On Some Classes of Race Thinkers

There are people who believe that there are races, and people who don't.

Of the ones who believe that there are races, there are those who want to protect their continued existence (race protectionists), those who do not care one way or another, and want no action to be taken (race passivists), and those who want to see the fusion of races (race fusionists) either because of anticipated benefits through heterosis, or as an antidote to racism.

Race protectionists fall into different categories. There are the old-style racists who are appalled by the idea of interracial mating. The remainder are divided into race evolutionists who appreciate the existence of semi-distinct group as a means for further biological and cultural evolution. There are the cognitive elitists who don't want high average IQ races to be "compromised" by fusion with low average IQ races. Finally, there are the racial aestheticists, who have an attachment to a particular racial phenotype and do not want it to disappear through race mixture.

Race passivists may be race naturalists who want intermarriage or lack thereof to happen "naturally", with neither race isolation or mixture actively promoted. The race individualists want the same, but because they promote the individual, and deny that individuals should have allegiences to collective entities such as races. Race passivists also differ in the perceptions of what the outcome of passivity will be. Some think that the polemics of race protectionists are exaggerated, since assortative mating will ensure the continued existence of races on a global scale. Others think that the races will fuse, but do not think that this is either a negative (as the protectionists do), or positive development (as the fusionists do).

Finally, race fusionists want to see the fusion of races. There is a cognitive elitist tendency here, whereby the intermarriage of genetically privileged elements across racial lines is encouraged. There is also a moralist tendency, which sees the existence of races or racially-biased sexual preferences as racist, and thinks that race fusion will be the cure for racism.

Posted by Dienekes at April 24, 2003 01:56 AM | PermaLink