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Is a religious group a 'race' or isn't it? Is someone 'racist' if they publicly state their dislike of a religious group? An Australian tribunal has answered this question by ruling that Muslim is not a race, and as such, a person who vilifies them in public, an act which is currently illegal in Australia, would not have broken the law.
In 2016 Sonia Kruger 'called for an end to migration from Islamic countries' saying that she wanted people to feel safe when going out to celebrate Australia day. Sam Ekermawi, a Muslim, filed a complaint to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal claiming the comments were racial vilification.
The tribunal was unable to conclude Muslims living in Australia "are a 'race' by reason of a common ethnic or ethno-religious origin" and dismissed the application. This is an important milestone in the legal and cultural development of the ocean-bound nation which is still attempting to balance the melting pot of cultures and people who have migrated to the country from all over the world. This ruling may be a key threshold for defining what the word 'race' actually means in the legal and social and cultural context and how laws will be interpreted in the future.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:25AM (6 children)
"Wolf-Dog Hybrids "Although hybrids can occur naturally in the wild, they are rare because the territorial nature of wolves leads them to protect their home ranges from intruding canines such as dogs, coyotes and other wolves.""
Rare? Rare?!? Cite me one case. One single case in the last 300, 400 years where this has been plausibly reported?
They're not rare they're impossible. Female wolf in heat will kill the male dog before he can mate with her, even if he were inclined to do so. Not possible. Male wolf will kill female dog, even if she's in heat. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN.
You want a wolf dog? You need to muzzle and bind the wolf. It's easier with a female wolf and a male dog, if you go the other way it's more complicated. YES, it can be done, either way. NO, it's not realistically going to happen more than once/millenia without human intervention.
The reason is because their sexual cues and other cues are very different. The female dog goes in heat regularly and all male dogs in the area go into rut in response to her scent. The male wolves are not affected.
The female wolf goes into heat once a year, the male wolves are deeply affected, male dogs in the area do not seem to care.
Again, even though they *can* produce fertile offspring this doesn't happen without intervention, so I consider them subspecies, and again, this separation is orders of magnitude greater than that between any two human populations.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:45AM (5 children)
I guess you are in a bad mood.
I didn't mean to piss you off.
Didn't you read the rest of the comment?
I agree they are distinct I just didn't know if it was enough to be considered a subspecies.
Wild red foxes and domesticated ones may attack each other too even though they "could" produce fertile offspring.
Like I said in that post. "Humans living in far flung regions of the world would not normally breed with each other in significant numbers due to distance and cultural differences without modern transportation yet they are not considered different subspecies, why not?"
I just want consistency, and a better concrete definition of species, subspecies, etc. or just refer to all by the genus.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:58AM (4 children)
Subspecies. True "racial" distinction.
Now show me human populations that distant. I dare you.
"Like I said in that post. "Humans living in far flung regions of the world would not normally breed with each other in significant numbers due to distance and cultural differences without modern transportation yet they are not considered different subspecies, why not?""
The obvious answer is contained in your question. "Because modern transportation."
But that's a bad answer, because it implies this didn't happen before modern transportation. It did. For thousands and thousands of years, we had something called 'sailors.'
Also caravans.
Best I know the longest any human population has been effectively isolated is something like 50k. years for Australian aborigines between the sea drop and the arrival of the poms. And that separation clearly did not produce anything like the difference between wolves and dogs. Which was, of course, produced not just by time but by intense directed selection.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @01:45AM (3 children)
Most biologist think humans are a monotypic species, while a few think differently https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19695787. [nih.gov]
Maybe migration, caravans, and sailors were enough to keep humans together as one subspecies. From what i've read taxonomists decide whether to recognize a subspecies or not. Which seems pretty subjective. I'd rather it be less subjective and more definitive.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:15AM (2 children)
I'll give you my first impressions, it's politically incorrect and I bet there was some resistance to publication. I'm 100% in favor of allowing it to be published.
That doesn't mean I agree with it though. From the abstract it appears to moreso argue for moving the goalposts in terms of redefining very specific terms that I don't actually use. That sort of paper can be very enlightening, good reading for those that are unaware of the more subtle elements involved in making such a judgement - but ultimately I wouldn't expect it to provoke any sort of a reconsideration of my fundamental position; that all human beings should be presumed equal, and judged only on performance or examination, and certainly not on skin color.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:34AM (1 child)
Yeah, I don't know if it's worth the trouble to read.
Maybe he really believes it, or maybe he's like some people that try to court controversy to get people to notice them.
Which makes sense when you have hordes of people all trying to be recognized.
Who knows.
Try not to let the trolls get to you,
later.
(Score: 1) by Arik on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:39AM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?