Thursday, May 16, 2019

№ 596: How It Is



In combating this increase in racism, there are two primary aspects to consider. The first is that the very idea of “race” is a lie: as the American Society of Human Genetics, the largest professional organization of scientists in the field, explained in an essay:

“The science of genetics demonstrates that humans cannot be divided into biologically distinct subcategories”; and it “challenges the traditional concept of different races of humans as biologically separate and distinct. This is validated by many decades of research.” In other words, “race itself is a social construct,” with no biological basis.

So, while ethnicity is real, and there are indeed minor differences between ethnic groups, there is no such thing as “race”—only racism

BESTOFALLPOSSIBLE WORLDS, May 15

It's not about “race”.
It's not about nation.
It's not about faith.
Nor social station.
It's not about lingo.
It's not about culture.
This ain't animal husbandry
v. crop agriculture.

Those are mere
flags of convenience —
concepts concocted
explaining our meanness.
Why we prefer, 
given our druthers,
to, if we can,
smother the other.

This human propensity
to draw the inference,
OUR ways are normal.
YOUR ways are different.
We don't sweat the small stuff 
which we can't distinguish.
But things looming large,
we strive to extinguish.
___________
Note to email subscribers:
Due to an editing error, a word was left out of yesterday's DOGGEREL. The corrected version can be seen here,