Oooh a difficult subject that I don't really have the knowledge and skills to debate, just an opinion....we can't just blame 'the media' can we?. Of course our country of origin has a bearing on who we are. But the way that it's used by some people (who should know better) to cause division in mixed-race-communities that would otherwise settle into comfortable co-existance is abominable.
This is an interesting thread. What Cheery said just about sums it up.
And boring headlines don't sell newspapers. It's their job to sensationalize to get the attention of the public. Some papers tend to do it more than others.
And as for the question of 'Are origins really important?' At the moment, in the times we are now living, I'd say yes they are. In the future they will not be so much. I think knowing and learning about your origins is fulfilling and makes a person more complete.
That applies especially to someone like me, who knows very little about where I 'came from'. I'm on a very interesting journey right now to discover exactly that.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,224 Location: Greenest UK
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #32 on May 15, 2012, 4:18pm »
I find that strangely enough, even though the world "becomes smaller" with people travelling more/settling in countries that aren't where they were born and making beautifully multi-coloured babies ... there are still at least as many prejudiced morons about as before, to say that "they should go back to where they came from". I was witness to conversations of people leaning towards the extreme of the right side of the political scale, and they never put themselves and their foreign origins into the discussion. It's just "them" that should go away and leave them to live their lives.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #33 on May 16, 2012, 9:04pm »
I totally agree, Annie.
Just a few more thoughts to add to this subject -
It's surprising what dna has bought to light.
I saw a show a while back that proved that quite a percentage of 'White' people in the UK have some dna from Africa or the Middle East. You would never have known by looking at them though. Blond and blue eyed but with about approximately 2% African for Middle Eastern dna. The people tested couldn't believe it themselves, and would never have realized or known.
Here's a case of a White Yorkshire clan who have African blood:
According to the research, published online this week in the European Journal of Human Genetics, the unusual DNA has been present in Britain for at least 250 years.
No Such Thing As 'Pure' Race
This throws a spanner into the traditional thinking that British names originated in white Anglo-Saxon roots. It also shows that there is no such thing as a 'pure' race - challenging many racist ideologies. DNA testing proves that some white British people have black African ancestry. DNA testing and scientific study such as this reveals that Britain is composed of a mosaic of cultures, and what it means to be British is complicated. Human migration is always complex, particularly for island nations.
As you can see, those who live in or have descended come from the Southern Europeans (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey etc) countries have a higher percentage of black blood.
Now if we start going further afield into the Americas. The amount of black dna is much much higher in 'white' people. In fact, a whole new mixture of dna's comes about.
I could carry one, but I think the point has come across.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #35 on May 23, 2012, 12:50pm »
No need to go back to school for that.
History is not that easy to determine for sure. Recently historians are speculating if life did in fact begin in Africa, as first thought. Maybe there's a different explanation.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,563 Location: Paris, France
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #36 on May 23, 2012, 2:20pm »
It all depends on where the space beings dropped us.
More seriously, it is fascinating how skin colour evolved over the millennia, but also the exceptions that still exist.
For example -- very dark people in much of Africa, southern India and Australia where it is hot and sunny and not always protected by vegetation. And of course extremely pale people the farther north you get (which probably would have happened as well if there had been more land masses in the extreme south, but about all there is is the tip of South America). Dark but not extremely dark natives in most of South America probably because the rain forest provided lots of shade.
But what about hot places with no trees, like Arabia or North Africa? Shouldn't the people be very dark there? Most of them are not. Perhaps it is because they are more nomadic and kept mixing with lighter people?
If everybody in the world had DNA tests to find out how much of the rest of the world is in us and from where, it would be exceedingly fascinating indeed.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #37 on May 23, 2012, 4:26pm »
Having my DNA tested for identification of my origins is very interesting to me. I would do it if I had the opportunity.
Besides it being fascinating to know your ancestry, the reason I am so interested is that I believe in the recent research where a persons diet should be based on the diet of their origins not to where they currently reside. Should you be eating a red meat diet, a vegetarian diet, a carbohydrate diet, etc.
Depending on where you originated from and changing your diet to that region has indicated improved health and is something I would like to investigate.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,997 Location: South-West France
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #39 on May 23, 2012, 5:10pm »
Mich -- there are various possibilities of having your DNA tested to find out where your ancestry lies. Of course, it doesn't tell you where your grandparents were from, but does provide the original lineage. The National Geographic has something.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #40 on May 23, 2012, 7:31pm »
This is interesting bjd and something I am going to consider doing. It would interest me to know more about what I should be eating. Apparently, it is supposed to help people who have blood pressure and cholesterol issues which are the source of many health issues.
Where one Canadian person can eat a red meat based diet and be healthy, another person can suffer many adverse health effects by doing so. I do not know if I have a similar diet that even my grandparents consumed? I do think I eat a healthy diet but perhaps it is not the right type of healthy.
One thing I definitely know is that I have never tried whale blubber!
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,997 Location: South-West France
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #41 on May 24, 2012, 6:53am »
Mich, that genome project doesn't tell you anything as precise about what you should be eating. If you look at the website, you will see an example of the gene tracking they do, as your personal genes (you submit a swab from your cheek) are mapped according to migration patterns of people with the same genes.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #42 on May 24, 2012, 2:47pm »
Thank you bjd for the information. Yes, I do realize that this project will not assist me with my diet questions, but the others I am reading require you to know where you originated from so that they can inform you what the original diet was for that region of the world.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,224 Location: Greenest UK
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #43 on May 27, 2012, 12:31pm »
Allow me a bit of a rant.
I know that here people don't really know where I come from and my friends tell me that my origins are difficult to pinpoint for someone who meets me for the first time. I SHOULD be used to it.
However, arriving back home last night, an obviously educated man was in the lift at the station at the same time as me. he looks at me and after a minute asks: "where are you from?" It got me really really grumpy! I answered "oh... I live here". He had the good sense of taking my answer for what it was and stop being silly.
Do you ask complete strangers where they are from?
I mean, there was a fellow student I had never met before and I suspected her origins, but said "Can I be rude and ask you where you are from?" I wasn't sure how else to ask her, but there was a reason for it. I would never ask random people where they come from. It's quite fun making up stories in my head about where random people are from and what they are doing/where they are going, etc... However I wouldn't dare let it out of my head.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,563 Location: Paris, France
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #44 on May 27, 2012, 3:01pm »
I am one of those people who practically never asks a direct personal question (and even less if it is a complete stranger!). I just wait for the information to be offered one day.
Then again it would be hypocritical of me not to admit that I will sometimes ask a 3rd party for additional information about someone, but only if the other person brings up the subject in the first place.
Re: Are origins really important? « Reply #45 on May 27, 2012, 5:51pm »
hm... i sometimes ask people where they are from, usually if i think they are from a place i spent a lot of time at... i sometimes wonder if that is rude, but am also curious... but of course i wouldn't make it the first question i ask them, but something i let come up in a conversation after a while (usually i'd have to hear their accent first anyway to consider they might be from this or that place). though i must admit when i hear people speaking romanian or czech then i might address them right away, without previous conversation...
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