The Study of Racialism

onlyhuman77 · Posted: Mon 06 Apr 2009 21:20 Post subject: Race as Computer Software

My belief is that "Passing" is as archaic and outdated as people believing in "Race". That being said, "Race" despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary is still being used by the massess. Since "Race" is still being used as a means of breaking down populations there will be people that choose to identify independently in that construct or outside of it.

I see "Race" as an old computer program , let's say Race 1.0, the U.S. version, it was used long ago to breakdown populations. But since the creation of this computer program Race 1.0 there have been bugs that had not been worked out but the program was sent to mass production despite these glitches.

Race 1.2 included Irish as Caucasian
Race 1.7 included German & Polish as Caucasan (& One Drop Rule)
Race 2.4 included Italian, and Jewish as Caucasian ( & One Drop Rule)
Race 3.0 included Latinos as Caucasian (ODR under reveiw)
Race 3.4 includes Middle easterns as Caucasians (Discredits ODR)
Race 4.6 any person can identify as Caucasian (Discredits ODR)

And with each of those upgrades the programers tried to get rid of the bugs, but more bugs kept presenting themselves. Since the beginning of Race 1.0 some people have chosen to identify individually and adjust accordingly.

Irish were perhaps the first to change their names to looking more English, and adjust their accents as part of their adjustment process. And I know someone who's ( I forget if it was their father or Grandfather) ancester changed their surname from being Jewish to Irish in origin after they moved to Brooklyn (not before). I know of two people one directly from the south of Italy the other Poland both identify as mixed/other eventhough they have no heritage outside of their country of origin because they feel the racial category of Caucasian does not fit them. And the list goes on and on.

The thing is Culture 2.3, an updated version of Culture 1.0, which has been around for the past 20 years, despite being a more accurate program is used mainly by academia and those few seeking a greater truth. The masses still still have some old version of the Race program on their computer, some only have Race 1.7, others have more updated versions, and there are people that will never put Race 4.6 on their computer because it is too radical a program from the previous Race program.

There are also computer stores that sell exclusively one older version over thee others for whatever reasons it benefits them and have poured numerous advertising dollars for that purpose. For people to start purchasing Culture 2.3 and it's older versions the advertising/marketing dept needs to come up with some new stratergies to get the public to open their eyes to the beauty of the Culture 1.0 and beyond software.

This is my geeky way of understanding "Passing" as and after product of "Race". And I do have Culture 4. 7 on my mac lol.

gs56ca · Experienced User Joined: 26 Jan 2008 {Posts: 110 }