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Do you look like your race?

Tyrion

By Tyrion
in Yoda’s Swamp

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PR-0927 Newbie

PR-0927

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by XERXES

Yes I look American.

 

 

Really? That's odd. I'm Indian, and I look American.

 

PS- DON'T CALL CAUCASIANS AMERICANS.

 

Caucasians might be the majority of Americans, but they aren't.

 

I hope you weren't being sarcastic, XERXES, this is gonna make me look like a moron otherwise...

 

:fett:

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Acrylic Newbie

Acrylic

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by acdcfanbill

I might be the king of england, but im not... wtf do you mean anyway :s

 

I think he means that we (we as in White people) may be the majority of Americans, but we're not "true Americans". Or something like that.

 

I think it was an implied racist statement against white people, but maybe I'm looking too far into it. :p

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XERXES Newbie

XERXES

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by Majin Revan

Really? That's odd. I'm Indian, and I look American.

 

PS- DON'T CALL CAUCASIANS AMERICANS.

 

Caucasians might be the majority of Americans, but they aren't.

 

I hope you weren't being sarcastic, XERXES, this is gonna make me look like a moron otherwise...

 

:fett:

I was being 100% serious. I do look American. Like your typical white boy from America. I drive a chevy, dress in polo most of the time, wear a suit twice a week. :p I am a pure American mutt. I am a mix of Scottish, German, Irish, French Canadian and Cherokee Indian. Pure American Mutt.
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Vikinor Newbie

Vikinor

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HA! The Danes. Actually I don't think anyone is American. Norwegians are Swedes because in 1905 Norway became independant and Pakistand used to belong to India and Ukraine used to be part of Russia. America is mixed of all different nationalities so I don't think anyone is a pure American. Actually I don't think there actually is a nationality if you go back VERY far down the timeline.

 

 

There are white people and black people and oriental people. So what do you call people in India?

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TiE23 Newbie

TiE23

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by acdcfanbill

pfft, true americans drive Fords ;) Anyway i decend from the northmen... well the Danes anyway, and bit of german :) [image]

 

MMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY EYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!! THEY BUUUUURRRNNNN!!!!

 

Lol, JK. Always kinda wondered what you looked like :p

 

TiE

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Tyrion Newbie

Tyrion

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Posted
Originally posted by XERXES

My friend has a Ford. It breaks down every week.

 

Chevy's are more American in my opinion, if only 'cause it's featured in American Pie.

 

Even though that song mentioned the Beatles through innuendos, and the Beatles were first and foremost a British band...

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Hermie Newbie

Hermie

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by VikingLarz

. Norwegians are Swedes because in 1905 Norway became independant

I am no more swedish than your left sock! Yes Norway became independent in 1905, But that was "bounty", because the Danes (wich Norway was partly under then) sided with Napoleon, and Sweden being on the victorious side, took the country. BUT even before the danes, Norway was wholy independent, with vikings and all (we discovered America first, so blah).

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Kurgan Newbie

Kurgan

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As to the Jewish thing, yes, they were "originally" a race, or at least considered themselves to be one. The term "Semitic" (used today with "Anti-Semitism") refers to the "Semitic Language Group" that they belong to. Both Hebrew and Arabic are Semitic languages. That is why you have words like Shalome, Islam, Salem, etc, that are from similar roots.

 

Today you might think "wow, a race I think of as skin color, not language!" but consider how many people think "mexican" when you say the word "Hispanic." Even though the term literally only refers to people who's first language is Spanish!

 

As for them (Jews) being a "race" in the Bible they were told to seperate themselves from other nations and adopt certain laws and customs to distinguish themselves from their neighbors. So over thousands of years this became a point of "national pride" I guess to put it simply.

 

Judaism, comes from the kingdom of Judah. At a certain point in history the land of Israel was divided into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah. Israel was destroyed by invaders. Judah continued until it too was eventually destroyed. Thus the modern day state of Israel founded in the 20th century was such a big deal to people.

 

Obviously European Jews can "look" a lot different from middle eastern Jews. Jews in Ethiopia tend to be very dark skinned. If you saw one walking around in America and didn't know him or her you'd say he or she was "black."

 

Obviously people who converted to Judaism need not be "ethnically Jewish." So what makes a person Jewish? Is it the culture? Today there are what are called "secular Jews" which goes back to the period around the time of WWII, where certain Jews, either because of the Holocaust or other factors "lost their faith." They tend to not really believe in the religion of Judaism, but if you asked if they were Jewish they'd say yes. Sort of like so-called "nominal Christians." It's more a point of cultural identification than a belief system. On the other hand many secular Jews will follow the traditions and practices like celebrating the high holy days with their families, even if they themselves don't follow them. Of course there are many Jews today who celebrate their religion and try to live by its teachings of course, so you get both.

 

So I guess when a person converts they are sort of "adopted" into the "race" of Judaism.

 

Then again, the whole idea of Jews being a "race" came around to public thinking in large part because of the Nazis (not saying they invented it of course, but they did more to popularize it in modern times than anyone else it seems).

 

When they were persecuting Jews in the 20th century they not only went after people practicing the Jewish religion but also what were called "conversos" that is people who were Christians or some other religion who had "Jewish roots." That is their ancestors were Jewish. So if it was just about the religion, why did they go after these people? They weren't practicing Judaism anymore.

 

Side note: of course their logic was quite flawed (on this as well as other points), because if you go back far enough, one could say that all Christians (Germany being majority Christian) trace their roots back to Jews. Jesus and the first disciples were Jewish, and "Father Abraham" was Jewish. Christianity itself began as a reform movement within Judaism of the first century.

 

Now I'm not saying that the Nazis have the final word on what races mean or are, but it does raise some questions at least how they are percieved.

 

In Orthodox Judaism (one of the three branches of the religion, the other two of which are Conservative and Reform) they consider you Jewish if your mother was Jewish, period. I believe that's even the legal definition in the state of Israel (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). You might not even practice the religion or consider yourself to be Jewish, but if your mother was, so are you.

 

The idea today is catching on that races are really artificially constructed terms or at least irrelevant due to the culturally mixed makeup of most of the world today.

 

So to me, it's as important as you make it. Again, not to offend anyone, just sharing some information that might be interesting. There've been enough books written about this to fill libraries I'm sure.

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