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posted by martyb on Saturday February 16 2019, @08:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the Better-than-a-rat-race dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:45AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:45AM (#802267)

    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)

    by Arik (4543) on Sunday February 17 2019, @12:58AM (#802272) Journal
    "Wild red foxes and domesticated ones may attack each other too even though they "could" produce fertile offspring."

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @01:45AM (#802286)
      Okay, you may be right.

      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)

        by Arik (4543) on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:15AM (#802300) Journal
        Looks like a good article. It's been several montsh since I needed to get past the abstract at pubmed and I'm not sure if I've forgotten how to do it or if they've changed the site to require jscript to get there.

        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)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:34AM (#802314)

          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

            by Arik (4543) on Sunday February 17 2019, @02:39AM (#802320) Journal
            Thanks, you too.
            --
            If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?