They use race in the context of the skin color, such as what we call "black", and "white" (or caucasian). They use this to generalize a large group of people, and this is where it begins to get very controversial. What people are saying by this, is that people with a higher concentration of melanin in their skin are "different", however they are still homo sapiens sapiens. What is interesting to me, is that when we look at say animals, we classify a different race of animals as ones of a different species. So this leads me to ask, whether people with a different concentration of melanin are indeed homo sapiens sapiens, or something completely different. Does this mean persay, that a species of owl that has a slightly different tinge of feather, mean that its already something different? Please, enlighten me on this...

That's my "rant" for the day, I've been wanting to get this out for a long time..

People are people despite their color or creed. Your color of skin and/or ethnic background should make no difference anywhere on the earth. Unfortunately, the world we live in doesn't operate that way.

As much as some people dislike homosexuals, Chinease people, or Muslims, they are people too and they deserve the same rights that everyone else does.

Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, but in my opinion you can't "hate" a certain color, ethnic group, or religious faction, etc, just because of the actions of a few.

What my point is, is that I believe there is no such thing as race, only a larger store of chemicals in the skin.

So you think that every dog is just a canine? There is no difference between a German Shephard, a Poodle, a Labrador Retriever, or a Bassett Hound? Every species has many classifications and each classification carries a certain stereotype. While I'd like to say I make judgements based on individual situations I know that I am just as guilty as others when it comes to categorizing. This is true of age, social status, race, etc.

well, i see ur points trin...there are differences, BUT, that is not a good basis to judge someone by....

we all bleed red, and we all have the same basic make up internally....

I was commenting more on the aspect of the animal portion in the original post.

I often play devils advocate in discussions such as these so I hope I didn't offend anyone using the canine example. Yes we are all humans, but we are all different too. Personally I tend to classify more by age, lifestyle, and perhaps even education, rather than race. I hate to think how many different categories there are for someone like me!

I think that races to tend to have some strikingly similar traits among their own "race", but being somewhat of a statistician I know this isn't always true.

In a perfect world, we would all see eachother as equal, but as you've stated, this can never happen. So therefore we do what is natural, and put these fears in our heads and block ourselves in, because we feel "secure."

As a human being, I've grown to be quite different.

I approach every situation and every person as if they were different. I've met some amazing people this way, and I feel that its helped me have an open mind. I do not judge anyone I meet one on one immediately. I give myself time to see how I feel about a person, and whether I will associate myself with them in anyway.

I get along with black people as well as I get along with white and latin people. Its not that we have tons in common, its that I'm a people person, and I open myself up to different lifestyles, and I am always willing to listen to someone.

What my approach to this is, that its eliminating the need to classification of people who are all homo sapiens sapiens, but who have different skin color, facial features, ect.. I believe simply that there is no such thing as race for humans, but you can use it for example, on aliens (no, not the ones that cross borders ). Wouldn't it be hard for racists to then use a word to define someone different?