Small World

[Dr. Cheese]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl....html?ITO=1490

I don't know how accurate this is, but it's interesting.

[MatticusMania]

I always thought it was general knowledge that Hitler was supposedly 1/4 jew, at least thats what I was always told by others. Don't know if it's official or anything...

[Dr. Cheese]

I just found the article funny because they got the darkest person possible to represent a Berber. Berbers actually tend to be pretty fair, white looking people. True enough, many are now of mixed race due to the practice of slavery, but those of the original Berber stock are not dark complexioned.

[Relic]

This wouldn't surprise me in the least.
One thing that I've learned from taking my own DNA test and talking with others who have, is that almost all of us are mixed in one way or another.
My paternal haplogroup is I2a2b which supposedly has it's roots in the Mediterranean areas of Europe, and is now often found in Eastern Europe. Yet many I2 groupings can be found in North Africa, Central Asia and Scandinavia... no one is "pure anything" despite what they may think

[knumbskull]

nice change of tone for the Daily Mail, considering they supported the fascists in the late 1930s.

EDIT early 1930s. owner Lord Rothmere was a friend of Hitler.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by Relic

This wouldn't surprise me in the least.
One thing that I've learned from taking my own DNA test and talking with others who have, is that almost all of us are mixed in one way or another.
My paternal haplogroup is I2a2b which supposedly has it's roots in the Mediterranean areas of Europe, and is now often found in Eastern Europe. Yet many I2 groupings can be found in North Africa, Central Asia and Scandinavia... no one is "pure anything" despite what they may think

I'm of the "race is a social construct" school of thought.

That doesn't stop me from making offensive jokes, however.

[shadowtippy]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

I'm of the "race is a social construct" school of thought.

That doesn't stop me from making offensive jokes, however.

Aren't all jokes offensive in some way or other to someone?

[Relic]

Originally Posted by shadowtippy

Aren't all jokes offensive in some way or other to someone?

Nah, not all. many. Maybe too many but not all.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by shadowtippy

Aren't all jokes offensive in some way or other to someone?

Yes, but I like the comedic equivalent of a shotgun rather than a sniper rifle.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I thought his grandparents were Jewish or something, did always find it that he was all about the blonde hair and blue eyes, which he didn't have.

And have to agree with what has been said, how can you be pure anything, borders change, people migrated all round. Big deal! Tho, I did find it funny when something similar was done with many BNP members (extreme right wing political party in the UK). Most of which weren't British beyond their parents & grandparents

[EBodious]

i remember "learning" that his mom was believed to be a jewish prostitute. was that refuted? none of this surprises me tho. just like the guys who preach morality the loudest are found to be living immorally in secret. the shrinks call it projection. i am of the school of thought that those things that annoy us most in other people, do so because we secretly resent those traits in ourselves. it really makes me stop and think (in a not very happy way) when i find myself getting annoyed at someone's behavior.

i also believe that race is a construct.

i also also believe that comedy is funny because it is true, and thus offensive, to somebody, somewhere.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl....html?ITO=1490

I don't know how accurate this is, but it's interesting.

I don't know for certain about the Jewish claim for Hitler (it doesn't sound particularly unlikely), but the African bit is definitely true.

Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa, so every human being that has ever been born is a descendant of Africans if you trace back far enough.

[Kawai-chang]

If I may submit: I feel that while "race as a social construct" has merits as a school of thought. I believe that it also (heavily) stems from prehistory tribalism. Studies have shown that when a person sees a different looking person the brain reacts in a "danger" mode. Theory is that we are innately afraid of a different "tribe" because of the thousands of years we were on the edge of death all the time, and when someone who wasn't in "our" tribe showed up, it wasn't a good thing.

[McHaven]

It has long been thought that Hitler had Jewish lineage. Hitler's housekeeper has stated that Hitler used to call himself a "dirty jew" in the mirror. Hitler had great doubt about his lineage. He also made it illegal for any German woman of child-bearing age to work in a Jewish household quite early in his reign. This has been seen as directly linked to his grandmother, who worked as a domestic servant in a Jewish family.

Hitler's mother (to whom he was very attached) died receiving treatment for an illness by a Jewish doctor. He began to refer to "poisoning the poisoners" and "cleansing the motherland" after this. (Always the Motherland, never the Fatherland)

This doubt of his family lineage, as well as the loss of his mother, and the anti-Semitic population of Vienna (where he lived in early years) all enabled Hitler to became a raging anti-Semite.

I believe Hitler fully believed he had Jewish ancestry. Even if culturally Judaism is passed through the maternal line, it was enough to bother an anti-Semite like Hitler.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by Kawai-chang

If I may submit: I feel that while "race as a social construct" has merits as a school of thought. I believe that it also (heavily) stems from prehistory tribalism. Studies have shown that when a person sees a different looking person the brain reacts in a "danger" mode. Theory is that we are innately afraid of a different "tribe" because of the thousands of years we were on the edge of death all the time, and when someone who wasn't in "our" tribe showed up, it wasn't a good thing.

Following this logic, do people of "biracial" or "mixed" parenthood have brains that go into "danger" mode when they see either parents and respective families?

No doubt there probably is some biological basis for people to be racist-- just as there's an underlying biology that supports compulsive activities and addiction, or impulse control, or anything else that plagues our current society. It can and should be addressed for the well being of the individuals in society and society as a whole, especially since it's based on illogical thinking.