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TIL the term "Semite" refers to both Jews and Arabs collectively.
@freemo Really? So, by that logic, Islamophobia is antisemitic?
@LouisIngenthron @freemo That I think might be a good word for this tbh
@LouisIngenthron Interestingly despite a semite including all speakers of a semetic language, including jews and arabs, in general practice antisemite refers exclusively to jews... very confusing I know.
@freemo I mean, I guess if I can live with "inflammable" and "flammable" meaning the same thing, then I can live with that, lol.
@LouisIngenthron Irregardless to common sense it seems anti-semite is defined regardless of the definition of semite. This may make conversations about the subject a bit inflammable!
@freemo @LouisIngenthron I have never understood this. It gets more confusing when the Ashkenazi are Mediterranean Greek ancestry, and not Semitic. I had someone try to explain how "jewish" was both an ethnicity and a religion once, but the argument seemed to revolve around ignoring testable objective reality.
My understanding of "Semetic" is that it includes anyone who speaks a semetic language. So your ethnicity probably has little to do with it.
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , it's ethnic groups who speak a Semitic language, it doesn't apply to individuals and what they speak. Or it's the Jewish faith, somehow, which is an exception to the general rule of how groups are classified.
It really doesn't make much sense, which is to be expected I guess, since the whole concept of different ethnicities and races of people is mostly just a way to justify racism.
@JonKramer @freemo It's a common argument. Even the Wikipedia page calls the Jewish people an "ethnoreligious" group.
@LouisIngenthron @freemo , yes, it seems to be common. My confusion is why it's common, but only for Jewish peoples. There has to be some historic reason that just stuck, but since the whole silly history of the theory of different races is fairly new, it doesn't seem to have had time to stick.
It would seem its common among muslims as well.. I have often seen muslims as being referred to as an ethnic group as well.
@freemo @JonKramer Hindus and Buddhists as well. Many religions are closely intertwined with ethnic groups.
@LouisIngenthron @freemo , No argument with Hindus and Buddhists. But how do a bunch of ethnic Greeks call themselves middle eastern Semitic people? That makes as much sense to me as a bunch of Irish guys suddenly deciding they are Sub-Saharan Africans.
@JonKramer @freemo In the modern sense, while ethnoreligious groups were founded on ethnic and religious commonalities, today, they seem to be more inclusive (i.e. either/or instead of both/and). "Jewish" can refer equally to a devout Hassidic Jew as it can to a nonbeliever with Jewish parents. The commonality these days is a shared cultural background. Back to the previous example, both the strictest practitioners and the non-practitioners can attend a Bar Mitzvah together and discuss matters with the same cultural context, despite their wide gulf in religious belief.
@LouisIngenthron @freemo , Absolutely. The common cultural background is unquestionably there, but the ethnic background isn't.
@JonKramer @freemo Sure it is. What do you think ethnic means?
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , my error, I intended to use the word "ethnicity" not "ethnic"
That wouldnt change anything.. ethnicity is just the noun form of ethnic, it still refers to culture not race.
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , Ethnicity has the connotation of genetic background, not just cultural similarities.
Often this IS a synonym for "race".
That link provides a definition which makes it clear it is cultural and not race (race is not listed).. it only provides a "usage note" pointing to race, doesnt say, at least at that link, that it is a synonym.
You also have to keep in mind you cant use synonyms to imply additional definitions.. synonyms often list words of similar but different definitions, they arent usually entierly interchangable. So even if it was listed as a synonym (sometyhing you will probably find in some thesaurus that istn a good way to determine word usage.)
@freemo @LouisIngenthron At worst, I used the vernacular, in describing a concept with no rational basis, "race", using the word "ethnicity" to attempt to imply I was indicating a genetic link of family origins over relatively short evolutionary periods. If anyone doesn't understand my point, I guess I can expend on it, if requested.
Your choice of words just lead to a bit of inaccuracy, easily addressed now that its clear what you meant.
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , it is an interesting side topic, and this is a good place to read more, but my reference was for genetics, not shared love of types of music, clothing, or foods.
Better to use the word race then... what you are really asking is why are jews often considered a race and not just a religion?
I think its complicated.. a **lot** of jews have shared racial origins, but being a displaced people those origins are fuzzy.. whey have fled and integrated and thus have a much more diverse racial background than many. Its probably better to say they are a collection of races that become isolated and displaced so while still having a lot of racial commonality there is also a huge amount of racial diversity.
In short, Jews mostly refuse to give up their racial identity entierly despite being displaced since anctient times
@freemo @LouisIngenthron I intentionally tried to avoid the word "race", since as I previously noted, the word is a recent creation designed to create a hierarchy of fitness of the different genetic groups. A hierarchy that I think objectively does not exist, and can not exist.
Whether talking abpit race is important or not is questionable, doesnt change the fact that you were talking about race just trying to call it something its not. If your talking genetic insularity, you are talking about race. Science avoids race because its problematic, but it does recognize its a concept with some relevance (like determining prevelance to certain diseases).
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , The Online Etymology Dictionary uses this: "In 19c. also "a group regarded as forming a distinctive ethnic stock" (German, Greeks, etc.). "
Note the use of the term "ethnic". We are talking about words that have very little scientific meaning, but have emotional roots in overt racism, which by default, I try to avoid.
I assure you, I understand the root words, the basic concepts, how it is used in science, the implications when it comes to genetic disease, etc. My error was using "ethnic background" when I meant "ethnicity" because I was not attempting to discuss social behavior identification, but genetics. I assure you I was intentionally NOT talking about 'race.' My point was that there seems to be very limited examples of other disparate genetic groups that attempt to identify with a single genetic group based on a shared religion of part of that original genetic group.
@freemo @LouisIngenthron , yep. But in the case of Islam, there isn't a majority of the people who are from what apparently is a totally separate ethnic group, claiming to be Arab. But yes, there is some level of the same treatment there.
@toiletpaper @freemo @LouisIngenthron it could not have been the 1st time I was presented with the argument, but my road to my current attitude on the use of the term "race" had several notable discussions about how it is applied to Jewish peoples. And later, Islamic people.
@freemo Hmm, interesting. So, I wonder what the more specific term would be. Antijudaic?