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posted by martyb on Monday August 14 2017, @10:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the thugs-and-their-thug-accomplices dept.

We've had multiple submissions on the confrontation in Charlottesville, Virginia between white supremacists and counter-protesters. We lead off with a submission about the altercation which culminated with a car driven into a crowd which left 1 person dead and 19 injured. Then we continue with GoDaddy informing dailystormer.com — a white supremacist web site which called for the rally — that they had 24 hours to find another registrar for their site. They signed up with Google's domain registration service. Now there are reports that Google, too, has dropped the registration.

This story could very well cause a lot of heat, but it is my hope we can look beyond the details of this particular situation and focus discussion on the overriding questions of freedom of speech/publication raised by one of the submitters and the implications it may lead to. This saying comes to mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Terrorism in Charlottesville: 1 Dead, 19 Injured

ProPublica reports:

Police Stood By As Mayhem Mounted in Charlottesville, Virginia

At about 10 a.m. [August 12], at one of countless such confrontations, an angry mob of white supremacists formed a battle line across from a group of counter-protesters, many of them older and gray-haired, who had gathered near a church parking lot. On command from their leader, the young men charged and pummeled their ideological foes with abandon. One woman was hurled to the pavement, and the blood from her bruised head was instantly visible.

Standing nearby, an assortment of Virginia State Police troopers and Charlottesville police wearing protective gear watched silently from behind an array of metal barricades--and did nothing.

[...] the white supremacists who flooded into the city's Emancipation Park--a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee sits in the center of the park--had spent months openly planning for war. The Daily Stormer, a popular neo-Nazi website, encouraged rally attendees to bring shields, pepper spray, and fascist flags and flagpoles. A prominent racist podcast told its listeners to come carrying guns.

[...] the white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville did indeed come prepared for violence. Many wore helmets and carried clubs, medieval-looking round wooden shields, and rectangular plexiglass shields, similar to those used by riot police.

[...] The police did little to stop the bloodshed. Several times, a group of assault-rifle-toting militia members from New York State, wearing body armor and desert camo, played a more active role in breaking up fights.

[...] The skirmishes culminated in what appears to have been an act of domestic terrorism, with a driver ramming his car into a crowd of anti-racist activists on a busy downtown street, killing one and injuring 19 according to the latest information from city officials. Charlottesville authorities tonight reported that a 20-year-old Ohio man had been arrested and had been charged with murder.

[...] A good strategy, [said Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on police reform efforts in Los Angeles], is to make clashes less likely by separating the two sides physically, with officers forming a barrier between them. "Create a human barrier so the flash points are reduced as quickly as possible."

GoDaddy Stomps 'Daily Stormer' -- Site Moves to Google

The Washington Post reports GoDaddy bans neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer for disparaging woman killed at Charlottesville rally:

After months of criticism that GoDaddy was providing a platform for hate speech, the Web hosting company announced late Sunday that it will no longer house the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website that promotes white supremacist and white nationalist ideas.

[...] We informed The Daily Stormer that they have 24 hours to move the domain to another provider, as they have violated our terms of service.

— GoDaddy (@GoDaddy) August 14, 2017

[...] In the Daily Stormer post[1], [Andrew] Angelin characterized [victim Heather] Heyer as dying in a "road rage incident." He said she was a "drain on society" and disparaged her appearance. "Most people are glad she is dead," he wrote.

"@GoDaddy you host The Daily Stormer — they posted this on their site," Twitter user Amy Siskind said in an appeal to the Web hosting company. "Please retweet if you think this hate should be taken down & banned."

[...] GoDaddy has previously said that the content, however "tasteless" and "ignorant," is protected by the First Amendment. The company told the Daily Beast in July that a Daily Stormer article threatening to "track down" the family members of CNN staffers did not violate Domains by Proxy's terms of service.

[1] https://www.dailystormer.com/heather-heyer-woman-killed-in-road-rage-incident-was-a-fat-childless-32-year-old-slut/

After the incidents in Charlottesville it seems GoDaddy have decided, one can gather from and after a massive amount of pressure, to no longer provide Domain name access to the Daily Stormer. While a private company is free to do whatever they like, I wonder if there will or might be further implications. I think the interesting question here isn't what happened in Charlottesville or what kind of stories they provide over at the Daily Stormer -- they might be or are a complete shitfest filled with neo-nazi-news for all I know. The interesting aspect is if companies should now monitor their customers, which it seems the Daily Stormer has been one for years, and ban or block customers that no longer align with company beliefs or that other customers find offensive. It seems the Daily Stormer has previously posted "tasteless" and "ignorant" stories that one can only assume have not aligned with GoDaddy policy or Terms of Service, but this one was somehow over the line and the straw that broke the camel's back?

I'm fairly sure the Daily Stormer won't be knocked offline or anything, there will always be someone willing to host them somewhere. So today they try to knock a neo-nazi site offline, I doubt many people will lose any sleep over that, but who is going to be next? Is this part of the ramping up of the current online-twitter-socialweb-culture? Is there a slippery slope here?

Google Domains, GoDaddy blacklist white supremacist site Daily Stormer

Ars Technica is reporting that Google Domains and GoDaddy have blacklisted white supremacist site Daily Stormer:

The article prompted a response from the site's domain registrar, GoDaddy. "We informed The Daily Stormer that they have 24 hours to move the domain to another provider, as they have violated our terms of service," GoDaddy wrote in a tweet late Sunday night.

On Monday, the Daily Stormer switched its registration to Google's domain service. Within hours, Google announced a cancellation of its own. "We are cancelling Daily Stormer's registration with Google Domains for violating our terms of service," the company wrote in an statement emailed to Ars.

[...] A lot of outlets covering this controversy described GoDaddy, somewhat misleadingly, as the Daily Stormer's hosting provider. But GoDaddy wasn't storing or distributing the content on the Daily Stormer website. It was the Daily Stormer's registrar, which is the company that handles registration of "dailystormer.com" in the domain name system, the global database that connects domain names like "arstechnica.com" to numeric IP addresses.

GoDaddy has faced pressure for months from anti-racist groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League to drop the Daily Stormer as a customer. But until this weekend, GoDaddy resisted that pressure.

"GoDaddy doesn't host The Daily Stormer's content on its servers," the investigative site Reveal reported in May. "Because it provides only the domain name, the company says it has a higher standard for terminating service."

"We need to evaluate what level of effect we can actually have on the abuse that's actually going on," said Ben Butler, director of GoDaddy's digital crimes unit, in a May interview with Reveal. "As a domain name registrar, if we take the domain name down, that domain name stops working. But the content is still out there, live on a server connected to the Internet that can be reached via an IP address or forwarded from another domain name. The actual content is not something we can touch by turning on or off the domain name service."

But GoDaddy abruptly changed its stance on Sunday evening. What changed GoDaddy's mind? In a statement to Techcrunch, GoDaddy said: "given this latest article comes on the immediate heels of a violent act, we believe this type of article could incite additional violence, which violates our terms of service."

Reading GoDaddy's terms of service, this seems to support their stance that they could suspend the domain registration:

9. RESTRICTION OF SERVICES; RIGHT OF REFUSAL

[...] You agree that GoDaddy, in its sole discretion and without liability to you, may refuse to accept the registration of any domain name. GoDaddy also may in its sole discretion and without liability to you delete the registration of any domain name during the first thirty (30) days after registration has taken place. GoDaddy may also cancel the registration of a domain name, after thirty (30) days, if that name is being used, as determined by GoDaddy in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to:

  • Activities prohibited by the laws of the United States and/or foreign territories in which you conduct business;
  • Activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others, such as hate crimes, terrorism and child pornography; and
  • Activities designed to harm or use unethically minors in any way.

As of the time of this being written, it appears that the Daily Stormer domain (dailystormer.com) is still being hosted by Google:

Domain Name: dailystormer.com
Registry Domain ID: 1787753602_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.google.com
Registrar URL: https://domains.google.com
Updated Date: 2017-08-14T14:51:45Z
Creation Date: 2013-03-20T22:43:18Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2020-03-20T22:43:18Z
Registrar: Google Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 895
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8772376466
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:29AM (28 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:29AM (#553936)

    And idiots will see the bogey man everywhere after swallowing the latest bit of tripe from talking heads. "Public relations" has been around since forever, even animals will shun outcasts. What you are actually angry about is being at least somewhat on the wrong side of a historic shift in our world.

    I'll grant you that humans tend to get corrupted by power, so keeping an eye on humanity's trending power structure will always be needed.

    What needs to be cast aside is the concept of eugenics and racial superiority. The concept is flawed because genetically humanity is all the same, geneticists like to say that race is truly skin deep. Racism is dumb, time to get over that; and you moderates who crow about sjws need to start telling your friends with racist "tendencies" just how harmful they are.

    Hate begets hate, so all the "sjw" violence is actually a symptom of the racial/sexist hatred that has simmered all over, humanity corrupting itself. Haters everywhere, it's inevitable when hate takes too much of center stage. The best place for a cure to take hold is at the location of the wound, and as this event has shown it starts with the nazi wannabes who advocate genocide. Everything else is fallout from people telling such dicks to piss off and leave them alone. Y'know, friendly requests like "don't have a party to lynch my family on the nearest tree" and "please look into the prison system to find out why our sons and daughters are convicted at a much higher rate."

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:46AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:46AM (#553962)

    "geneticists like to say that race is truly skin deep."

    sickle cell anemia

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @04:09AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @04:09AM (#554079)

      The 2018 riots are coming. It's like that sound some tea kettles start to make a minute or two before whistling. Do you have a spare gas can? Stay away from major cities. If you haven't already, get out while you still can.

      The people who survived the year from hell often had some way or another of growing their own food. Infrastructure will be gone, and to some it seemed like the climate shifted. Even on an overcast day, solar panels still generate electricity, and the wind still blows. Of course, even then, there was not nearly enough to go around.

      UNLESS

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:11AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:11AM (#554165)

        UNLESS

        The nazis and pricks who will stand up and show their faces make up about 2% of the population. The "riots" will last about 5 minutes when these shitstains get outnumbered 10-1 by counter protesters and need police escorts for their own protection. The great irony will be when they have to fall back on Obamacare and welfare when they find themselves unemployable.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:51AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:51AM (#554172)

          2%? There are 200 of them! And half of those are still in diapers, practically speaking! Yeah, race war! Guess we'll all have to adopt Charles Manson's plan, and team up with the Bikers [wikipedia.org], 'cause they really know how to rumble. Not. OK,it's over. Have the cops arrest all these wankers from the Facebook Facial identification ejaculation files.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:53PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:53PM (#554237)

          I think you'll find that George Soros' agents provocateur otherwise known as Antifa are inciting far more violence than a couple hundred wannabe stormtroopers.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Tuesday August 15 2017, @03:26AM (10 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @03:26AM (#554066) Journal

    The concept is flawed because genetically humanity is all the same, geneticists like to say that race is truly skin deep.

    Even if that were true, and it's not, we still have the problem that there are a lot of desirable traits (key one being intelligence) that are at least in part genetic-based. So even if all "races" really were identical, we can manipulate genes in a variety of ways to improve these traits.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:54AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:54AM (#554173)

      khallow, sometimes I just want to fuck you in the ass for being such a racist. Now is not one of those times, but you are being a total idiot of a racist. Go sit in your corner until meal time, OK?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:02PM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:02PM (#554211) Journal
        You have a name?
        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @04:46PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @04:46PM (#554315)

          Different AC, you're fucked in the head khallow and need to learn some more. Genetic engineering has a host of potential problems, especially when you try and target such a broad trait as intelligence. We've been warned of the dangers, but morons like you still think we need to "improve" humanity for some reason. Fucking nazi punk-in-training.

          I'm sure you don't see yourself as a nazi, but that is the path your thinking leads to so I'll call you out now.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:25PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:25PM (#554444) Journal

            Different AC, you're fucked in the head khallow and need to learn some more. Genetic engineering has a host of potential problems, especially when you try and target such a broad trait as intelligence.

            So what? Everything has problems. And while the problems and ethical dilemmas of genetic engineering tend to be bigger, so are the potential rewards. Someone will do it.

            I'm sure you don't see yourself as a nazi, but that is the path your thinking leads to so I'll call you out now.

            And I'm sure that if you really thought about it, you wouldn't see myself as a Nazi either. Eugenics is just a quirk of the Nazi ideology. Their fundamental trait is a worship of power and the state. Eugenics and similar things were mere rationalizations of things that they would have done anyway and found some other way to rationalize.

            After all, an impartial study of the relative intelligence of various ethnicities of pre-war Germany would have determined that Jews have significant intellectual advantages over any other identifiable ethnic group. Yet they became a big part of the "untermensch", those that the Nazis deemed genetically inferior. That's because Nazi eugenics wasn't about creating people with better genes or breeding, but about rationalizing Nazi bigotry and Nazi bigotry in turn was a means for rationalizing their naked pursuit of power.

            My view is that eugenics will never become huge in the future, no matter how adventurous we are with the technology, because a cyborg will trounce a person with mere superior genetics.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:30PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:30PM (#554447) Journal

            but morons like you still think we need to "improve" humanity for some reason.

            And the reason for the need to improve humanity should be damn obvious - life span and limited mental capabilities. Sorry, 80 years is not very long. And we spend way too much of that time just figuring out basic stuff.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 16 2017, @09:03AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 16 2017, @09:03AM (#554618)

          My NAME is GOD! You pathetic excuse for a human being! Bow down, khallow, or I really will fuck you in the ass! Now, what you said is just not true, and I should know, since I created the whole shebang! Intelligence is not passed on from parents to children. Just consider your own case! See? And also, for you to maintain that it does, is, you know, just a little bit racist, since we all know what you are getting at, and we really, really, do not like racists, because anyone who starts thinking they are "superior" looks 1) silly to me, being omnipotent and all, and 2)just flat out wrong, as in your case. So give me 20, khallow, and 10 Hail Maries, and 5 Our Fathers, and a donation to the Black Lives Matter Fund. God Commands you. You twerp.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:19PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:19PM (#554441)

      Even if that were true, and it's not, we still have the problem that there are a lot of desirable traits (key one being intelligence) that are at least in part genetic-based.

      [citation needed]

      Hint: you will first have to come up with a quantitative measure of "intelligence". Until then, you are just a Nazi wannabe.

      So even if all "races" really were identical, we can manipulate genes in a variety of ways to improve these traits.

      And you will have to come up with a precise definition of "improvement".

      Second hint: evolution and "survival of the fittest" care nothing for your teleological views. Adaptation is only about adapting species to a niche within the environment. Environments change and so do the traits most desirable for adaptation.

      Nuff said?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:35PM (2 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:35PM (#554452) Journal

        Even if that were true, and it's not, we still have the problem that there are a lot of desirable traits (key one being intelligence) that are at least in part genetic-based.

        [citation needed] Hint: you will first have to come up with a quantitative measure of "intelligence". Until then, you are just a Nazi wannabe.

        A couple questions for you. Is the difference in intellectual capabilities between a human and a tree due to upbringing and environment? If not, then what is it due to?

        It's nonsensical to ignore that genes are what creates the profound differences that separate us from other species on Earth and then claim that intelligence can't be improved through changes in genetic makeup.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 16 2017, @09:08AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 16 2017, @09:08AM (#554619)

          A couple questions for you. Is the difference in intellectual capabilities between a human and a tree due to upbringing and environment? If not, then what is it due to?

          It is due to you being a Nazi, khallow! Why do you persist in your racist tendencies? Why are ravens like a writing desk? And why are you not a nice liberal progressive your parents can be proud of, instead of this alt-right monster they want nothing to due with?

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 16 2017, @12:30PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 16 2017, @12:30PM (#554679) Journal

            It is due to you being a Nazi, khallow! Why do you persist in your racist tendencies? Why are ravens like a writing desk? And why are you not a nice liberal progressive your parents can be proud of, instead of this alt-right monster they want nothing to due with?

            Why do you think that is racism? I'll note, for example, two obvious counterarguments. First, I noted that cybernetics would be superior to genetic manipulation for making people smarter and such. Second, improving genetics is not exclusive to particular ethnicities. The "white race" is not somehow peculiarly suited to genetic improvement. Thus, my beliefs neither have a strong belief in the value of genetics over other approaches, nor favor particular ethnicities. Thus, it is not racism.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday August 15 2017, @06:34AM (10 children)

    by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday August 15 2017, @06:34AM (#554127)

    ...Racism is dumb...

    Actually, it's a nonsense because there's only one human race.

    --
    It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
    • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:52PM (8 children)

      by Wootery (2341) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:52PM (#554235)

      So you'd rather come up with a new word for the commonalities of genetics and heritage that make certain groups predisposed to sickle cell disease?

      Is there some reason 'race' isn't a good fit?

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 15 2017, @02:39PM (3 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @02:39PM (#554267) Journal

        So you'd rather come up with a new word for the commonalities of genetics and heritage that make certain groups predisposed to sickle cell disease?

        Do redheads make a new race?
        Among other traits, they don't tan, only get sunburnt.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday August 15 2017, @03:33PM (2 children)

          by Wootery (2341) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @03:33PM (#554283)

          Could say so, sure. Biologically we probably should. It's one of those fuzzy things, much like dog breeds, or indeed the idea of species. The fact that it doesn't have 'hard edges' doesn't mean the idea doesn't exist.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:01PM (1 child)

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:01PM (#554432) Journal

            And, other than a hair splitting exercise, what good is distinguishing races bringing in the picture?

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
            • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday August 16 2017, @08:56AM

              by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday August 16 2017, @08:56AM (#554616)

              hair splitting

              Like the redheads? :-P

              Depends what you mean by 'the picture'. The risk of sickle cell disease is race sensitive. Pretending that isn't true could only make you worse at being a medical doctor.

              Redheads need more anaesthetic. [nih.gov] Again, I'd hope a medical professional wouldn't try to deny this in the name of being PC.

              Of course, day to day, race doesn't matter a damn for 99% of us. That doesn't mean you get to pretend that race is just an incoherent idea, or that it is a matter of identity rather than biology.

      • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday August 15 2017, @11:00PM (3 children)

        by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday August 15 2017, @11:00PM (#554477)

        Is there some reason 'race' isn't a good fit?

        Because, used in your example, people with blood type O would be a different race to people with blood type AB. There would be nearly as many "human races" as there are people*. Which reinforces the "nonsense" part.

         

        *An exaggeration, but a very slight one.

        --
        It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
        • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday August 16 2017, @08:51AM (2 children)

          by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday August 16 2017, @08:51AM (#554614)

          No. Dawkins knows more about this than you. 'Race' just means 'really extended family with certain attributes in common'. There is no need to obtusely pretend that the idea is incoherent.

          As I said elsewhere: just because it doesn't have hard edges, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's the same thing with dog breeds.

          • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Wednesday August 16 2017, @10:38AM (1 child)

            by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday August 16 2017, @10:38AM (#554648)

            As I said elsewhere: just because it doesn't have hard edges, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's the same thing with dog breeds.

            So do people with different blood types or different eye colour belong to different races?

            --
            It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
            • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday August 16 2017, @11:11AM

              by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday August 16 2017, @11:11AM (#554655)

              You're being obtuse, nothing more. Do dogs of similar colour necessary belong to the same breed? No, of course not.

              Seeing as how blood type and eye colour can vary even within immediate family, the answer to your question is No, of course not.

    • (Score: 2) by etherscythe on Wednesday August 16 2017, @02:14PM

      by etherscythe (937) on Wednesday August 16 2017, @02:14PM (#554716) Journal

      There's only one human species. There are many, many human races.

      --
      "Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:49PM

    by Wootery (2341) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @12:49PM (#554234)

    geneticists like to say that race is truly skin deep

    Dawkins sure doesn't say that. [twitter.com] Heard of sickle cell anemia?

    There's a lot of silly doublethink about race, particularly on the left. I really don't see why - admitting that race exists doesn't mean we all suddenly become racists.

    Here's [the-scientist.com] a good example:

    while race itself is not a biological variable, groups that self-identify as a given race may share biologic characteristics that originated as a result of shared ancestry. For example, persons of African descent in the United States who self-identify as black or African American are more likely to have certain biologic traits that were ancestrally protective in Africa, such as heterozygosity for sickle cell disease

    It contradicts itself within the same paragraph! Is it not obvious that race is shared ancestry? Or do they seriously think that identifying with a race can make you more or less genetically disposed to certain conditions?