Quote:
Originally Posted by Oroku$aki
It's weird to think race ranking can be done.
Actually, I think it's very natural to think that race ranking can be done, as exemplified by the fact that it's creeped up regularly in various forms at least since the 1600s. It takes some knowledge of genetics, history, psychology, experimental methodology to understand why it's a fool's errand, to say nothing of the philosophical fact that it should have no practical implications even if it could be done.
But it's like alchemy--the fact that one cannot turn lead into gold by any standard chemical method did not mean that it was not a primary goal of "chemistry" for hundreds of years. It's "natural" to think it can be done given all the other possible chemical transformations that can be, and there's a an obvious and significant motivation to do it, just as there's an obvious and significant motivation, based on a common inclination to tribalism and desire to rank ourselves above others, to denigrate certain subsets of humans and elevate others. There's nothing more naturally human than thinking, "those people are not like me, and they are poorer, do worse jobs, have a less impressive history, and are therefore inherently less intelligent". If one believes that the world is rationally ordered in some fairly strong sense (and people love to believe in a rationally ordered world), it's a very natural conclusion.
This is why I think that claims of racial superiority should be pushed back on regularly with real arguments and real science and not just ignored or derided as "unacceptable", because they are influential with much of the public. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's a majority view, in one form or another, among conservative intellectuals and is quite obviously believed by Trump and many members of Congress. The idea should not be ignored, it should be shot, drowned, and then burned at the stake, with serious arguments and data, because it's more influential and more harmful than people realize.