[kamome]

kamome, and your point is? are you trying to say that just because irish and english are both caucasion they are the same?

No, my point is what you have admitted in your statement above - that they are both Caucasian.

my point was that they evolved very differently, their languages are totally unrelated, and so on. whether this is because they are different races (as say, japanese and africans would be) or because they are of the same race but have different histories (as say, indians and germans), doesn't really matter. they are different people from a fundamental cultural level (i.e. "nurture") and a genetic level (i.e. "nature").

Well, it matters as far as this discussion is concerned. I understand that the Irish and English are culturally/ethnically different. But culture and ethnicity are different from race. Those groups are of the same race, but of different ethnicity.

BTW, you may not be able to tell the difference between and irishman and an englishman, like i can't always tell a difference between a chinese and japanese, but people of those nationalities can easily see the physical differences.

Again, stop focusing on the nationality and you'll come to understand my point. Yes, their nationalities are different. Their physical features are different. Ethnically they are different. Racially, they are the same.

[maraboutslim]

ok. racially they are the same. but you couldn't possibly have gone through all that just to say *that*. you must have some other point, no?

[kamome]

ok. racially they are the same. but you couldn't possibly have gone through all that just to say *that*. you must have some other point, no?

No.

[ramchop]

[Big Booger]

Sure, that would be great and I've certainly done my part to promote "interbreeding" (though I'd prefer a different term).

But I think you are kidding yourself if you think it's happening at a phenomenal rate. There are 2.3 billion people in China and India alone and few of these people will ever see a person from another race, much less marry them.

Even in the USA, only 4% of marriages are interracial and thats even when they consider hispanics as a separate race from "white".

-Slim

When I said phenomenal rate, I meant as opposed to say 50 years or 100 years ago. You also have to consider how much of a role trasnportation plays into this. Airplanes are becoming more accessible even to the poor. Of course, as I said it won't happen in my lifetime.. probably won't happen for hundreds of years.

Consider that 4% fo 200,000,000+ people, as compared to virtually 0% only 50-100 years ago. With every year that passes, interbreeding will occur. I as many of you are living proof. And I use the term interbreeding, but I could very well have said, mix marriage, blending, melting of "race", cross genetic dumping, milk shake meshing, etc..

Ramchop,
thanks for the lesson in Anthropology.. brings back the memories of the Uni days.

And for our homework, I want you all to trace back the origin of the homo sapien sapien to the first. You have 1 week.

[Nagged]

I'm not religious but someone, sometime many years ago, did actually write this parable in a book we now know as the bible. Whether based on fact or fiction, I do not know because I was not there at the time, but it must have been based on some kind of precedent or at the very least the concept existed for the person who wrote it. The main thing is that, as racial hatred has persisted through the ages, so have people that rose above it.

"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his clothes, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan (a member of of another race, that was hostile to the man who was attacked and robbed), as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Flame me if you want, that's why I'm called Nagged

[American Oyaji]

Nice post.

You made your point without using your own words.

[cstaylor]

Great post Nagged. Unless you're Nietzsche or Marx, it's pretty difficult to argue with the parables. My personal favorite is the feeding of the multitudes.

However, religions and the people who abuse them are NOT what Japan needs.

If you want some more background of the Good Samaritan, you can read it here.

[Nagged]

Nice post.

You made your point without using your own words.

I defer to a far better writer than myself

Great post Nagged. Unless you're Nietzsche or Marx, it's pretty difficult to argue with the parables. My personal favorite is the feeding of the multitudes.

However, religions and the people who abuse them are NOT what Japan needs.

If you want some more background of the Good Samaritan, you can read it here.

I agree. Religion in itself is generally too abstract to relate to the challenges that Japan faces. My post was to demonstrate that history is not just war and hate. As each of the great civilizations and empires have fallen, the legacy of their scholars and artists still remain.

Returning to subject, politics in Japan are not the best. In spite of being a "democracy" (forced as it was during the Occupation), apathy and conservatism block the real improvements that should be made. Japan's mass media could help, instead they seem a lapdog of the powers that be.

My own opinion is that the common people themselves must be motivated and educated for any real change. (Subliminal messages for pachinko parlors and daytime television?)

[Nagged]

My point exactly. However, I think that apathy has existed in Japan for a very long time indeed.

While many countries have had revolutions that changed their society for the better, Japan has never had a successful revolt against authority (I do not include the Christian uprising in Kyushu because this had the negative effect of making the country even more authoritarian)

I am no expert on Japanese history but as far as I can tell, all of the major fighting before and including the Meiji Restoration resulted in nothing less than a transfer of power between victor and vanquished, very little changed for the common people. (Things actually worsened during the Edo era)

On the other hand, European history was greatly influenced by the invention of the printing press, originally intended to spread the teachings of the bible, but which also educated the peasants and townsfolk to the point where they eventually overthrew the medieval system and inspired the beginnings of modern history.

If I have written something incorrect, please let me know. My right to learn is very important.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/gutenberg.htm

[Nagged]

Actually there is some confusion whether Gutenberg was the true inventor of the printing press. In any case, the end result was the same.

The common folk threw off their yoke. (Hey, I'm a poet!)