People who speculate about people's ancestry

[Anthropos]

What do you think about them: people who engage in guesswork about foreign ancestry of other people?

I often burst out laughing and giggling at the ideas that pop out to the effect that someone this individual met or saw on TV has foreign ancestry, supposedly based on something that says nothing of the sort. I know an individual in real life who speculates like that, by the way. I am not talking now of cases where circumstances strongly suggest something, and even less of cases where there is evidence (although even in such cases, I don't judge the individual based on it). I am talking now of cases where nothing points to foreign ancestry, but nevertheless there is speculation on it. Sometimes there is a mention of an insignificant detail such as dark eyes (which is no proof, nor even a clue) or something like that, and sometimes not; the thing is that the speculating individual would like to prove something, whatever be the reason, but usually there is some sort of dislike or disapproval at the bottom of it all.

But that's not all. What I really detest about that attitude is that when people reason like that they think that they may be able to define other people. That's obviously what they think that they are doing when there is no real reason to assume anything like what they are assuming!

What do you think about that kind of behaviour?

[Monolith]

I am talking now of cases where nothing points to foreign ancestry, but nevertheless there is speculation on it.

Why would someone do that in the first place?

Aha! His hair is too dark, so he has to be half-Arab!

Come to think of it, such behaviour might be caused by a psychological condition (paranoia).

[Allenson]

When I meet someone new, I actually enjoy trying to figure out a person's ancestry based on certain clues--phenotype, surname, listening to how they speak and what they say, etc.

I do this privately, of course and it's not so much a case of trying to detect "foreign ancestry" or to malign someone but just for my own curiosity.

I've gotten quite good at it too.

[Loki]

What do you think about that kind of behaviour?

It shows insecurity on their part, and/or an inability to debate with said individual or refute his/her ideas. I am more talking internet-wise here. Some of the most retarded nutzies out there will quickly call you a "jew" if you are not racist enough to their liking, for example. I've lost count of how many times I've seen this tactic used by lowbrow posters.

[Lady L]

It shows insecurity on their part, and/or an inability to debate with said individual or refute his/her ideas. I am more talking internet-wise here. Some of the most retarded nutzies out there will quickly call you a "jew" if you are not racist enough to their liking, for example. I've lost count of how many times I've seen this tactic used by lowbrow posters.

Interesting... I was called one just the other day.

[Loki]

Interesting... I was called one just the other day.

These type of people would call anyone a "jew" that disagrees with them. For them, it's the ultimate insult -- almost an e-nuclear option.

[Gooding]

I personally look at it as some harmless amusement, really. Growing up where I did, I've had people tell me I look like this or like that..and of course I'd do some amateur classification myself with others. It was nothing so fine or detailed as the whole Dalofaelid Atlanto-Med Borreby Keltic Nordid labels that I see here, of course.It was more along the lines of somebody "looking" Irish or Italian or German, or whatever. I don't claim to be an anthropologist, but things like genealogy and ancestry were popular topics of discussion back in the late 1980s and early 1990s and it did have a hand in sparking my own interest in genealogical research. It's rather like a guessing game, really.

[Agrippa]

Different genotypes can produce similar phenotypes. So without knowing the the background, its easy to run into a trap, if its about "unusal" recombinations.

That doesnt mean it doesnt make sense, but its, like every method, not always applicable without other ancillary sciences or informations.

Its like it is with dendrochronology and C14-chronology, they both complete each other and the C14 has to be calibrated always, for being somewhat more precise.

If just having a small part of wood and annual rings it tells you nothing, you need to know where to put it, where the pattern of the rings fits into.

Racial forms are selected phenotypes, sometimes out of mixture, sometimes by breeding extremes, so if you find mixtures and extremes, you might go wrong even if the rule you apply is right in 99percent of the cases.

The best calibration for racial classifications is the reduction of the possibilities, by knowing the ethnic-regional origin, simple as that.

[December]

I guess I got your idea.

But why such disgust towards any concept of race/breed/whatever?



Why this pic for avatar? It would make sense in a SOS Racism site, but why here?

[Electronic God-Man]

When I meet someone new, I actually enjoy trying to figure out a person's ancestry based on certain clues--phenotype, surname, listening to how they speak and what they say, etc.

I do this privately, of course and it's not so much a case of trying to detect "foreign ancestry" or to malign someone but just for my own curiosity.

I've gotten quite good at it too.

I do this a lot as well. Sometimes I even look up famous people (members from bands I like, etc) to see where they grew up and so on. Wikipedia will usually have a little blurb about what they have said in interviews and so on about their own ancestry. I think a person's ancestry and where they came from can help to better understand that person and the things they do.

At any rate, I find it all interesting.

I don't do anything like trying to see if so and so on TV is mixed or something. Unless it's me and someone else and we think the person looks interesting or has an odd name. Then we might speculate about what their ethnic origins are. People do that all the time, as far as I know.