Religious Intolerance and Racism, Birds of a Feather

[M Kitt]

12. Human/Chimpanzee Comparisons?

Last edited Mon Sep 23, 2013, 10:30 AM - Edit history (4)

I'll overlook what some may consider to be an offensive reference here, don't think it was intentional. "Chimpanzee Tribes", really?

Racism Genetically Inherited? Don't think so, unless you consider the "Fight or Flight" response hard-wired into mammals to be a "Genetic" trait.

Setting aside the comparative "Chimpanzee" reference you've used, As Humans our Limbic systems are geared toward Fear/Aggression, so "Outsiders" (those not within our social circles) can be threatening to those of us so inclined, triggering a possible Fight/Flight response under the right conditions. But (again) that's mammalian, not Genetically predisposed.

That's nothing to with Race, of course. The same kind of "Threat" would be posed by a broad range of conditions that threaten ALL OF US including Fires, Earthquakes, bad weather, or perhaps loss of personal security. We're all "Tense" and "Threatened" by conditions that interfere with our "Comfort", Race being no part of it.

You may also want to review the "Origins of Species", our so-called "Racial" differences aren't significant, supposing that I accept the premise that we humans belong to separate "Races", that is, which I don't Especially given that we're all descendants of those elder Humans emerging "Out of Africa"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/k.html

But contrary to what you've posted, there may even have been some "Cross-Genetic" (Inter-Species) DNA mixing going on. Hasn't yet been proven (or disproved).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/n.html


Current Social Conditions

I can find several obvious exceptions to the circumstances you've described, but foremost it's easily countered with the understanding that we're all (humans) descended from a lineage originating from the plains of Africa, as proven by fossil/paleontology evidence (supported by DNA research, see above).

Supposing that we ignore current Genetic evidence AGAINST your claim, let's take a moment to observe current Society, let's look for a few simple behaviors we're all familiar with that are entirely CONTRARY to what you've proposed.

Learned Behaviors and Humans

If the condition you've described were provably the case, that we're all inclined to "Aggression" against each other based on distinctions as minor as color, why do you suppose humans would so readily have offspring (Children, of Course) with persons they're "racially" different from? Do you suppose that ALL current humans aren't ALREADY actually a broad mix of the DNA prevalent across this planet?

From Africa to Asia, to South/North America, we're all today an amalgam of what you're calling "Races" distributed across this planet, and there's no such thing as "True Genetic Lineage" unless you consider possible Neanderthal/Human interbreeding to have been "True Lineage" at the time of occurrence

Suppose one of my parents were white, the other black. Think "Genetics" would run contrary to that, cause literal REJECTION of either of my parents because of the Genetic Predisposition you've described? Doesn't seem to be a "Survival Trait", now does it?

Given that we as Humans are 99.9% plus identical on the DNA scale, REGARDLESS of "race" or ethnicity, you're promoting a pretty narrow view of human behavior, supposing that we "REJECT each other based on RACE", due to Genetic Traits.

Prevailing evidence certainly doesn't support that, thankfully