Posted: Tue 18 Aug 2009 08:38 Post subject: IS HUMAN ALBINISM HEREDITARY?
IS HUMAN ALBINISM HEREDITARY?
During a lecture I recently gave in Paramaribo a visitor mentioned visiting a village in West Africa where everyone was an albino. Today I find a story about a similar village, Aicuna in the Argentines. Facts like these make me ask again if white people should be considered ‘a fixed, albino race.’ Everywhere in nature whiteness comes out of blackness by albinism. In the flora and fauna world its not considered a fault or a handicap, but mostly actively sought out and propagated. Albino’s are normal people, but like many white people they need a strong sun block and glasses to go into the sun. Whites who can tan are mixed with other phenotypes and posses the capacity to make melanin. I thus believe that whites came out of blacks; all phenotypes came out of blacks, so there are no human races. The sooner we get this fixed, the sooner we can eliminate racist ideology.
According to the math, the rate of albinism in Aicuña isn’t one in every seventeen thousand people but rather one in every ninety. Or as Dr. Eduardo Castilla, the author of “Aicuña: A Study of the Population’s Genetic Structure,” maintains: albinism is almost two hundred times more likely to occur in Aicuña than anywhere else on the planet.
The article in Virginia Quarterly examines a tiny village in Argentina which, isolated for centuries, was suddenly branded the ‘albino town’ by an article that appeared in a major paper in the country.
Posted: Wed 19 Aug 2009 15:42 Post subject: Re: IS HUMAN ALBINISM HEREDITARY?
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Is human albinism hereditary?
Of course. All albinism is hereditary, human or not. Come to think of it, every genetically determined trait is hereditary. That is what "hereditary" means.
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Facts like these make me ask again if white people should be considered ‘a fixed, albino race.’
It depends on what you mean by "white people." Do you include, say, Pakistanis or Turks?
It depends on what you mean by "race." Do you include, say, the "Slavic race" or the Polish race"?
It depends on what you mean by "fixed albino." The process whereby melanin is generated and dispersed in human skin, corneas, and hair is complex and has many steps. If any of the steps fails it produces what many call "albinism." Consequently, there are dozens of different unrelated hypopigmentation disorders that produce the same external result. It is true that natives of the region within 300 miles of the Baltic Sea are relatively depigmented, when compared to the natives of Italy, Spain, or the Middle-East. But the Baltic depigmentation is merely adaptive neoteny and far less extreme than the disorder usually called "albinism."
For a good summary of albinism and related disorders, I recommend Chapter 9, "Disorders of Hypopigmentation" in Ashley H. Robins, Biological Perspectives on Human Pigmentation (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University, 1991).
Posted: Thu 20 Aug 2009 09:07 Post subject: Re: IS HUMAN ALBINISM HEREDITARY?
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Is human albinism hereditary?
fwsweet wrote:
Of course. All albinism is hereditary, human or not. Come to think of it, every genetically determined trait is hereditary. That is what "hereditary" means.
Human albinism is presented as a random mutation which strikes an individual, and this mutations is not supposed to be heriditary.
Next I have strained myself sometime ago to find out from the internet how white mice are bred. Does all the offspring come out albino or do they have to euthanise the black or gray or spotted babies who are born too? Does anyone know how this works?
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Facts like these make me ask again if white people should be considered ‘a fixed, albino race.’
fwsweet wrote:
It depends on what you mean by "white people." Do you include, say, Pakistanis or Turks?
Turks seem in general to be whiter looking then Pakistani's, and Pakistani's are whiter looking, in general then Indians.
So I'm really thinking whites like Hillary Clinton or Marilyn Monroe.
fwsweet wrote:
It depends on what you mean by "race." Do you include, say, the "Slavic race" or the Polish race"?
Race is a old word and according to Nederveen, quoting Appiah (1975), before 1770 races were not defined by skin colour. If someone was from the 'German race' he could have been any colour. I reject the notion of races and especially hate the idea of a hierarchy among the human races.
fwsweet wrote:
It depends on what you mean by "fixed albino." The process whereby melanin is generated and dispersed in human skin, corneas, and hair is complex and has many steps. If any of the steps fails it produces what many call "albinism." Consequently, there are dozens of different unrelated hypopigmentation disorders that produce the same external result. It is true that natives of the region within 300 miles of the Baltic Sea are relatively depigmented, when compared to the natives of Italy, Spain, or the Middle-East. But the Baltic depigmentation is merely adaptive neoteny and far less extreme than the disorder usually called "albinism."
Perhaps like with flora and fauna we should not consider albinism a disorder as it does not effect any human function. Spending hours in the sun to get a tan is not something we need to do for our survival.
We still lack a good theory of where whites came from and the two articles you once mentioned are riddled with perhapses and maybies, so they are a waste of time.
fwsweet wrote:
For a good summary of albinism and related disorders, I recommend Chapter 9, "Disorders of Hypopigmentation" in Ashley H. Robins, Biological Perspectives on Human Pigmentation (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University, 1991).
Posted: Thu 20 Aug 2009 11:11 Post subject: Re: IS HUMAN ALBINISM HEREDITARY?
Egmond Codfried wrote:
mutations is not supposed to be heriditary.
Wrong. That is precisely what "mutation" means. You are in violation of posting rule 3.1.
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Next I have strained myself sometime ago to find out from the internet how white mice are bred. Does all the offspring come out albino or do they have to euthanise the black or gray or spotted babies who are born too? Does anyone know how this works?
Off-topic. You are in violation of posting rule 3.5.
Egmond Codfried wrote:
Perhaps like with flora and fauna we should not consider albinism a disorder as it does not effect any human function. ... We still lack a good theory of where whites came from and the two articles you once mentioned are riddled with perhapses and maybies, so they are a waste of time.
You are in violation of posting rule 3.1.
No more warnings. Your posting privilege is hereby suspended until midnight, October 19, 2009.
Did anyone watch 20/20 this past Friday evening (October 2, 2009)? The subject was on Albinism. The last segment, which was filmed in Tanzania, brought tears to my eyes. Some idiot decided to spread a rumor that body parts, such as legs and/or arms would bring good luck. So, there was a high price for these parts -- in more ways than one! 20/20 Albinishm 10/2/09.
'
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
