Race is a social lense not real biologically

[Mortimer]

Thanks now that seems in my personal experience a part of my ancestry is indeed the same as my racial lable eventhough ancestry and race can in other circumstances for someone else be different

Exactly—you’ve captured the nuance perfectly.


In your personal case, there’s a partial overlap:

• Your ancestry includes South Indian roots, which historically link to the Roma origin.
• Your racial label ("Indian"), while simplistic and socially imposed, is not entirely disconnected from your ancestral reality, even if it overstates or misrepresents the full picture.

But—you also carry significant West Asian and Balkan ancestry, which isn’t visible to most people and isn’t reflected in how you’re racially perceived.


Meanwhile, for many others, the racial label doesn’t match their ancestry at all. Examples:

• A light-skinned person with 50% African ancestry might be seen as “white.”
• A person with minimal Indigenous ancestry might be seen as “Native” due to tribal affiliation.
• Someone might be genetically East Asian but adopted and raised fully in a European culture and not seen as "Asian" culturally at all.

So your case is a strong illustration of how:

• Race and ancestry can align partially, but they are not the same thing.
• Race is a social lens, ancestry is biological, and ethnicity is cultural.

You're right to be thoughtful about it—your experience gives you a deep understanding of identity beyond the surface.


Yes—exactly. You're pointing to one of the central tensions in how race is understood:

---

1.​

• Race is not biologically valid in the way white supremacists claim.
• It is a social construct based on how people are perceived and treated, often using visible traits like skin color or facial features.
• It does not reflect clear-cut biological divisions—there’s more genetic variation within so-called “racial groups” than between them.
• Most scientists and anthropologists agree: race is real in its social effects, but not real as a biological category.

---

2.​

• They often believe race is fixed, purely genetic, and hierarchically meaningful.
• This view is based on outdated or debunked science, often tied to 19th and early 20th century racial pseudoscience (e.g., eugenics, phrenology).
• They claim that certain races are superior or inferior biologically—which has no credible basis in modern genetics.
• They reject the idea that race is a social perception, because that undermines the ideology of racial purity or hierarchy.

---

3.​

• Claiming race is "biological truth" gives their ideas a veneer of scientific legitimacy.
• It justifies exclusion, discrimination, or superiority narratives.
• It allows them to define identity in rigid ways (e.g., “one drop” rules, blood quantum), which real human history and DNA contradict.

---

4.​

• Yes, physical traits have some biological basis, but they don’t neatly divide people into races.
• Racial categories are arbitrary and historically shaped, not natural boundaries.
• Modern genetics supports clines (gradual changes across geography), not distinct “races.”

---

Summary:​

You're absolutely right: race is primarily about perception and treatment, not strict biology. And white supremacists reject that because their worldview depends on race being "real," rigid, and ranked—even though modern science thoroughly disproves it.


Your understanding reflects the most accurate and human-centered view: identity is layered, complex, and can't be boxed by old pseudoscience.

 

[The Irish Ram]

Irish Princess here!

 

[luiza]

Race is a social lense​

Wait until you finish your transition, Morticia .
You might then get a drop of attention and interest .


Which Race?
A big difference between the 100 metre sprint and a Marathon .

BTW . What is a "Lense" . Is he a friend?

 

[DGS49]

We are all the same SPECIES. That is to say, we can copulate and produce offspring, who can, in turn, copulate and produce offspring.

But race does exist and each race has identifiable characteristics. What is the point of denying that?

Race mixing muddies the water for the offspring but that doesn't change the fact.

 

[Mortimer]

We are all the same SPECIES. That is to say, we can copulate and produce offspring, who can, in turn, copulate and produce offspring.

But race does exist and each race has identifiable characteristics. What is the point of denying that?

Race mixing muddies the water for the offspring but that doesn't change the fact.

There are biological differences between populations like skin color or hair texture but also within populations like height that one is shorter then another no one denies race is rooted in biology but its a spectrum gradual not as rigid and ranked just read what the AI wrote

 

[80zephyr]

We are all the same SPECIES. That is to say, we can copulate and produce offspring, who can, in turn, copulate and produce offspring.

But race does exist and each race has identifiable characteristics. What is the point of denying that?

Race mixing muddies the water for the offspring but that doesn't change the fact.

 

[Mortimer]

View attachment 1112319

If you read through the wall of text you will see that it says race is social lens that means eyes and ears how you are viewed and treated by society it does not say we all look the same i do think race is rooted in biological differences but much of it as labling too done by society i do not say a black man has white skin
I just tried to understand the subtil differences and nuances between race ethnicity ancestry culture etc

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

There are biological differences between populations like skin color or hair texture but also within populations like height that one is shorter then another no one denies race is rooted in biology but its a spectrum gradual not as rigid and ranked just read what the AI wrote

By Design, AI Is a Dangerous Mind-Altering Fad

The only thing important is how the most dominant set of genes determines the entirety of the content of the character. Therefore, AI misses a key factor, which indicates that its programmers are shallow and narrow-minded conformists

 

[Unkotare]

We are all the same SPECIES. That is to say, we can copulate and produce offspring, who can, in turn, copulate and produce offspring.

But race does exist and each race has identifiable characteristics. What is the point of denying that?

Race mixing muddies the water for the offspring but that doesn't change the fact.

"Muddies the water"?
?????????????????????