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Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 3:25 pm
by earthling
swid wrote:Genetic genealogy is an interest of mine and there are a lot of folks of colonial American ancestry who go all in on it - the tl;dr version is that the consumer-level autosomal tests (Ancestry, 23andMe, etc.) have a very hard time reliably distinguishing NW European ethnicities apart, as (surprise!) they're all *very* similar to each other.

Y-chromosomal tests can be more informative on deep ancestry, but that's only one line of ancestry.
Is fascinating how slight changes in genetic mutations work and makes a lot of sense in identifying the markers they use to track migrations. The understanding of these occasional slight changes along with Africa having the most genetic diversity and everywhere else is a subset pretty much conclude we all ultimately come from Africa/Arabia area. So what does ancestry really mean... whatever era(s) you embrace apparently.

BTW, one interpretation of how humans developed light skin is that when Africans migrated to Caucasus Mountains/Caspian Sea area 40K+ years ago, it took about 10K years to evolve lighter skin - due to the constantly overcast environment. The lack of sun caused the skin to lighten over many generations in order to make more Vitamin D from the UVB rays. Something to that effect.

Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:09 pm
by chingon
brewcrew1000 wrote:
chingon wrote:
brewcrew1000 wrote: No I think its super dumb that "American" is even an option
That’s such a remarkably American thing to think, it pretty much proves you wrong.

Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:14 pm
by chingon
earthling wrote:
chingon wrote:
earthling wrote:You can also attribute it to some immigrants who wanted their children to 'be American', by not teaching them the Old World ways or language. After a couple generations the identity could become lost. But would suspect many who call themselves American as their ancestry is about Provincial Nationalism, an outright rejection if maybe even a belief in American Superiority.

I suspect your suspicion is based on stereotypes and prejudice.
It's pretty hard to loosely discuss segments of people/behavior and escape stereotyping, so yes, I could be considered guilty of stereotyping in this case. But suspect it's still the case. Loosely calling someone OCD because they show those behaviors could also be considered stereotyping.
I’m just kind of baffled that you would think its acceptable to leap wildly to the conclusion that someone’s cultural identity is somehow grounds for deciding they are xenophobes who believe in American superiority. Especial baffling given the reactionary cultural roots of white ancestry identity in the US.

I mean, I don’t give the every-individual-white-person’s-pie-chart-of-ancestral-roots notion much credence, but I would feel embarrassed if said something like I think most people who report a given ancestry are doing so only out of some nefarious and totally hashtag unwoke ulterior motive.

Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:22 pm
by earthling
Fair enough. But xenophobic nationalism is definitely present in same areas as such identity, even a sense of American superiority - some might say a good chunk of Trump's base. And it's not difficult to correlate with identity, wildly stereotyping or not. Yeah, I suspect it has some overlap, not claiming it's 100% the case. Guilty as charged for making the leap. I did use terms such as 'suspect' and 'maybe'. Or maybe you are being hypersensitive?

Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:28 pm
by chingon
earthling wrote: Or maybe you are being hypersensitive?
The most American trait of them all, it seems...

Re: DIVERSITY

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:31 pm
by earthling
^You're stereotyping. :) Gasp!