The Race Dilemma Still Intriguing Us
By: Tiago Miranda
Tags: Politics And Protest, Humanity, Civil Rights, Racism, Science Education

Human biodiversity — Is this a thing?

A term nonetheless explained by experts and even thought to be of importance on a scale of significant meaning for human life, the concept of eugenics took hold. Prominent citizens, scientists and socialists campaigned for the cause with open arms, advocating the way forward for a better society.

In order to come up with such a term, research has to be done which creates a grey area concerning liability and whether there are distinctions between a good and bad scientist or not.

It provokes an attitude towards the practice of dismantling the edifice of race that would mean not only a tweaking of language, but would also fundamentally rewrite the way we think about human difference. Basically, to resist the urge of grouping people at all, as Angela Saini explains in her book “Superior: the return of race science”.

According to Angela, it takes some mental acrobatics to be an intellectual racist on the brink of the high-flux information society that we have today, reckoning that a racist will work hard to find any validation to prove his/her point and may even work a little harder than usual. That is why good scientists who do reliable research, well intentioned and anti-racist, cannot afford to be deceptive or leave room for delusion.

Funnily enough, as Angela indirectly exemplifies, some racists adopted a few concepts from good scientists and a similar language to the anti-racist. This has been used to manufacture a kind of deceptive truth that insinuates that where differences can be seen within certain groups then by assumption or ‘pure’ logic, specific groups might be better than others at certain things. Clever thinking, isn’t it? No, not quite.

The term ‘human biodiversity’ is first claimed by a few out there, especially Steve Sailer, an American journalist, movie critic, columnist, former correspondent for UPI and a columnist for Taki’s Magazine and VDARE (a website associated with white supremacy, white nationalism and the alt-right). It is nothing more than the fashion of 21st-century scientific racism, where the wolves in sheep’s clothing are among those most venerated. Apparently, according to Angela Saini, “we were told this might happen”.

Photo by Roman Denisenko on Unsplash

Has Race Made Real by Overuse?

It is almost a turning point for the eugenics movement beyond the assumptions that have been made on behalf of selective racists. It is widespread to believe that biological traces are correlated to cognitive gaps, which psychologists in the EUA assumed to be right.

This, more than ever, is the best post on the street for the dog to piss on. Fueling speculation about people’s dumb intuitions with regards to Jews, Blacks or whoever they wish to speculate about.

It is so hard to understand that human intelligence is just as multifaceted as any other cognitive mannerism? It brings me to tears to hear that people still believe that intelligence primarily stems from the inherited natural ability of a given race.

Hence, it is hard to quantify the horrors and effects of slavery and the centuries of racism perpetuated all around the world. Slaves were the most profitable commodity ever dictated and proclaimed, enriching several empires from the Romans to the British. Yet, we still cannot see the amount of suffering that this has caused in the last century alone to the majority of African Americans.

One of my favorite parts and most thrilling moments from the book Superior: the return of race science by Angela Saini, is when she clearly, in disgust and frustration, pencils down on paper the after-effects on generations of black people.