I know humans don't all look the same but could race just be a myth people 1000 years

[tradeunionsupporter]

I know humans don't all look the same but could race just be a myth people 1000 years ago did not divide people by skin color or race they divided people by economic class or religion or language.
http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm

[Judicator]

Race and nationalism are pretty new concepts, but we've been killing each other over petty differences for years.

[jake williams]

I know humans don't all look the same but could race just be a myth people 1000 years ago did not divide people by skin color or race they divided people by economic class or religion or language.
http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm
Yes and no. Tribal, national and "ethnic" divisions go back at least as far as recorded history. You don't automatically have the same beliefs about your friends or neighbours as you do about people in other countries, on the other side of the mountain, and so on, and you generally don't treat them the same way.

"Race" though as a specific construct is fairly new though, yes. The modern western conception of "race" comes out of a specific history of colonialism and early pseudoscience where it was believed that you could fairly easily categorize all the different people early colonialists found in different parts of the world, and distinguish them from Europeans (or even certain types of Europeans). Of course this is not true, but it not only did it have some early plausibility - people had a poor understanding of science, modern biology and evolutionary theory arose only recently and still is not widely understood, and of course people in different parts of the world are superficially quite different; it's also a very useful belief for ruling classes, for justifying the subjugation of colonial peoples, for justifying the material inequalities of capitalism.

If white people are the first people to acquire wealth (and it's still true that the wealthiest people have lighter skin than most people on earth), and they keep it, and you think our society is just, how do you make that argument? You make that argument by arguing that white people intrinsically deserve more material wealth than others. This is useful.


Race and nationalism are pretty new concepts, but we've been killing each other over petty differences for years.
Fairly rarely actually. Can you give me an actual example of people killing each other over petty differences?

[Tommy4ever]

Well, race based on skin colour has only become an intensely important issue in cultures since around the time of the slave trade and imperialism (when it became crucial to the European conscious in order to justify their acts). But in truth racism has existed for much longer.

Looking back to ancient Athens and Rome the citizens of both these cities considered foriegners, barbarians, to be genetically inferior and used similar logic to justify the enslavement of 'lesser races' that European slave owners in the Americas would a couple thousand years later.

Really, racism seems to be closely linked to situations in history in which one race held dominion over another - the idea being used to justify this situation.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Well, race based on skin colour has only become an intensely important issue in cultures since around the time of the slave trade and imperialism (when it became crucial to the European conscious in order to justify their acts).100% Agreed.


But in truth racism has existed for much longer.

Looking back to ancient Athens and Rome the citizens of both these cities considered foriegners, barbarians, to be genetically inferior and used similar logic to justify the enslavement of 'lesser races' that European slave owners in the Americas would a couple thousand years later.
I don't know about this second part though. While there was bigotry or dislike for some groups or whatnot, it seems like it was more about "us vs. them" in terms of conquest and whatnot, not racial superiority/inferiority. Slavery in the ancient world, the Mediterranean, Africa, and so on was not based on "race" for example, but on who conquered who and it was also not a position by birth that was irreversible. Greeks and Romans were just as likely to oppress and whip-up hatred against the people they took over in a neighboring city-state as they were people in a rival city state who were considered part of a different culture or ethnicity.

I think this is much different than modern racism which in an ideological way serves as a way to get around the contradiction within enlightenment and then capitalist thought that all people are born more or less equal but some are more equal than others.