Re: Differences - was Re: >H gender apartheid and transhumanists

Dan Clemmensen (Dan@Clemmensen.ShireNet.com)
Thu, 19 Nov 1998 19:11:47 -0500

> > >Bernard Hughes wrote
> > >
> > >
> > > Seems to me the significant word is "significant". I would consider someone a
> > > racist who believes the differences in races are sufficient to stereotype
> > > individuals behavior. e.g..
> > >
> > > "You are Asian, you must be good at Maths". "You are black, you must be stupid".
> > >
> > > I think few racial differences are significant in that sense. Only one case
> > > springs to mind where it might be valid to treat individuals differently based on
> > > race. That is in testing for certain heritable genetic diseases. I'm hard pressed
> > > to think of racial differences that are not swamped for the individual by
> > > environmental factors and personal genetic variation.
> > >
The U.S. Army tries very hard to be race-neutral. However, in basic training we did have one class in which the US Army made an explicit and official distinction: The class was in how to apply camoflage paint to your face. You choose colors based on the skin color. It was hilarious listening to the drill sargent using circumlocutions while attempting to explain the theory. I know that this isn't really racist, but its a very clear distinction made solely based on the color of your skin.