[late]

It is a sad tale. The interesting thing though is they gave something to the Spanish that was very bad for their health. Tobbacco. All of Europe got addicted to smoking it. And it caused cancer of the lung in millions since 1493. The Tainos and Caribs would smoke it for ritual purposes and exchanges. Along with hurricanes, barbeque and so on its origins are with the Tainos and Caribs of the Caribbean islands. Yuracán was the name of the Angry God that visited the islands when his people were not respecting his authority as they should have done. Yuracán became Hurricane in English.

Back then, it was the flowers that were harvested, not the leaf. The switch to leaf was to make more money.

If you read the history of tobacco, the descriptions of it are nothing like the modern product.

I am not advocating the use of tobacco, partly because I was once addicted to it. I started smoking at 13.. But I have long wanted to try smoking the flowers.

[Pants-of-dog]

Do black people tend to have bigger lips than white people?

Some do. Some do not.

[Tainari88]

Back then, it was the flowers that were harvested, not the leaf. The switch to leaf was to make more money.

If you read the history of tobacco, the descriptions of it are nothing like the modern product.

I am not advocating the use of tobacco, partly because I was once addicted to it. I started smoking at 13.. But I have long wanted to try smoking the flowers.

The modern product is horrible. They still put in chemicals, tar and who knows what else horror? Nicotine is addictive and very addictive and the pure leaf has it. Anything that is a consistent habit and you smoke it through your mouth and into your lungs will suffocate your respiration over time. Whether it is smoking tobacco or pot or whatever. Smoking is not a natural thing. Clean air is vital for a healthy body. And breathing deeply oxygenates your blood. It cleanses your entire body. Air is the one element you can not do without for more than a few minutes or you die. Water is next. You have to be hydrated. If you are not hydrated? You die in about four days or less depending on the severity of the heat and the sweating and activity.

Food is about how much weight you have to burn that is in excess and how long you can keep burning the excess and also activity level. If you are very much still working? You wind up needing nutrition more frequently and if you are denied that and continue to burn calories you finish off the fat and go burning your muscles. Once those are burned off you have organ failure. How long that takes depends on people's genes.

[FiveofSwords]

You know, at least the Klan had a cause and could differentiate between friends and enemy. You are just evil for the sake of being evil. You don't even believe anything.

[Fasces]

[Potemkin]

If race really was a 'social construct' like you say, then it could not have been used to justify those things. You contradict yourself. It is exactly because there is something real about race that people can possibly be inspired to acts of heroism or indeed cruelty on its behalf.

I’m sorry, but this is just wrong. People have been oppressing and murdering each other in the name of imaginary deities since before history began. Does the fact that ISIS were willing to found a ‘Caliphate’ and murder thousands of people ‘prove’ that their ideas are right and true? Even other Muslims reject their nonsense. People can use the word ‘race’ without that word having anything in reality corresponding to it. But the word ‘race’, and the concept behind it, has social and political utility. It’s a tool, it’s a weapon. The Right use it for their own social and political purposes, and the Left also use it for their social and political purposes too. That doesn’t make it objectively true, in either case.

[Rancid]

@Fasces which is the boogie man you fear?

[late]

If race really was a 'social construct' like you say, then it could not have been used to justify those things.

The history is that the social construct was created to justify slavery.

[ingliz]

@FiveofSwords

People will use any old bollocks - Christianity, in this instance - to justify their actions.

[Critics of slavery should] consider whether, by their interference with this institution, they may not be checking and impeding a work which is manifestly Providential. For nearly a hundred years the English and American Churches have been striving to civilize and Christianize Western Africa, and with what result? Around Sierra Leone, and in the neighborhood of Cape Palmas, a few natives have been made Christians, and some nations have been partially civilized; but what a small number in comparison with the thousands, nay, I may say millions, who have learned the way to Heaven and who have been made to know their Savior through the means of African slavery! At this very moment there are from three to four millions of Africans, educating for earth and for Heaven in the so vilified Southern States—learning the very best lessons for a semi-barbarous people—lessons of self-control, of obedience, of perseverance, of adaptation of means to ends; learning, above all, where their weakness lies, and how they may acquire strength for the battle of life. These considerations satisfy me with their condition, and assure me that it is the best relation they can, for the present, be made to occupy.

— Bishop Stephen Elliott (August 31, 1806 – December 21, 1866) of Georgia

[Unthinking Majority]

You can say "I am proud of being Black. Black pride." There is nothing wrong with this.

These are equivalent to each other - but neither are equivalent to saying: "I am proud of being white. White pride."

I have non-white friends who say "that's so white" regarding something cultural. E.g. a local music venue that only features country music artists.

The reason a white person can't say "white pride" is that phrase is historically associated with white supremacists like the KKK, so it is (understandably) deemed very offensive to say. So white supremacist groups have made any "white" pride or even white race consciousness as extremely taboo since anyone who says it is automatically thought of as a white supremacist.

Celebrating being black (not ethnicity, but black racial) doesn't have these taboos and therefore socially accepted. "Black pride" has obvious racial connotations, and to say otherwise is disingenuous.

White people of the past were also pretty racist and have been blamed for a lot of past racially motivated wrongdoings against racial/ethnic minorities and therefore white people have also been socially conditioned to have collective guilt as "white people".

This is why it's socially accepted for a racial minority to be able to rag on "white people" (e.g. a comedian), but the opposite is taboo.

[FiveofSwords]

I’m sorry, but this is just wrong. People have been oppressing and murdering each other in the name of imaginary deities since before history began. Does the fact that ISIS were willing to found a ‘Caliphate’ and murder thousands of people ‘prove’ that their ideas are right and true? Even other Muslims reject their nonsense. People can use the word ‘race’ without that word having anything in reality corresponding to it. But the word ‘race’, and the concept behind it, has social and political utility. It’s a tool, it’s a weapon. The Right use it for their own social and political purposes, and the Left also use it for their social and political purposes too. That doesn’t make it objectively true, in either case.

Religion is often used as a proxy for race, actually.

I think Islam is a real religion, which is why people are willing to kill for it

The flying spaghetti monster is fake so I doubt you could find many people willing to kill for it

[Potemkin]

Religion is often used as a proxy for race, actually.

I think Islam is a real religion, which is why people are willing to kill for it

The flying spaghetti monster is fake so I doubt you could find many people willing to kill for it

Islam is indeed a “real religion”, but does its deity correspond to anything which objectively exists in reality? In other words, do you think that Allah actually exists and chose Mohammed as his prophet, or do you believe that Allah is a socially constructed concept?

[Godstud]

The history is that the social construct was created to justify slavery.

Slavery existed long before racism did. It's true that it was used to justify it(in the past).

Race isn't real. Race is most definitely a social construct designed to separate peoples and create more tribalism(us vs them). Humans should not be racist. It serves no purpose and actually works against us(we need biological diversity), as evolution has pretty much ended for us(we take care of our weak and so we've pretty much stopped it in its tracks).

[FiveofSwords]

Islam is indeed a “real religion”, but does its deity correspond to anything which objectively exists in reality? In other words, do you think that Allah actually exists and chose Mohammed as his prophet, or do you believe that Allah is a socially constructed concept?

I'm not Muslim but I respect Islam as a valid religion. I also believe arabs are a valid race. Hamas is clearly involved in a racial struggle between jews and arabs, but they are using Islam as a sort of proxy for it. An example of that phenomenon

[Rancid]

I'm not Muslim but I respect Islam as a valid religion. I also believe arabs are a valid race. Hamas is clearly involved in a racial struggle between jews and arabs, but they are using Islam as a sort of proxy for it. An example of that phenomenon

How many races are there on the planet?

[Tainari88]

How many races are there on the planet?

Provócame mujer, provócame....

[FiveofSwords]

How many races are there on the planet?

Dunno

[Potemkin]

I'm not Muslim but I respect Islam as a valid religion. I also believe arabs are a valid race. Hamas is clearly involved in a racial struggle between jews and arabs, but they are using Islam as a sort of proxy for it. An example of that phenomenon

In what sense is Islam a ‘valid’ religion? Do you believe that Allah is a real God?

[Unthinking Majority]

Let's talk about those freaks the albinos next.

[Unthinking Majority]

Lately i've been "trying to be less white", since i've been told being white is bad by Robin DiAngelo.

"I try to be a little less white....So for me to be "less white" is to be less oppressive, racially. To be less arrogant, to be less certain, to be less defensive, to be less ignorant, quite frankly. To be more humble, to listen, to believe, to break with apathy, to break with white solidarity. It's not easy, it's a lifelong process. But nothing is more rewarding. " - Robin DiAngelo

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coca- ... ess-white/