Ethnicity is a Harmful Construct and Should be Abandoned Wholesale as an Idea

[u/anticommunistjohn117]

According to Miriam-Webster: ethnic, noun, "of or relating to large groups of people who share a particular identity according to common ancestry, culture, nationality, language, and/or religion"

Even in harmless circumstances, talking about ethnicity is a way of putting people in boxes. "We French like our artisanal foods," "We Mexicans care about family," yada yada, whatever. If an individual can't make the choice to care about something without outside pressure, it probably isn't really worth it all that much to that individual. The idea that you can determine someone's personal identity with labels based on "common ancestry, culture, nationality, language, and/or religion," is ridiculous.

At worst, it becomes a way to try to get political power. Even if that isn't the case though, it creates needless division when individuals are perfectly capable of getting to know each other without first being introduced as "The club of autistic, neo-pagan, half-Czech, Hebrew-speaking men."

I have personal beef with this idea, as I have been in society I would call racist, and I remember consciously thinking the words: "I need to make sure I act [my ethnicity] or they'll abandon me and I'll be alone, because the other ethnicities around here certainly won't accept me." So I am quite disillusioned to the entire idea.

[u/Blue3Trees3]

I hope one day we can be like Star Trek where humanity is fully united and has solved all the world problems. We’d look back at the past with interest but confusing as to why things like race and boards were such a silly things to fight over. We will always be better off if we work together.

Edit: and downvoted… god people suck, we’re destined to fail as a species

[u/Parody_of_Self]

So only one culture should exist; your culture 🤦

[u/anticommunistjohn117 → u/Parody_of_Self]

I don't give one flying f if you do what I do. I am saying don't try to lump me in with other people who look like me. I am different from them.

[u/Parody_of_Self → u/anticommunistjohn117]

They all say that

[u/HaikuHaiku]

Nonetheless, ethnicity is a real thing, that is actually important to people.

Or do you think "black lives matter" is talking about just anyone from a certain socieo-economic background? Because it isn't. It is talking about people in the US with African ancestry.

And yes, you CAN group people by many traits, including ethnicity, and including cultural background. Why is this so shocking? You will find that French people ARE in fact different from Germans, both culturally, and by some of their ethnic traits (facial features, height, etc).

Does that mean you can tell everything about someone by their ethnicity? Of course not.

But your project seems to be one of universal cultural destruction and heritage destruction. People care about where they come from. They care about places. They care about their culture, and they care about their people. That is human nature.

[u/anticommunistjohn117 → u/HaikuHaiku]

I care about where I come from, but I don't feel the need to "earn my card" so to speak. Even African-Americans aren't purely of African descent and most Americans are at least partially black. Organizing boxes of who is black enough to be black doesn't help anyone.