What ethnicity are you?

Japanese

 

Yes, he got his a year before mine.

 

Sorry Squid - that's just the way it is for me. I've been around the world many times, 52 countries, and countless interactions with so many people....I see the world through different eyes than many. In many instances, I became "one" with the surroundings I was in during those circumstances.

The older I get, the harder it is to "profile" anyone - every single person, and not a race, has a peculiarity. I can narrow issues down to a person, but never a race.

The only time I would have to "force" myself to see color or race is if I had to describe someone.

Sorry if this deviated a little from the initial topic matter...just wanted to clarity.

 

one more clarification....

I do make frequent references to Rednecks and Hillbilly's....but that fits all ethnicity's and income levels. My definition of the above is a person who has no pride in oneself or owned items.

 

Ah, ah, ahhh- I beg to differ. Races were talked about in the Old Testament of the Bible. As far as the US Dept of Commerce comment, I think the insistence on perpetuating the "races" are to be blamed on all the minority groups out there needing to define themselves in order to demand some type of gov't recognition.

I think White/caucasion people are the LEAST interested in race classification of all at least in the US)

I am for "forbidding" any gov't agency from asking or collating or saving ANY data on RACE.

 

Seems to me like you got your wish.

 

:lol: :blink:

Tigerops:

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of racial and ethnic "politics". That's why I said right off, "The Poll That Even I Wouldn't Touch".

I would like to think, if it were me, that we have enough "rational" and INTERESTED posters, with no axes to grind, that posts could be "informative" or at least "light" and "amusing". But it's a minefield. The reality is that one ill-chosen word could touch off a small explosion. There may not be enough to be gained.

Small example: "Asians". Except as a geopolitical entity on a map, there's not one single valid generalization you can make about "Asians" as people. Hence the word is almost counterproductive. Different "tribes" of Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Tibetans, Lao, Hmong, Khmer, "Malaysians", "Indonesians", Thais, Burmese---not to mention the "Asian Sub-Continent" of India---almost every one would roll their collective eyes, as Spunky pointed out, at the designation "Asian". For starters, most of the words themselves are OUR "Western" words FOR "them".

Then there are the Khmer, who aren't "racially" Asian at all, but descended from short, dark, round-eyed people with wavy hair who migrated to where they are now from where India is. And the white Ainu, the "Natives" of Japan. Too many exceptions to make sense of generalizations. Just like "Europe". And "Africa". And "South America". And, of course, here.

Personally, I enjoy learning and talking about ethnicities. But this may not be enough of a controlled environment to do it productively. You might consider asking a Moderator to shut it down. Or not. It's your baby now.

 

Which is specifically why I used "most". Obviously, you're atypical. "Most" people don't visit 52 different countries, with interactions thereof.

 

I haven't bought the Prius yet, but will in 2006. I'm of western European descent. I don't use white as that is a skin color not an ethnicity. But in reality there was a Native American(3 or 4 generations ago) member on one side of my family, so I guess I can say I am a multi-ethnic person.

What would interest me as much as ethnicity is age and gender of owners. I'm 57, retired and female. I wonder if that is unusual.

 

Tiger, the kind of people who drive Prii are the kind of people who drive Prii.

We also own or have owned; SUVs, trucks, muscle cars, all sorts of luxury sedans, clunkers, airplanes, half-tracks, boats, bicycles, and motorcycles. Also everything else you can think of, just to get around.

We've made good and bad choices concerning the environment, personal relationships, our leaders, which anti-perspirant to use.

Lumping folks, classifying them into groups, will get you into trouble. Try to treat everyone as an individual, with personal problems and unique strengths. Then you won't be surprised by their actions.

I think the need to classify evolved as a survival mechanism in humans. That particular setting or person or behavior saved my butt last time we went hunting so I'm gonna scope out the situation, categorize things, and avoid ending up as lunch meat.

Unfortunately, evolved mechanisms become automatic responses and can get you into trouble in civilized society. Those knee-jerk responses become traps. You should resist whenever you find yourself falling into one of those "must catagorize" quagmires.

Unless you're out, actively hunting.

 

This is a debate that we (my brother and I) have been having since our college applications. Our father is from India and our mother is from Norway. We were both born in Norway. So we are not truly Caucasian, and we are not Asian, as that refers to those of Japanese/Chinese/Korean/etc. decent. So, on the average ethnicity form, there is no clear cut selection for us to check. I usually mark Caucasian or other if there is one. I don't really identify with one side more than the other with regards to ethnicity. One time I actually got a form that included my odd combination, but it was only that once. The question's answers took up nearly the whole page it was so thorough.

Now for the other debate, as to whether this is even an appropriate question to ask, I say why not. Are people so ashamed of their heritage? I want to remember who I am, and I also want people to know who I am and where I'm from. People always cry about discrimination and so on. There will be discrimination no matter what you mark as your etnicity. If you think what you call yourself or what someone else calls you determines what you are, then you are very weak indeed.

I see it as a descriptive term just like male/female, married/single, blue/brown eyes, and so on. People are a certain ethnicity, just like people are male or female. But for some reason, people feel the need to eliminate any reference to people's differences. Guess what, WE ARE DIFFERENT! Men are different from women. They always have been, they always will be. Be proud of those differences and enhance them, not hide them. Just as there are physical differences between men and women, there are also some differences between the ethnicities. Embrace it, don't hide it. It's what makes you unique. Otherwise we'd all be clones.

Just my $2,000,000 (my opinions are worth much more than $0.02 ).

 

Now for the other debate, as to whether this is even an appropriate question to ask, I say why not. Are people so ashamed of their heritage?

Not me, I am interested enough to have had a 43 marker DNA test at
dnaheritage.com. It is now under 150.00. Deep ancestry is revealed.
I was surprized to find that I am R1a haplogroup. Most Jones in VA are
R1b. I can trace my male ancestry to 1725, but never knew my male
ancestry was Irish/Scottish and before that eastern European. My DNA
could have come into the British Isles during Viking conquest; my
haplotype is unique among Jones.
This test also confirmed exact match to a third cousin,
backward to the year 1800 when our families merge.
Facinating stuff, you should check it out. There are search engines
designed to find your DNA cousins. ybase.org or ysearch.org or
smgf.org. I am currently stuck beyond 1725. That ancestor arrived
in Halifax County VA with money and property in mid 1700's
but left little clue to his past. County bounderies changed from Brunswick,
to Lunenburg, to Halifax during this period. Have spent several years
at courthouses reading court orders, tax records, and deeds he was involved in.

Rod

 

Remember this from "King of the Hill?"



Hank: So are you Chinese or Japanese?
Kahn: I'm Laotion
Bill: What ocean??
Kahn: No, Laos stupid. It land-locked country, Southest Asia.
Hank: ...so are you Chinese or Japanese?

:blink:

Wildkow

 

I voted 'other'. I'm a mutt. I'm 1/2 Mexican, and the rest is a mix of Caucasian, Native American, and I don't know what else.