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Forum nameOkay Activist Archives
Topic subjectPhenotypes are not racial characteristics...
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=22695&mesg_id=22747
22747, Phenotypes are not racial characteristics...
Posted by bluetiger, Tue Aug-01-00 10:32 AM
Race (for those who skipped genetics class) implies sub-species. Sub-species cannot interbreed or produce offspring. Of the few known exceptions to this rule, the offspring produced is sterile.
What you are arguing is that phenotypes equal racial identifiers, and that is simply not the case. Homo sapiens (which is what we are biologically and scientifically speaking) are for the most part genotypically homogeneous. There is very little real variation. Phenotypically, we span a spectrum/continuum that also has very little variation. We are not comparing house cats and tigers here (two different races). We are talking about homo sapiens/humans (one race). Our phenotypical variation depends largely on climate and selective breeding, which again does not equate to race. You can argue all you want that there are black and white races, but there isn't any real science that will back you up. Thus we only have ethnicities and cultures, and those are closer identifiers of who we really are socially because scientifically we are all pretty much the same.
While this is mainly between you and Koala, I felt the need to explain this from a scientific/common sense perspective. I hope this helps.

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