>Humans ARE animals...

Come on now, you think I don't know that? However, no one divides the human species into suubspecies in modern biology. When the term "animal" is used in general language, it's used to refer to mammals and reptiles that are non-human...when is the last time you heard of an "animal rights" organization fighting for the rights of humans?

Man, you cats kill me (oh, and I'm not literally calling you a feline, if you need me to clear that up).

>..Maybe you think the
>human family belongs among single
>celled organisms.........that's definitely not >your
>brightest showing of literacy......

Ah, the personal attack.

>>Definition 1 is what I've been
>>saying all along. "genetically transmitted
>>physical characteristics". The odds of
>>me having blue eyes with
>>two black parents are ridiculously
>>high, because that isn't part
>>of the genetically transmitted physical
>>characteristics I received from my
>>parents...and aren't physical characteristics of
>>"black people".
>
>A note to ponder: the Hausa
>tribe that reside mainly in
>Ghana (west Africa) are naturally
>very deep brown complected, dark
>blue eyed people. They are
>fairly exclusive as far as
>tribes go, and consider pale
>faces to be witches. Breeding
>with the pale face Europeans
>is considered a NO-NO. Blue
>eyes is a phenotypical trait
>that does not connote race.

Certainly there are exceptions to every general rule in racial classification (there are also black people with fine hair and white people with thick lips), but classications are based on generalities. Take ethnicity for example, based on language, nationality, and culture, but of course terms like "culture" are extremely vague and hard to use as a classification (after all, is every Russian an active participant in "Russian culture"? would being americanized make one not Russian? would being raised in one country for 10 years, another in 5, and another for 14, make you have no nationality?)

>And what about Africans born
>with albinism? Are they suddenly
>not "black" according to you?

They might have other features which would allow them to fall into the category 'black'. To flip your question, would a person born in America from African parents be African, if he were raised by New Zealanders? There are a million exceptions to any attempt to organize large numbers of people into categories: be it ethnicity, nationality, or race.

>>say what you will, racial classification
>>is based on real difference.
>
>There is no such thing scientifically
>as race among the human
>family.

You didn't refute what I said with this sentence. Actual differences exist which are the basis for broad categories. And by "no such thing scientifically as race" that's just wrong...there is scientific evidence regarding racial classification...it has been attacked violently, but the concept of race is still utilized by scientists even today...for example, researchers study the disproportionate sickle cell anemia rates amongst "blacks"...without accepting the premise that "blacks" are distinctive from "whites" or "Asians", such studies could not be conducted. they don't study "whites" who were born in Africa or the Caribbean to research sickle cell anemia, they study "blacks"....that's only one example of scientists utilizing racial classification in research...there are numerous conditions which science has shown occur more in certain "racial groups" than others...skin cancer rates among "whites" for example...all scientifically proven. If there was no biological basis in racial classification, such disparities could not be found.

> You can argue against
>consistently proven facts all you
>want, but that makes what
>you are saying an opinion
>(and a false one at
>that) and not factual in
>any way, shape, or form.

Actually, I'm on the majority of the world's side with this one...you guys have the hard road of convincing the Earth's 6 billion people that race doesn't exist. Good luck.

Spread love,

Spirit
http://www.theamphibians.com

9 out of 10 people with two arms find something interesting about http://www.theamphibians.com
This summer: new audio, same odd sense of humor. Don't get "left" out, mossie your two-armed self on over and check it out.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com