- ayanasioux:
- But just because a majority of Hebrews practice Judaism that doesn't mean it's a race. I'm sure they're Hebrews that don't practice Judaism. Does that make them Jew anyway?
Just because the majority of Muslims practice Islam that doesn't mean it's a race then, either, does it?
There are people who are not Hebrews but still practice Judaism. I had a friend in elementary school who had a Jewish father and his mother wasn't, so they celebrated the holidays of both religions. Even though his mother wasn't of Hebrew descent though, his father was, which still makes him a Jew.
And for non-Hebrews it's possible to become a Jew, yes, but it's difficult because it requires a lot of study of Hebrew culture and language. If someone who wasn't Jewish wanted to become a Jew then by the time they finished their studying to become one they may not look like a Jew, but they would be one on the inside.
It's also why the Nazis were able to track down and capture so many Jews. It's based on a person's religion (Judaism), and their ethnicity, including the ethnicity of their parents (Jewish). My fencing instructor had this friend who was serving the Nazi military during World War II when he discovered that he was a Jew. They didn't promote him, obviously, and he fled to America before the holocaust happened. In that case, it wasn't religious, it was based on his race.
- ayanasioux:
- And others would argue that British and Italian and other European countries are merely nationalities and not a race. And the whole thing about black people losing their contact with their African ancestors could easily be said about white people also. I've talked to plenty of white people that just say they're white and know of no ancestors from European countries.
Many people would argue that white, black, red and etc. could be classified as a race because like you said, it's a blanket term that describes most of them but if I were to look at a German man as apposed to a British man, I wouldn't know what they are much yet German or British. Sure, some characteristics can differentiate the two but all in all the way they look is pretty similar. Same goes for blacks and Asians. Yes, sometimes I can tell a Nigerian from a Kenyan but the easier classification would be black. So most people would probably consider white, black and such and such a race, not just a color.
Like a lot of people say, there's only the human race (although different colored people act differently in my book) but when discussing race it's usually classified by color. That's why when you sign all the crazy papers you'll have to sign in your life it says "Black, white, Hispanic, Asian," and not "Nigerian, Kenyan, German, Chinese, Japanese".
After putting a bit more thought into it, yeah. What is there to race other than some kind of blanket term that refers to multiple nationalities/ethnicities so we can be easily categorized based on very broad facial features?
The culture that comes with race, however, really comes from the person's nationality, not so much the "race".
