@LouisIngenthron @freemo @JonKramer I broadly agree, in that 'race' isn't a legitimate material category, but a by-product of one of the core functions of homo sapiens' prefrontal cortex (reducing the cognitive load of stimulus by implementing a system of memory and pattern recognition, the outcome of which is inevitably bias), which has been mistakenly reified as a term describing a materially real thing because human exceptionalism. The difference is that to me it appears a strong argument as to why it is *inappropriate* to use the word 'race' except in the explicit context you've used it, the explication of 'race' as a reductive mechanism, rather than a useful category.
@LouisIngenthron @freemo @JonKramer to put it another way, because human exceptionalism?
@LouisIngenthron @freemo it is anti-Semitic, but not antisemitic. The former refers to the Semitic group, the latter refers to the historical prejudice against people with 'Jewish' ethnocultural identity.
@freemo @JonKramer @LouisIngenthron Are humans the only species for which it is appropriate to use the word 'race'? If so, why?
Only asking because I'm hoping to provide a bit of balance to the 'day of the rope' discourse.
Questioning others teaches us only to reinforce our own biases.
Question *ourselves* to teach ourselves.
@freemo the literal definition of 'Semitic' refers to contemporary ethnonationalities which share a root in the ancient Semitic family of language groups. The meaning of 'antisemitic' uses the sadly more common definition of 'semitic', which was popularised by German nationalist pseudoscientists and philosophers to negatively contrast "the semites" to the 'superior' aryan races. To be correct in your usage, anti-Semitisim would refer to antipathy towards contemporary ethonationalities which share a root in the ancient Semitic family of language groups which does indeed incorporate many Arabic and African ethnonationalities, but "antisemitism" refers to the more specific historical context of specific anti-Jewish sentiment. The elision of the historical context is a common trope of antisemetic rhetoric, along with 'well, actually, hitler was jewish".
@tonic casuistry
@nathanwnolte prove it
The more strongly held a belief, the more likely it is to be wrong.