The problem is with your question is you're demanding an absolute in order to accept races -- which is a trick because you're imposing an impossibility. To put it analogously: What is the exact point you go from green to blue? What we identify as blue is actually a spectrum. When you get to the edges of that spectrum, color identification becomes more difficult.
That difficulty doesn't make people turn around and hold colors don't exist.
So, yes, where people have mixed, the typical aesthetic identifiers we use become fuzzy. So what? That doesn't negate races.
Obama for example is half white and half black. But, because of his features, he's considered black. By and large he identifies as a black person as well. And, this isn't coincidence. He can't go around claiming he's a white guy because of those features. No one would buy it.
Hell, look at Talcom X. No one really buys that he's a black guy. But, he does a damn good job of mimicking certain aesthetics.
So, the overall point is that when people say, "Race is just social construct," they're implying that race is a figment of people's imagination. And, that's just not true.
You can't accept tribalism without acknowledging that there are systems in place that serve to identify friend from foe. We developed adaptations to do this sort of identification because we are social creatures, and it is an imperative to be able to distinguish our kin from other entities. We have all kinds of adaptations like this, for example the whites around your eyes are there so that your pack can see where you're looking. Just because this system that allows us to make these identifications can be tricked that doesn't mean that ones tribe is merely a concept.
One's race is empirically verifiable. That doesn't mean you're not going to have cases where it's fuzzy to do so.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2017-02-11 05:05 pm (UTC)That difficulty doesn't make people turn around and hold colors don't exist.
So, yes, where people have mixed, the typical aesthetic identifiers we use become fuzzy. So what? That doesn't negate races.
Obama for example is half white and half black. But, because of his features, he's considered black. By and large he identifies as a black person as well. And, this isn't coincidence. He can't go around claiming he's a white guy because of those features. No one would buy it.
Hell, look at Talcom X. No one really buys that he's a black guy. But, he does a damn good job of mimicking certain aesthetics.
So, the overall point is that when people say, "Race is just social construct," they're implying that race is a figment of people's imagination. And, that's just not true.
You can't accept tribalism without acknowledging that there are systems in place that serve to identify friend from foe. We developed adaptations to do this sort of identification because we are social creatures, and it is an imperative to be able to distinguish our kin from other entities. We have all kinds of adaptations like this, for example the whites around your eyes are there so that your pack can see where you're looking. Just because this system that allows us to make these identifications can be tricked that doesn't mean that ones tribe is merely a concept.
One's race is empirically verifiable. That doesn't mean you're not going to have cases where it's fuzzy to do so.