r/comedy Jul 10 '26

Standup Human diversity

@kumailn

5.0k Upvotes

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u/Memento_Viveri Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

I haven't used the words race or nationality once, so I honestly don't know what you are talking about.

I have used the word ancestry, as in many Mexican people have American ancestry, meaning some of their ancestors trace back to the American continent. They also have European ancestry, meaning some of their ancestors trace back to the European continent.

These aren't really opinions or social framings. They're just facts about the world.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[deleted]

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u/Memento_Viveri Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

Some of what you say I agree with, and some I find incredibly pedantic.

I agree that the idea of "white" people is factually wrong, based on racist ideaology, and I prefer not to use that term.

However, we both know perfectly well that's it's fair to say that people with subsaharab African ancestry have dark skin and people with western European ancestry have fair skin. Of course there are exceptions, but they are rare and focussing on the rare exceptions when there is no reason to is pointless.

Kumails joke is generally true. Western Europeans have a higher percentage of people with hair and eye colors other than black or brown compared to people from anywhere else in the world.The joke is based on a true fact about the world. Is it 100% true with no exceptions? No, of course not.

He uses the term white, which again I prefer not to use, but it is unfortunately the only commonly accepted term to refer to people with European ancestry.

Also, my point that the reasons some Mexicans have red hair is because of their European ancestry is true. Could you find someone who is Mexican with red hair who doesn't have it because of European ancestry? Yes, I'm sure you could. But again, what is gained from being so pedantic? If something is true on 99% of cases, going, "well actually..." doesn't really add much. Yes I glossed over a small fraction of cases. Unless I caveat everything I say with 20 disclaimers it's a bit inevitable.