One of my Pappy's Proverbs is the very obvious thought, "If you ask the wrong questions, then you will get the wrong answers." For at least most of the history of the world men have been in philosophical and even military conflicts because of issues surrounding race. And any way you approach it, that is one of the stupidest discussions anyone could ever have.
In the first place, don't even begin to talk to me about race unless you first define for me precisely what a "race" is. Can you do that? Can you? Think about it: every set of full siblings that has ever lived in the entire history of the world has had a different genetic make-up than every other set of full siblings. Were they different races? My first cousin came to visit us this week. He and I share common grandparents - on one side, but not on the other. Are we different races? But if you go back far enough in our genealogy, you likely will come to a point where you might say that we were of different races, because the further back you go, the more diverse our genealogy becomes, until it begins to dovetail into Noah.
Are Eskimos of a different race than Mongolians? Are Italians of a different race than Serbians? Define precisely what you are talking about before you try to get me into an argument. "Don't be ridiculous," you respond; "you know the difference between black and white." Oh, do I? Are the Hutus in Africa the same race as the aboriginal Australians and as the Tutsi (Watusi) people in Africa, many of whom are extraordinarily tall? The pygmies in southeast Asia are very short, but they are black. Which "blacks" are you talking about? Are pygmies and Tutsi of the same race merely because their skin is (approximately) the same color even though their average height may be three feet different?
Race has nothing to do with anything, other than physical characteristics, and every two people in the world have different physical characteristics. My two oldest grandsons married very lovely young ladies and upgraded the genetic base of our clan considerably in the process. Our "race" improved itself tremendously by their romantic attachments, in my humble opinion.
I suffer considerably from "white man's disease," which is a phrase denoting the fact that the average white man (supposedly) cannot jump as high as the average black man. So? During the time it took me to write this paragraph, several black and white men have been born and died, and thus the "average" changed by that much. I suspect that the average black man can jump higher than the average white man, but until you test every man in the world, how could you know for sure? But the average is changing every day, and what difference does it make, anyway? The world record holder in the high jump is a Cuban, and the man whose record he broke was a German. All of which proves what? In 1988, the man who held the world record was a German, and the man whose record he broke was Swedish. Did that mean that Germans and Swedes could jump higher than Africans? Do you see the convoluted nonsense that we can get into when we start discussing race?
People talk about the propriety of interracial marriages, but you can never get those who are opposed to them to define precisely what they mean by "race." Are Mexicans a different race than Germans? Are the Chinese a different race from Mongolians? If you oppose interracial marriages as a matter of principal, are you opposed to Chinese marrying Mongolians?
The bottom line is that people can do nothing to determine their genetic make-up, and what difference does it make anyhow? What does make a huge difference is the culture in which a person is raised. Race does not determine how an individual acts, but culture can have a profound influence upon how people act. There are many factors that determine how people act, but cultural factors are some of the most powerful. Just write this down: THE QUESTION TO BE ASKING IS NOT ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE IN RACES, BUT ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE IN CULTURES.
My observation has been that when people talk about disliking a particular race, what they mean is that there is something in that culture that is abhorrent or distasteful to them. There is nothing wrong with that: all of us have opinions. But put the blame where the blame belongs. People do not behave in a particular way because their skin is a particular color, but (to some extent) because of the culture in which they were raised.
And even when we get to cultures, the culture in which one is raised does not force him to act in a particular way. Hitler claimed that the Aryan race (whatever that is) was superior to all others, and that that fact justified him in persecuting those other races, which in the final analysis was actually a searing indictment of the Aryan race. But not all Germans acted like Hitler did, and none of them had to.
People ask, "Are interracial marriages wrong?" Again, before you ask me that question, define specifically what you mean by "race." And also, be aware that there is a huge difference between "strongly inadvisable" and "morally wrong."
Technically, I married a woman of a different race. Her genealogy is largely German; mine is largely Welsh. (Hitler might have considered that to be an interracial marriage.) And yes, there have been some difficult periods in our relationship when my emotional Welsh genetics ran up against her efficient German genetics. Occasionally, in frustration, I have been known to exclaim, "Welshmen should never marry Germans!" I did not really mean it, of course; but couples do need to go into a marriage with their eyes wide open with regard to the factors that will necessarily place stress upon the relationship; because the marriage is for better or for worse, till death us do part. And cultural factors definitely can affect a marriage negatively. And if a couple marries, they are morally obligated to the God before whom they took the oath to stay with it to the end.
I do know of white couples who have adopted black babies: black race, white culture. Which are they? And the babies couldn't help what they were in any case. Some people's logic is so strained that they would have it that those children could never marry anyone, because whichever way they went, the marriage would be mixed.
If a man is half Latino and half Scandanavian and a woman is half Oriental and half Arab, what does that mean with regard to their racial make-up? If you would oppose their marriage, upon what logical and moral grounds would you do so? It might be entirely possible that once you got back past their great-grandparents, both of them were entirely of African derivation.
Again, except for the case of full siblings, EVERY ONE OF US IS OF A DIFFERENT GENETIC DERIVATION. Cain's children's genetics were different than his - and thus it has ever been.
If you don't like a particular culture, then say so. There are many things in all cultures that could be improved, and we are not required to like those things and we have the freedom to express our dislikes. But place the cause where it deserves to be (on the culture), and not on the race, which is neither here nor there as far as behavior is concerned.
And ultimately, place the blame on man's sinful behavior.
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