I think you know perfectly well my meaning in context of the comment thread I was replying to.

Yes, some people are mixed ethnicity or "white passing". Yes societal views changes ("Italian used to not be considered white"). At the end of the day, most people fall into one of the categories and don't get to change that.

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defrost 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Which categories are these though? William Z. Ripley's 1899 The Races of Europe or more, say, Steven Coons Carleton's 1939 treatise?

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mindslight 26 minutes ago | parent [-]

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

But since you're insisting that this be spelled out: The categories are quite arbitrary, can vary, and can change. Yes, race is a social construct.

The point is the physical attributes that often define the categories cannot be significantly changed. One can't particularly make their own skin lighter, regardless of people with marginal skin tones being able to change other aspects about themselves to pass for a lighter category, or regardless of being able to go to a different community where one might be in the lighter category by default.

Compare with say how easy it is for someone with different political views to just hold their tongue when bureaucrats and true believers are waxing poetic about DEI, just as one had to hold their tongue when bureaucrats and true believers were waxing poetic about the virtues of mega golf or owning a boat, just as one might have to hold their tongue these days when bureaucrats and true believers are waxing poetic about the virtues of fascism.

(also can we stop using the word "conservative" as a lazy synonym? Applying that label to the Republican party after ~2020 is absurd)

	▲	defrost 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The categories are quite arbitrary, can vary, and can change. Yes, race is a social construct. Obviously. > Compare with say how easy it is for someone with different political views to just hold their tongue when bureaucrats and true believers are waxing poetic about DEI, just as one had to hold their tongue when bureaucrats and true believers were waxing poetic about the virtues of mega golf or owning a boat, just as one might have to hold their tongue these days when bureaucrats and true believers are waxing poetic about the virtues of fascism. That seems very un-Australian; I'm unfamiliar with the concept of letting rank stupidity ride w/out having a poke at it, and a lot of people have boats, big, small, whatever. I'm quite fond of shed built ground effect boat/planes FWiW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ILbQHnHPnY > can we stop using the word "conservative" as a lazy synonym? Applying that label to the Republican party after ~2020 is absurd TBH I'm not sure I have ever done that; "Conservative" varies by country, as does "Liberal".

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try_the_bass 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> I think you know perfectly well my meaning in context of the comment thread I was replying to.

No, I don't, and smugly insinuating I have some ulterior motive or whatever is, frankly, offensive.

I asked you a question because I didn't know what you meant, because you made a statement that was wildly ambiguous even with well-defined context.

> most people fall into one of the categories

One of... Which categories, exactly? This is why I'm asking. You keep making statements as if they're somehow inherently obvious, but... I can think of many different competing definitions of "race", so I'm trying to figure out which one you're using, or if you're even using one at all.