Tl;dr: Ashkenazi jews: not white because they're jews or not semites because they're european?
The "fellow white people" meme made me think of this.
I see all these screencaps of Jews claiming to be 'fellow white people' next to caps of them claiming to be Jews. And people here are quick to point out the contradiction: Jew != white.
I guess that's fair, because they're a pretty distinct group -- different avg IQ (measurable), and also pretty noticeable personality and political inclinations (I don't know if it's been measured but it's what I've observed).
But at the same time you get people pointing out that Ashkenazi Jews are not, in fact, Semites. They're basically Europeans who converted to Judaism.
If that's the case, then how can we say that Jews aren't white (assuming their lineage is 100% Ashkenazi and not mixed)? Or the flipside: Isn't it reasonable for an Ashkenazi Jew to identify as white and Jewish?
I know there's a lot of goats more knowledgeable on Jews than me. I'm calling on your knowledge and looking for either some kind of correction or acknowledgement that there is a contradiction here. If Ashkenazi Jews are European/white, maybe it's an argument for more nuance in racial distinctions, or maybe an argument for culture's interaction with biology. No?
I'd love to be called a shill in the comments. Please let me know what you think.
Edit: If you're downvoting this, please comment. I'm asking in good faith.
view the rest of the comments →
[–] Its_over_9000 [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
My belief is that culture can stick with a group for hundreds of years. Probably takes longer to get away from biology, but we probably evolve faster than most people think.
[–] BlacklistedEvola ago
curt doolittle did a series of blog posts contrasting the myths, values and archetypes of various European peoples and how it related to their landscape. he contrasts steppe slavs and forest germans along with various seafaring peoples. he draws a straight line from geography through biology to culture and into psychology.
he did something similar contrasting the styles of negotiation and lying of the various peoples.
the point is, that he could do that at all makes the distinction between biology and culture grey, if there is a distinction at all
[–] Its_over_9000 [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Yeah, I mean the distinction between biology and culture is like nature and nurture on the individual level. So grey it's hardly even worth arguing about.
Hey, thanks for the reference to Doolittle. I'm terrible at reading, but I'm going to try to dive in a little.