Douglas Kmiec posts a reasonable, if myopic, little article, positing that, as in the blurb, ” Rigid ratios of white, non-white only indulge ugly stereotypes.”
I’d like to go one step further.
Stop discussing race at all.
Why? Because race is irrelevant. And it’s irrelevant because race doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing. It’s a bad theory that, like phlogiston, has been replaced by DNA and genetics. And not only has genetics killed that off, but the newly-emerging field of epi-genetics is starting to tell us, quite distinctly, that genes are mutable, activatable, and de-activatable, by no means a hardcoded map to our future. The only reason we worry about race is because of the horrific stew of poisons and historical damage floating all around our culture, left over by (generally) well-meaning people working from a horribly ignorant understanding. And using the term in any active way forces you to buy into all of the damage, rather than simply begin to cut a clean slate and fix it for good.
The best way to heal said wounds is to give a leg up to the needy, whoever they are, and to actively discourage any use, any use at all, no matter how high-minded, of this world-is-flat, outdated theory.
Zathras
/ December 5, 2006People are not being careful with language when race is mentioned. The looks are just a small component of what “race” means to many. “Race” is just shorthand for a varying set of physical characteristics, socioeconomic conditions, and culture. That’s why you’ll see some activists say that Clarence Thomas or Alan Keyes are not “really” black. Everyone having a different perception of what “race” means makes meaningful discussion that much more difficult.
happycrow
/ December 5, 2006Only one of the many reasons why the whole thing should be jettisoned.
Mike
/ December 5, 2006Amen to that. That is a key reason I love the military, the only colors are Army Green, Navy Blue, Air Force Blue and Marine Kakhi.
To quote Collin Powell: “When I left the Army, it was the late 1950′s all over again”.
lizardqueen
/ December 5, 2006Yup. Before I moved to Texas, where there was no Navy housing around NAS Dallas (may it rest in peace), I only saw the world divided up between two groups: military and civilian.
Steph
/ December 6, 2006I absolutely agree with you Happycrow!
eowyn
/ December 6, 2006Yeah… then the only racial tension you will see will be between light black and dark black, or between black and hispanic, because they won’t know they’re supposed to stop hating each other now.
happycrow
/ December 6, 2006oooh, are we a little cynical today?
Mike
/ December 6, 2006Well, tell them to enlist for a couple years and see the future where everyone is treated as they have earned (more or less, its still a human organization and mistakes do happen). And the liberals tell US we need to be more “progressive”. Feh.
davidvogt
/ February 3, 2007Your article is very informative and helped me further.
Thanks, David