Race is a Social Construct : Western Racialization and its Downfall

[@bobbybooshay5388]

Gonna be nothing but the most rational responses to this one. No weird accusations of being a communist or other things will happen at all.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Yep. Already got 3 racists and the premier is still a day away. Bigots can't handle the truth

[@longforgotten4823]

That is another part of the story that wasn’t covered here. Politicians and racists in the 1880s in the early 20th century utilized this science to declare certain groups of people as communists and fit for deportation. if you fought against poverty, racial discrimination, or the proper implementation of science, you are labeled even today as a communist, reflecting the movement to the 1880s. historian, Heather Cox Richardson has written quite a bit on this topic.

[@sigmascrub]

Ahhh, it's funny because those things _are_ gonna happen! 😁😃😮‍💨

[@TheAsvarduilProject]

​@CynicalHistorian a paraphrasal from P.C. Hodgell - "That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be." No, Carl Sagan did not say that!

[@man4437]

*Seinfeld voice* Mom, I'm not a communist... Not that there's anything wrong with that!

[@55hondafit53]

You can even argue that the concept of race itself in the U.S has caused countless erasure of ethnic groups and identities, your average "White" American is mixed with various European ethnicities and are not connected at all to their ethnic culture. You would think there would be a strong community of German Americans given their percentage in the states but there isn't. I remember watched a video of a U.S civil war veteran speaking about the time during that time and not once did he mention "White", he would mention the Dutch or Irish and etc. It is not hard to believe that their was a once thriving German or Dutch community in the states that over time just assimilated into WASP culture.

[@pqunit]

Oh God - don't even get me started on the American use of the term "Anglo-Saxon" 😂

[@Stoneworks]

Great to see such a comprehensive look at an issue that's difficult to explain to intransigent people. It's a pity that youtube demonitizes everything good on its site.

[@sciencey2858]

Holy heck, Stoneworks!

[@raltzei8120]

KZbin has a sense of destroying good things and promoting bad things that even go against their own TOS.😂

[@sciencey2858]

@@raltzei8120 All too true. (Also, nice Ralsei pic!)

[@Stoneworks]

Good day Sciencey, fancy seeing you here!@@sciencey2858

[@raltzei8120]

@@sciencey2858 Thanks man

[@Jetiko27]

I believe in science and science says "races" are 99.999% genetically identical. We all have the same meat under our skin and our differences are just environmental adaptations.

[@Johnathan.David.Trewhitt.]

Your half banana so what does that say.

[@Jetiko27]

@@Johnathan.David.Trewhitt. half is still around 12000 genes. Different skin tone is just one. Also, it makes me a carbon-based life form, no shit the base building blocks are the same, just having cells is probably most of it.

[@Johnathan.David.Trewhitt.]

@@Jetiko27 do families all tend to look like one another would u say they were more similar genetically to one another compared to the public.

[@Jetiko27]

@@Johnathan.David.Trewhitt. Do you know that statistically there's 6 unrelated people looking near identical to you? Also, "racial" traits become hereditary, cause that's how having babies works, my dude. What are even trying to get at?

[@Jetiko27]

@@Johnathan.David.Trewhitt. also your genes can change during your lifetime due to outside factors, like... THE SUN. And not all of your genes are active to begin with. Ever hear of developing allergies? It's something that was dormant, but then gets triggered.

[@eddiev3052]

I’d argue that Race and the development of Racism is one of the most significant historical events in human history and sadly it has been either overlooked, or sadder still , ignored and downplayed. It had a major impact on our modern world in the worst way possible. Thankfully, videos like this can serve to educate people about this nightmare of a construct that continues to haunt us and help us course correct our history and right the wrongs of the past.

[@teeldd]

Race is the greatest tragedy of Modernity

[@jamesearlcash1758]

You are seriously delusional

[@antoniomosley9410]

​@teeldd Nah. Greatest thing actually.

[@jamesearlcash1758]

@@antoniomosley9410 When you see someone or something as being something it is not according to the DSM Psychiatric manual that makes you delusional. Making shit up about people being something they are not makes you mentally ill. I'm sure you realize you are already? Get help. Ahahahahaahahahaha

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

It sad how it still affects us

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

My half Irish, half Puerto Rican wife has always had to check both "White, not Hispanic" and also "Hispanic" on the race boxes on forms, which always gets a little weird. Now my kids have heritage from 6 countries, 2 religions, and 3 "races" (depending on how you qualify them). So... American.

[@jamesregiste960]

There are no such things as "races"!😊

[@UntoTheDepths]

Right, her ethnicity is american

[@QuantumCairo]

I usually look for the "two or more races" box on those kinda things for myself and if they dont have one I pick whichever I feel would better fit what Im doing. If its a job I just pick "african american" because Im brown and people are stupid. They cant even say my name correctly, I definitely dont think theyll understand ethnic mixing or cultural identity...ugh, its especially bad here in the midwest. A looooooootttt of people are either subscribing to the "you wont replace us" or "lighter than a paper bag" white supremist idealogy here, fucking tragic.

[@QuantumCairo]

@@scotthullinger4684 facts! I used to tell my mom I didn't like checking any of those boxes or would just put down whatever but she warned me against doing that because it'd make me look "suspicious". I think the fact that I am a brown individual I have to play the game with the rules they've put out there even though it's senseless and people know it...or choose to not accept it.

[@EneTheGene]

The concept of a "race box" on an official document has always been so weird for me :D

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

I’m of the opinion that slavery caused racism instead of racism having caused slavery. Africa was simply a convenient slave market at the time and racism was invented to try and justify the utilization of said market after the fact.

[@rogeliovaldez6594]

Your foget Muslim wnslaving the slavs

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

@@rogeliovaldez6594 The same principle applies though. Slavs were enslaved by many, including themselves, simply because many of their population were vulnerable to being captured. Muslims were interested in acquiring European and African slaves because Islam didn’t allow them to enslave anyone who was already Muslim.

[@tomhalla426]

@@TheNightWatcher1385 It was more of whoever was convenient, and not organized well enough to make it too expensive.

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

@@tomhalla426 Precisely.

[@jamesregiste960]

Africa was never "a slave market ", read a book , bigot! 😊

[@iammrbeat]

One of your best videos yet

[@CynicalHistorian]

Thx

[@Stoneworks]

Whoa! You are Mr. Beat!

[@PlatinumAltaria]

“I’m a poodle-labrador mix! Far superior in intelligence and beauty to the husky!” - people who expect to be taken seriously

[@PlatinumAltaria]

@@user-rx162r No, I'm pointing out that the concept of "purity" is fiction. We're all related and mixed, just as all dogs are mixed. No dog has pure ancestry, all of them are members of the same subspecies with ancestors that may have looked nothing like them.

[@antonioklaic4839]

I find huskys much more beautiful. Their shape and colors work really well.

[@zhcultivator]

ikr lmao

[@TheNagato135]

@@PlatinumAltaria There is differences between dogs population in intellectual abilities, so? It is way smaller than in human population of course (there is no differences between dogs like it is between black and white/asian intellectual abities), but what does it change?

[@PlatinumAltaria]

@@universome511 No, I'm saying that every person has mixed ancestry, every modern ethnic group is a combination of a dozen other distinct groups from the depths of history, and the idea of purity is harmful fantasy.

[@HGRAP1]

The biggest example of race as a social construct I’ve seen is in Guatemala. Where the natives and “ladinos” are seen as distinct groups with strong divisions and prejudices that led to a genocide. The different between the two groups? Culture. A native that leaves behind their cultural background and decides to follow a modern lifestyle “becomes” Ladino and vice versa.

[@ACrownofFlowers]

Dang, I'm a Ladino who grew up in the US and you beat me to it.

[@Propain4eva]

And tribalism. Still has its influence in Somalia and led to a genocidal movement of one of the tribal people. Absolutely retarded how much people want to separate themselves from others. We are still so primitive

[@themilitantvegan2515]

A native that leaves behind their cultural background is still a native lol. My family is from Guatemala.

[@HGRAP1]

@@themilitantvegan2515 look up the difference between Ladino and Native in Guatemala. It’s just culture. Genetically and “racially” there is little to no difference between the two groups. Yet, the tensions between them is high and even led to a genocide in the past

[@themilitantvegan2515]

​@HGRAP1 Again, my family is from Guatemala. I just got back from Guatemala. I've been going there my whole life. I know the history well. Especially since my father was in the military. You are wrong. A Mayan can leave his ancestry behind. He will still be Mayan, and nothing changes that. How some people choose to see them doesn't change that they are Mayan.

[@notNajimi]

Oh this is gonna be an unfortunately controversial one, but it needs to be reiterated as many times as it takes to sink in

[@CynicalHistorian]

Yep. Funny thing is I've said this in videos about once a year since I began a decade ago, but even the offhanded mention of it brought so many hateful comments that I obviously needed to make this video. Their hatred fuels me, mwahaha

[@lljkgktudjlrsmygilug]

@@CynicalHistorian Does it also act as a net with bait from which to catch people for bans?

[@Chunkychunkchunk]

​@@CynicalHistorianit's crazy because I've followed you for years and felt you believed white privilege don't exist. I mean look at Trump. How can he be the leader for a nomination of a political party and he is not even campaigning? Amd no one is questioning it or holding him accountable. I hope that this is an honest conversation about how race is used to include and exclude people from rights and resources, I looked at your sources and I think there are a few you should have included, however I still look forward to your perspective on this topic. By any chance have you watched any video on the topic of the alr right playbook by inundo studios? I think he has a grounded sense of how race has an impact on every aspect of each person's life. In addition , so does Step Back, F.D. Signifier and a few others who've been discussing aspects of race for a while. I greatly appreciate this discussion as this country never dealt with the hurt and pain of the social construct of race. That is why my auntie at 66 years old was offered when I said her grandma was not a slave but was enslaved. I had to explain to her that her grandma was born human and put into that position. And her response was yeah but she was a slave. Oh My God😮 we have a long way to go. So thank you for your part in this conversation and look forward to hearing what you have to say.

[@CynicalHistorian]

@@lljkgktudjlrsmygilug yep

[@emerj101]

@CynicalHistorian WOW, video!​​⁠ I have been looking for intro books or papers about the etymological evolution of racialization linguistics, especially in America. Most don’t make the connection between the terms “black” and “white” and the implicit bias it perpetuates. Any recommendations on where a simple layman can start? Btw, I really love the content good sir, especially about ol’ Woodrow (Wil-SONNNN!!!)

[@Ruosteinenknight]

43:00 "Tall like Göebbels, slender like Göring, blue-eyed like Hess and blonde like Hitler." That was common whisper- joke in Germany at the time. The only one of the high command that did met these criteria was Reinhard Heydrich, who funnily enough was bullied as "half-jew' as a child (he didn't actually have any Jewish blood, but because he had lanky build and bigger nose than others, children made their own conclusions).

[@aceroy9195]

Probably because he was Danish or Swedish in ancestry

[@munanchoinc]

To add to that, Filipino's with just mixed race can be called Mestizo despite not being Latino. Our simple association with our history of the Spanish colonization impacted how we call each other.

[@jesseberg3271]

An important point you glossed over, Binet only ever intended his test to be used to determine which children needed how much help in school. It was never intended to be used to meaure general intelligence in reasonably functional adults or children.

[@ashtangaxashtangapranayama8526]

Bitch come on 🙄 not all white people mean harm we DO get it you just gotta believe

[@jaybirdjargon]

When I was in high school, we were able to choose our research paper topics. I was a fan of Star Trek and knew only what I had heard about Eugenics from there, with Khan and Dr. Bashir. My teacher warned me about going down that path and that I might not like what I found. She was right. What I read was some of the darkest, most disturbing things about people who had such awful ideas. I learned about forced sterilizations of those deemed racially impure, even in the United States this happened. I am thankful to a degree she let me find out about this but there are days I wish I was still blissfully ignorant.

[@AgentBirdnest]

As a hardcore computer geek, I knew that William Shockley was an insufferable dickhead, which led to his employees rebelling and becoming the founders of silicon valley. But I had no idea he was such an outspoken eugenicist... wow. Mad props to you Cypher, for your hard work, and your ability to condense what must be an insane amount of research into a small package that's easy enough for a layperson like myself to understand. This was a great video! One that I'll be sharing with some friends. - a proud Patron

[@coreyander286]

So, what you're saying is, Silicon Valley was founded by antiracists? That must mean that Silicon Valley can never become racist, just like how American police departments can never become non-racist, because the first American PDs were formed to catch escaped slaves. I learn such good history while loosely interpreting people's KZbin comments.

[@varana]

@@coreyander286 With "loosely interpreting" being a euphemism for "reading things into what they're saying by purposefully misrepresenting it". :D

[@Propain4eva]

@@varana oof

[@Dancingonthesun]

Its such a self report when people bring up The Bell Curve

[@joannemarin1067]

Waiting for the day I can check “Human” on forms asking for my race

[@fullmetaltheorist]

Would be nice. Maybe once aliens arrive, we will see that we aren't that different.

[@heartfulcry]

i can already imagine the comments. godspeed, soldier, i’m really looking forward to a good discussion of this topic.

[@funwithforkz]

Not so fun fact: sterilization of women of color continued even after eugenics fell out of favor. Tubal ligations were given to women under false pretenses or via coercion. In the 70s there was a 6 year period where up to 25% of indigenous women of childbearing age were sterilized. Forced sterilization was banned in hospitals in 1979, and it wasn’t banned in state prisons until 2010. Unfortunately this is an ongoing problem. Migrant women have been sterilized in ICE detention centers as recently as 2020. Eugenics never went away, as much as I wish it had. This is a whole rabbit hole I went down a little while ago. It’s incredibly upsetting.

[@baddreams4368]

They’re STILL sterilizing people??? WTF

[@user-qq6rr2je4q]

Mississippi Appendectomies

[@Peregrina]

Swedish coersion sterilization of poor people, Sapmi people, those with mental conditions, Romani groups, trans folks and homosexuals...

[@TheAsvarduilProject]

Doctor Cypher, as a leftist I actually loke Cykka's characterization. In our pursuit of a better world, we can sometimes be like that, unfortunately. It's good to have a rhetorical check from time to time, and you raise good points about people who belong to a dominant group being VERY important when speaking out about a bad system like racism.

[@Matthew.E.Kelly.]

Wokescolding is radlib nonsense & it's not based in leftism at all. Leftist political theory says nothing about the working class dividing themselves into subgroups to represent *only* people with the same skin color or eye color or hair color etc. 🙄 it actually says the opposite: that everyone must unite. Nice try but radical liberalism is just like radical feminism or anything else that adds "radical" as an adjective: it's terrible & you should feel terrible for espousing it.

[@imbaby5499]

Only 3 shadow replies? I'm disappointed.

[@kaliduncanel3356]

After I talked to an Arab that was questioning the legitimacy of subjugation of blacks in America by comparing it to the subjugation one Arab group over another from his native country I realized how trivial this type of thing was. On one front I realized how ignorant I was about how much people conflate religion, language, and ethnicity. On another front I realized how ignorant he was about issue of "blackness" vs "whiteness" in America as an issue of class and eugenics. They seem the same on the surface but, you just simply can't conflate phenotypes, with language and religion if we're going to have a proper oppression Olympics.

[@Novikedocumentary]

“If you are so superior why are you trying hard to make me believe in your superiority, if you are so intelligent and civil you won’t attack people because of their ethnicity”

[@captaindregg640]

Man, I always love seeing you post videos. The ones you make regarding social issues and constructs have to be my favorite. You, Atun Shei, and Knowing Better are what pushed me from being more interested in ancient history towards modern & Civil Rights history. Plus your dedication to stamping out bigotry on your channel is much appreciated, for what it's worth.

[@jamesregiste960]

​@@Joeonline26your love of crass bigotry has been noted!😊

[@isan_pr4505]

Saying race is not a social construct is bigoted? Or did I get the wrong message from your comment?

[@minutemansam1214]

Race is a social construct. This is a fact. Humans are practically imbred. There are populations in Sub-Sahara Africa (IE black) that are more genetically related to Europeans than they are to other black Africans. Facial features that you may associate with one race can be found in any race (ie, an aquiline nose, associated with Mediterranean, Central and South Asian peoples can be found amongst East Asian peoples). Your science is about eighty years out of date.@@Joeonline26

[@julietfischer5056]

@@Joeonline26- You _like_ it when people are mistreated because of skin color, ancestry, religion, or other characteristics?

[@captaindregg640]

@@isan_pr4505 not sure if you were replying to me directly, but I was saying I appreciate him banning bigots and covering difficult topics regarding the social constructs that effect the lives of people. Sorry if I worded my comment poorly, I often struggle with expressing myself.

[@MLaserHistory]

Good video! Good luck with the comment section on this one.

[@emjakos3548]

Racism is just a much worse version of astrology, and uncreative to boot! You can make characters based on starsigns, but all racial stereotypes just boil down to Stupid, lazy or untrustworthy. And, on top of that, it isn't random per person, so entire families and communities share the same "sign".

[@stevencarr4002]

If Capricorns were twice as prone to age-related macular degeneration than Geminis, would there be something in astrology that was biologically real?

[@user-qq6rr2je4q]

If you want to know how ridiculous race gymnastics can get look into the "Hamitic Hypothesis" or the background behind the Rwandan Jenocide

[@hunter99225]

I studied Genetics in College. I took a class on population genetics and after only a few papers it became brutally clear race is absolutely a social construct. There simply no reasonable genetic categorization that separates people with white skin from people with black unless you want to split hairs and talk about skin pigmentation genetics. When one really looks at the population genetics it’s clear that people tried to see a pattern between peoples that just didn’t exist.

[@NanakiRowan]

@@thinkharder9332 So you're saying that West Africans and Oceanians are the same race?

[@NanakiRowan]

@@thinkharder9332 Yes they do, and are many times indistinguishable from one another, in so much that Europeans named the Oceanians "Negritos".

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@thinkharder9332Africans have far more different phenotypes. There are some Africans more genetically akin to Europeans than they are Africans. Yes those Africans are black, and not just North African.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@thinkharder9332 yes I know what phenotypes means.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@thinkharder9332 yes I’m aware that the genetic similarities between some African groups and Europeans don’t have anything to do with phenotype.

[@vinylbuff1515]

Yup , “race” can’t be detected genetically as theres no such thing. Ethnicities can be clustered genetically but thats also cultural and physical differences we have between ethnicities are environmental adaptions

[@lessimcdowell9897]

There are races, but racial supremacy is the thing that’s made up.

[@lessimcdowell9897]

It goes back to the end of henotheism and the beginning of Christianity which was pushed on everyone in the Roman Empire by death. the Bible saying “only take heathens from surrounding nations for your slaves” and Judas deceiving jesus, and Jewish usury etc when most likely Jesus and bar kokbha only wanted Roman coins to use without graven images on them is what’s responsible. Another thing that caused racial supremacy was the discovery doctrine and taking African slaves to lands where only white people would be their owners.

[@ohauss]

@@alphaomega938 Which is neither here nor there. All that says is that some markers are preserved - not that there is coherence over all traits, which the racial concept assumes.

[@kakizakichannel]

​@@alphaomega938 Follow your leader

[@ohauss]

@@alphaomega938 Which has zero to do with my comment. Physical traits are massively distinct from genetics, because they are, in all regularity, not monogenetic. And being able to tell someone's geographical ancestry by genetic markers says nothing about their other traits. And that's the crux of the issue.

[@owenbillo5513]

Germans being seen as a different race with dark skin who were going to 'replace' the Anglos is some of the funniest shit

[@ombra711]

I think certain people will see the thumbnail, read the words, and misconstrue what it'll be about, I was pleasantly surprised by how nuanced you are with your observations.

[@imbaby5499]

For whatever reason, I read the title as "space is a social construct", and immediately clicked to see what the fuck we going on.

[@ossiencadwallourien-modred447]

This thesis was the same as Biological Anthropology's final exam at the University of Windsor. Almost fundamental concepts for social scientists, and yet so controversial among... well... those who aren't.

[@PedroHenrique-jd9zm]

​@@danieldelaney1377 what reason?

[@plasmanip3998]

@@PedroHenrique-jd9zmbecause people understanding the reasoning behind others’ actions makes those people very upset.

[@KatanamasterV]

I will give an answer to the why social sciences are looked down upon, I don't know if it's Daniel's answer. Because 100 years ago the social sciences said racism was good and because now it says racism is bad, what will it say in 100 years?

[@NataliaNobody]

@KatanamasterV this is an absurd oversimplification of "what was said 100 years ago" by a bunch of white supremacists. Your standard becomes even more obvious as heinously counterproductive when you consider "what was said 100 years ago" in the physical sciences. The development of ideas and changing them in light of diverse perspectives on the evidence available is a scientific ideal, even if its not perfectly practiced.

[@SpoopySquid]

​@@KatanamasterV"hard" science used to say the Sun revolved around the Earth. Almost as if the whole point of any science is to update itself based on new information

[@adamcohen2632]

I saw a brief screenshot of The Other Slavery by Andre Resendez @18:11 . I have very recently read his book with great interest. I have rarely ever felt so conflicted about a book. His examination of the widescale enslavement of indigenous Americans was an eye opener, particularly how it differed from African American enslavement in the Americas and focused on women and children. It's something most history fails to recognize and is an important contribution. However his central hypothesis that enslavement more than communicable disease created the demographic disaster of indigenous Americans is incredibly weak with virtually no supporting evidence produced. He even uses the language, " I hazard a guess," provides virtually no scientific, medical or epidemological information and essentially claims that his theory is correct if we just assume (once again without any supporting evidence) that the "high counters" of the indigenous population were overestimating by 97%, but provides little to buttress his claim that his count is somehow more trustworthy. In the entire book, other than in the introduction, I could only find a small section of 5 pages beginning at page 212 that even addressed the issue of communicable disease. It's an absolutely extraordinary claim and extraordinary claims that conflict with a mountain of contrary evidence, require extraordinary evidence to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, the book jacket and almost all reviews of the book push this as proven truth that changes the entire historical narrative and I have yet to find any source that doesn't repeat his wild claims that actually examines them. I am convinced that very few people have actually read the book, but only the dust jacket, other reviews and summaries. Guns Germs and Steel, perhaps because it was a commercially successful best seller and so widely influential, has been appropriately re-contextualized and its signfiicant flaws addressed by a wide range of academic critics from multiple disciplines including you. The Other Slavery is a book well deserving of a similar more critical examination with a cynical eye and I hope you get to it in a video someday soon.

[@ashtangaxashtangapranayama8526]

What's wrong with just doing the reverse of what white supremacy does though? Why not collect massive evidence regardless of how in depth it is and use it to further our agenda against a people? It's been ok when they do it for a long long time so it should sit well with anyone who opposes what they've been able to accomplish with such horrible attitudes in academics, as long as you don't believe we will accidentally gloss over some facts or truth that justifies the lie machine like maybe race IS real and these guys weren't so far off in their noble mission kinda thing. I'm not appalled if that book phoned it in like you say it did, I'm just happy they got the right spirit about it from what it seems, not the end of the world.

[@jacobdalland1390]

THANK YOU for saying this. It needs to be said, and I'm tired of all the racial/racist nonsense I see in the world around me.

[@thomasrose2149]

Particularly when it comes to DnD

[@imbaby5499]

​@@thomasrose2149would you care to elaborate what you mean by that? Because it sounds like you want all the races to have the same stats.

[@jannetteberends8730]

Just in case you don’t get money for those video. Just last week I was talking with a friend about this topic. And wondered what a race actually is. I knew humans are all the same species. Part of the confusion was, I realize now, that in our language breed (of animals) and race are covered by the same word. So there are several cat races, like Siamese and Persian cats. That’s where the confusion started, I suppose. So your video is most welcome.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Thank you very much

[@tilenjeraj2684]

“There is only one race, human race. Color is just skin color.” I would add genetic is the third factor.

[@BingusLover45]

I mean, we're less than 0.01% genetically different from one another

[@wnovo3668]

Race was invented by John Race to sell more shades of band-aid

[@miaththered]

Thanks for the talk, doc. Here's to hoping people learned stuff from it.

[@andersonandrighi4539]

One interesting point about "Casta Painting" is that it shows class more often than skin color. The tableau of people and clothing is a remainder that "Peninsulares" were always on top.

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

I would like to add something to the conversation. There are lots of examples of “race” being a social construct but one is early Europeans. When our species, the Homo Sapien Sapiens left Africa and entered Europe tens of thousands of years ago, the first Sapiens in Europe would in today’s society be considered “black”. It wasn’t until after the commencement of the Holocene Epoch did lighter skin tone and thinner straighter hair develop in Eurasia, but it wasn’t all at once. Even just 6,000ish years ago, late Stone Age Europe would, by today’s standards, be considered very diverse. People living in the same region would have light skin and straight hair and dark skin and coursed hair. And yet, these early Europeans hunted, farmed, and lived together despite the fact they would be considered different “races” under today’s standards. (One more interesting fact, blue eyes developed in Europeans before light skin and straight hair, again really just shows how superficial our differences are). Not only that, there are people who look like they are part of a certain “race” but in reality are genetically part of another “race”. An example being indigenous peoples of Andaman Islands, on the surface look like they would be considered “Black” but are actually genetically closer to East Asians, so much so that indigenous Andamese peoples are just as closely related to say Japanese people as Japanese people are related to Koreans or Italians with Russians. I just thought I would share this to show how much really “race” is made up from a scientific perspective. Just sad how pseudoanthropologists did all of this just to make it so they were placed at the top of the non-existent hierarchy for political gain. I really appreciate this video, very needed as even now bigots still push this nonsense.

[@rasheed7934]

I heard once that the real pure white people came from Atlantis or something like that.

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

@@rasheed7934 I assume you are joking?

[@rasheed7934]

@@PremierCCGuyMMXVI No, I actually heard some white dude talking about that on a college campus. Wayne State University to be precise.

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

@@rasheed7934 seriously? That’s both funny and unfortunate at the same time

[@TheHunterGracchus]

There's a bit more to army IQ tests than is presented here. My father was studying sociology at Columbia when Pearl Harbor happened. He immediately joined the military and, after a tortuous route through various assignments, ended up administering intelligence tests to recruits. That experience confirmed for him the social basis of intelligence differences for the simple reason that northern Black people didn't perform as well as northern white people on the tests but performed better than southern whites. It was clear to him that what mattered was where and how recruits had been raised, not their race.

[@stevenwiederholt7000]

Race is Important! Id place it right next to whether someone has an Innie or an Outie belly button.

[@TrueBlackJew]

😂

[@romkoppel5302]

Can't forget the ultra-rare swirlies.

[@seanbeadles7421]

Sounds like something an Outie would say…

[@ProfVRandall]

Race, in the United States, is a legal construct dating back to the beginning of this country. Here's some examples of how the law constructed race: Naturalization Act of 1790: Limited naturalization to "free white persons" only, explicitly excluding people of color from becoming citizens. This resulted in many legal cases of people suing to be declared white. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Supreme Court decision deemed Black people non-citizens, further solidifying racial separation in law. This resulted in many laws that defined a black person based on the percentage of black ancestry. Some laws declared a person was black if they had one drop of black ancesty - “the one-drop rule” Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): First law restricting immigration based on race, targeting specifically Chinese laborers. I mmigration Act of 1924: Established a national origins quota system, prioritizing immigrants from Northern and Western Europe while severely restricting immigration from Asia, Africa, and Southern and Eastern Europe. This approach to immigration was in effect until 1964. Bracero Program (1942-1964): Temporary guest worker program for Mexican nationals, exploitative and discriminatory in nature.

[@DMBisAwesome]

Thank you for this video. I've recently lost a few friends to Sam Harris and the Bell Curve guy's push for race realism and their explanation for differences in racial outcomes (i.e. educational attainment and wealth) in the United States as being caused by race and IQ. It's impossible to "move beyond race" if most people in power quietly believe that achievement is a function of "bad genes" and not racist social policy.

[@CynicalHistorian]

It's important to have books like _Bell Curve_ available, no matter how racist they are. My university's library has _The Turner Diaries_ available, despite it's unambiguous call for genocide. What would be concerning is if they had placed it in the psychology section. It definitely doesn't belong there

[@dandre3K]

⁠@@CynicalHistorianIs there a non-racist book on the subject you recommend?

[@KatanamasterV]

Are there any positions that you would accept other than differentiated outcomes are due to racist social policy?

[@KatanamasterV]

@@joeyrufo What is one type or example of evidence that you would accept as fairly disputing your position?

[@KatanamasterV]

@@joeyrufo Any thoughts on evidence that you would accept, even in principle, as disputing your proposition?

[@HausamanB1]

2 minutes in and I already know this is going to be an amazing video. Black Americans have been making these same points for decades to no avail, so it's good to hear someone else say this stuff for a change. Maybe folks will actually listen this time instead of dismiss it.

[@whosthatguy8396]

How much of racism’s beginnings was influenced by old roman and greek xenophobia/nationalism? I know that the romans didn’t believe anything that would be called scientific racism now but they certainly viewed themselves as superior. Did the renaissance breath new life into what became racism as it was during colonialism? Genuinely asking btw. I really like the video and your channel as a whole

[@CynicalHistorian]

Surprisingly, it often worked in the opposite direction of Roman chauvinism (nationalism is a modern concept). They despised Germans as barbarians, yet that ancient ethnicity became the foundation of whiteness by the late-18th century

[@whosthatguy8396]

@@CynicalHistorian​​⁠​​⁠​⁠thank you for the reply! I know nationalism is a modern concept, I just didn’t know what else to call it. (Probably should have said so in my initial comment.) I thought chauvinism was a synonym for sexism, and had no other meaning my bad. How did roman chauvinism work exactly?

[@CynicalHistorian]

Ronan chauvinism isn't a topic that a modern Americanist, llike myself, can adequately explain

[@maureec]

Mr Beat sent me here and it was a great recommendation😁👍

[@avishalom2000lm]

Cypher, don't you lock up King Richard in another room while you do your videos? I could NEVER get anything done with such a cute kitty nearby!

[@CynicalHistorian]

I am at his mercy

[@Elvesflame]

No lock nor door could hold back the Great King Richard!

[@gingergrant1057]

⁠@@ElvesflameWe shall rally the Bannermen! Our Liegelord shall be free!

[@bobbybooshay5388]

Race being born of some spanish christians being big mad about jews and making shit up is both surprising yet makes so much sense.

[@Talleyhoooo]

Based.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Thank you very much!

[@zEropoint68]

that was literally the most interesting ad i've ever seen on youtube

[@lukaslambs5780]

I (very soon) will have a degree in human evolutionary biology, and the current literature STRONGLY supports the conclusion that race is purely a social construct. Genetic variation exists along a continuum and there is more genetic variation within “races” than there is between them.

[@StegoKing]

The idea of race was invented in 1775. History ALSO supports the conclusion that race is a social construct.

[@CynicalHistorian]

@StegoKing as you'll see when this video releases, Spaniards were already using race 3 centuries before that and our modern conception came a century before 1775

[@isan_pr4505]

What about genotypes? I ask in good faith btw.

[@swiftsetrider4543]

@@alphaomega938 ‘In a 2014 paper, reprinted in the 2018 Edwards Cambridge University Press volume, Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther argues that "Lewontin's fallacy" is effectively a misnomer, as there really are two different sets of methods and questions at play in studying the genomic population structure of our species: "variance partitioning" and "clustering analysis". According to Winther, they are "two sides of the same mathematics coin" and neither "necessarily implies anything about the reality of human groups".[8]’ "Human Genetic Diversity: Lewontin's Fallacy" is a 2003 paper by A. W. F. Edwards.[1] He criticises an argument first made in Richard Lewontin's 1972 article "The Apportionment of Human Diversity", that the practice of dividing humanity into races is taxonomically invalid because any given individual will often have more in common genetically with members of other population groups than with members of their own.[2] Edwards argued that this does not refute the biological reality of race since genetic analysis can usually make correct inferences about the perceived race of a person from whom a sample is taken, and that the rate of success increases when more genetic loci are examined.[1] Edwards' paper was reprinted, commented upon by experts such as Noah Rosenberg,[3] and given further context in an interview with philosopher of science Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther in a 2018 anthology.[4] Edwards' critique is discussed in a number of academic and popular science books, with varying degrees of support.[5][6][7] Some scholars, including Winther and Jonathan Marks, dispute the premise of "Lewontin's fallacy", arguing that *Edwards' critique does not actually contradict Lewontin's argument.[7][8][9] A 2007 paper in Genetics by David J. Witherspoon et al. concluded that the two arguments are in fact compatible*, and that Lewontin's observation about the distribution of genetic differences across ancestral population groups applies "even when the most distinct populations are considered and hundreds of loci are used".[10] Edwards who authored Lewontin’s fallacy agrees with Lewontin that the degree of difference between the ‘races’ is quite low, significantly lower than individual variation. He merely argues that even a small degree of variation requiring can be used to identify someone’s origin by by narrowing down the likelihood of multiple small differences occurring together, as while many of these traits occur across different groups, in particular regions it is more common for certain traits to occur simultaneously, and since there is technically a way to use the traits to determine someone’s origin can be used to differentiate populations, it at least has taxonomic significance since it can be used to categorize people and is and not completely random noise. However, as Jonathan M. Marks stated: “What is unclear is what this has to do with 'race' as that term has been used through much in the twentieth century-the mere fact that we can find groups to be different and can reliably allot people to them is trivial. Again, the point of the theory of race was to discover large clusters of people that are principally homogeneous within and heterogeneous between, contrasting groups. Lewontin's analysis shows that such groups do not exist in the human species, and Edwards' critique does not contradict that interpretation.[7]” ‘The view that while geographic clustering of biological traits does exist, this does not lend biological validity to racial groups, was proposed by several evolutionary anthropologists and geneticists prior to the publication of Edwards' critique of Lewontin.’ and according to Witherspoon et al: “Since an individual's geographic ancestry can often be inferred from his or her genetic makeup, knowledge of one's population of origin should allow some inferences about individual genotypes. To the extent that phenotypically important genetic variation resembles the variation studied here, we may extrapolate from genotypic to phenotypic patterns. ... However, the typical frequencies of alleles responsible for common complex diseases remain unknown. The fact that, given enough genetic data, individuals can be correctly assigned to their populations of origin is compatible with the observation that most human genetic variation is found within populations, not between them. It is also compatible with our finding that, even when the most distinct populations are considered and hundreds of loci are used, individuals are frequently more similar to members of other populations than to members of their own population. Thus, caution should be used when using geographic or genetic ancestry to make inferences about individual phenotypes.[10]… Since an individual's geographic ancestry can often be inferred from his or her genetic makeup, knowledge of one's population of origin should allow some inferences about individual genotypes. To the extent that phenotypically important genetic variation resembles the variation studied here, we may extrapolate from genotypic to phenotypic patterns. ... However, the typical frequencies of alleles responsible for common complex diseases remain unknown. The fact that, given enough genetic data, individuals can be correctly assigned to their populations of origin is compatible with the observation that most human genetic variation is found within populations, not between them. It is also compatible with our finding that, even when the most distinct populations are considered and hundreds of loci are used, individuals are frequently more similar to members of other populations than to members of their own population. Thus, caution should be used when using geographic or genetic ancestry to make inferences about individual phenotypes.[10]” en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genetic_Diversity:_Lewontin%27s_Fallacy

[@calebr7199]

​@@alphaomega938 You can find genetic differences between populations and make up whatever population groups you want however you are entirely wrong here. It is true that even for many hundreds of loci a member of a population can be more dissimilar to a member of their own population than another population. There is no Lewontin's fallacy, Edwards was just wrong in coining such a phrase

[@NathanDudani]

We live in a society

[@Pikachu2Ash]

How cliché...

[@pinkballs1228]

TRUE

[@H.G.Wells-ishWells-ish]

I just noticed the reference to Ari Kelman ('Vanishing Indian'). He was my mentor at UC Davis in grad school. Great academic!

[@Soren015]

So -- I'm bringing a criticism, and I want to preface it by saying that I agree with your points, and obviously don't believe in racism. However; in the video you sort of devote the beginning to an "argument of science" that race does not exist, and you quote a very sciency-sounding part of UNESCO's programme. The point is not a bad point, but the argument is constructed as if UNESCO is the scientific gold standard, and everyone's agreed on this stuff since 1950. UNESCO is a hugely political organization, dedicated to fighting racism, and founded right out of WW2. We can't just practice criticism of our sources, when those sources are the bad and ignorant of history. UNESCO is a great organization, but quoting it in this context is no different than arguing for "scientific" racial segregation by quoting Nazi scientists. That is all, I'm ready to get called a huge racist by everyone now.

[@BobPantsSpongeSquare97]

To simplify it I always said humans are like dogs and cats. Where instead of different breeds we have different ethnic groups. In the same way that a chihuahua and doberman look entirely different on the outside but are the same on the inside

[@willhunter3391]

Thank you for bravely taking on this subject with a scholarly eye. We need more public discourse like this.

[@fullmetaltheorist]

A cannibal once put it best when he said "Black, white, brown, I dont care. Meat is meat."

[@tedyyohanes6756]

I've been watching you since 20k, so glad you've grown so much and make hitters every time!

[@seena889]

Interesting! To be honest race is . pretty much just a social construct! Being white for example is kinda like a privileged status depending on how it’s used and by who. Very interestingly many groups of people here in North America who today would be considered white (such as Irish, Italian, etc.) we’re not when they first immigrated many years ago! Nowadays in the 20th and 21st centuries, we have all these other immigrants from Latin America, Middle East, Asia, and Africa who are considered to be . People of color. And apperently according to some white nationalists who are against immigrants for some reason something seems so great about the white race that they are scared it’ll be ruined by them lol!

[@billy2896]

Why is it that people cringe when I say this? This isn't the same as "I don't see race"...

[@jazzanarchy1342]

I completely disagree with you. I would say it’s a “lie,” rather than a “myth.”

[@CynicalHistorian]

¿Porque no los dos?

[@EdBurke37]

The Spanish Inquisition is involved, I wonder which joke CH will use, Monty Python or Mel Brooks? CH: Por que no los dos?

[@mctielpresidente]

The way I like to put this is: "We are all the same species. Everything else is just semantics."

[@stevencarr4002]

Were Neanderthals the same species as us or a different species as us? Some scientists say different species. Some scientists say same species. The concept of 'species' is as ill defined as the concept of race!

[@thieph]

​@@stevencarr4002well, we are all animals

[@antoniotorcoli5740]

In the US everything is about race. And races do not even exist from a scientific point of view. For example, Papuans look like Africans but are genetically closer to Chinese. Phenotype is not that important genetically speaking. Race is definitly a social construct.

[@AshanBhatoa]

This is indeed very difficult, especially among those ethic groups of which their historical experiences were substantially determined through their 'race'. However, it is necessary to expound on this and must be necessary to acknowledge. I've independently dropped the word 'race', and my goodness it is difficult.

[@Qba86]

I guess one could argue that the most minimalistic definition of race (African/"Caucasian"/Asian) does, to some degree, reflect the early history of human expansion around the globe, albeit in a highly simplified way. However, it's basically useless for describing modern human diversity and distribution. Also, racial classification isn't monophyletic, which is a big no-no in modern biology. So even without all the historical baggage and common misconceptions, of which there are a lot, we have every reason to move away from the term "race" in favour of more precise definitions, like ethnicity and population.

[@Dr.PlagueDr]

Hey dude minor critique from a biologist on the difference between “races”. There are differences between human populations genetically that absolutely need to be considered especially from a medical perspective. Examples include sickle cell anemia (thanks for the callout on the edit) which is present in African populations, mutations in ADH2-2 which predisposes Māori people to alcoholism, lactase deficiency in non European populations, and cystic fibrosis predominance in Europeans. In no way ought these realities change our day to day interactions with people but from a medical context (which I’m primarily concerned about) understanding that differences exist and we have to, to some degree, employ these realities to inform individual health is maybe kinda important. I know the video is mainly dealing with the sociological aspect but ignoring biological realities altogether as it pertains to health is not exactly productive.

[@romkoppel5302]

Exactly what I wanted to write. Can't forget sun-exposure tolerance, and there are many more examples. Differences in appearance between ethnicities are also important in today's immigrant-astic world through individuals' sexual selection.

[@ohauss]

Another biologist here - you wanted to say "sickle cell anemia". And the problem with bringing that up is that nobody is saying there aren't preserved genetic traits. But that doesn't say anything about race, which demands OVERALL homogeneity, which doesn't exist. The variance within ethnic groups is staggering. A given black person may well have more in common genetically with a given white person than with another black person. A couple of preserved traits need, of course, be taken into account, just like you'd take a familial predisposition to breast cancer into account. But that does not make a "race".

[@Dr.PlagueDr]

@@ohauss thanks for the notes on the edit, fixed. I dont think i like your definition of race as you are presenting it here, it sounds like you are equating species/subspecies with a social construct which if im right on my reading is probably not the best thing. the point of the video was to look at the sociological view of what race is and i was trying to say that the biological reality that is predisposed within certain demographics should not be eschewed and be considered especially in a medical context. I dont think you even disagree with that thesis.

[@seanbeadles7421]

@@romkoppel5302but you’re aware that these genetic differences are more specific than race? Not all Africans have higher rates of sickle cell anemia, for example, only African populations in areas with malaria have higher rates of sickle cell anemia.

[@romkoppel5302]

@seanbeadles7421 I am aware, yes. But these things still matter, and are worthy of mention, a mention that this video lacked.

[@leonhardeuler7647]

Oh a video about the history of race as a societal concept? Oh it's from Cynical Historian? Gee I wonder how many "free thinking" people Cypher will have to deal with in the comments.

[@Matthew.E.Kelly.]

The comments section is basically a public toilet now.

[@jimbo1683]

I can identify your race within 15 seconds of viewing the video: Common Garden Gnome, originating out of Azeroth

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

Well done dude. I’m reviewing your videos on my channel if it’s cool with you. Believe it or not some within my own group would find this coming from you more credible than the same info coming from me. Did you ever realize that possibility? We are affected by the idea of race beyond any rational understanding. Well done man. Appreciate you.

[@Servicenatty78]

Very well put together, the concept of race was solely created to justify social and economic hierarchies, particularly during periods of colonization and slavery. It served as a tool for categorizing and differentiating people based on physical characteristics, reinforcing power dynamics and discrimination. Anyone who disputes this perpetuate stereotypes, fuel prejudice, and contribute to social divisions, hindering efforts to build an inclusive and equitable society.

[@andreaslaroi8956]

25:16 So basically, Blumenbach named the "master race" after his favourite porn category?

[@sevelofficial2696]

Probably one of the best and important videos you've ever made! I was just teaching my middle schoolers about Antisemitism and how the Reconquista and Inquisition led to this idea of race

[@sammosaurusrex]

5:12 - 7:07 I mean… Surely you’ve read colonial histories, no? Credulous historians recounting non-credible traveller diaries and obvious misunderstandings of the culture they were alien to? This is the very reason there’s been a shift towards “hey, maybe if you don’t have firsthand experience with the oppression you’re writing about, maybe you should find a coauthor.” To write off that whole idea as “woke-scolding” or “the oppression olympics” is… wrong, imo. Plain wrong. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any serious writing on the unique experiences of oppression faced by different people and communities that amounted to a ranking of oppression on a scale from least to most oppressed, that’s always seemed like a reactionary talking point based on fiction, or maybe a phenomenon confined to twitter.

[@PlatinumAltaria]

You don't need personal experience with a subject to be educated on it, nor is there any correlation between group identity and correctness.

[@sammosaurusrex]

@@PlatinumAltaria No, but it is extremely easy to miss things as an outsider that would be obvious to someone with lived experience. Examples abound, and not just in scholarship. You can imagine what it's like to walk in someone's shoes, but you can't actually walk in their shoes, and because of that you are liable to miss things and make mistakes, waste time wondering about and considering obvious falsehoods while passing over things that might jump out to a scholar with different eyes. White people absolutely need a seat at the table--I'm a longtime advocate for the concept of a rising sense of white identity, when whiteness is frequently seen as a category built on exclusion rather than a way that white people understand ourselves--but I think it is mistaken to suggest that considering the lived experiences of authors is "woke scolding" (a phrase I hate). I think actively incorporating (rather than writing off as irrelevant) the positionality of authors vis-a-vis the subject of their work produces better, clearer, and easier to understand (and critique) scholarship. I consider the race of a Garvey biographer as relevant to me as a reader as the political ideology of a Spanish Civil War Historian. Simply put--we can never stand outside of our own position in History and observe the world with a perfectly objective eye, much as we might wish to do so. Denying this fact only serves to obscure, rather than elucidate.

[@bluespaceman7937]

Yet history is both art and science, in my opinion. Just because you are oppressed does not make you more objectively correct than someone who wasn't. We should not claim any black person would automatically know more about any given subject if they haven't sorted through files and done research. Experience alone is not superior by itself.

[@charlestaylorco8713]

@@bluespaceman7937I do not believe they are saying just any oppressed person would just automatically know more than anyone else, but to dismiss or half-heartedly write off the importance of their voice when talking about the issues that they face opens you up to misunderstand the full picture. For example: if a white people sees a hate crime happen in front of them to an oppressed person, they will be able to write about it and maybe even be educated enough on why this happened, but they will never be able to fully articulate or understand the lived experience of the oppressed person’s existence to which the hate crime is happening, and this is true even between oppressed groups. Similarity ≠ Complete Comprehension, which is why both perspectives are important but not equal

[@WilliamCarterII]

I actually like the Latino example of rationalization. Took a whole class on this in my anthro undergrad. like most people identifying as Latino here would be considered white in Brazil or Mexico. America is weird. I will say the caricatures of a Marxist and a racist were pretty lame tho. I'm a staunch Marxist and I have never heard a Marxist say anything like that. Maybe on the internet

[@dbladeford]

Thank you for such an extensively detailed and well thought out video. This is a very important video.

[@davidogundipe808]

It would be nice if you can explore lesser known, African cultures and their history. I've enjoyed all your American history, and would love to use your videos, as reference point in the future.

[@coreyander286]

I'd be interested in one on the development and spread of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa.

[@leahunverferth8247]

Are the books pictured in the video the best books for a beginner? I'd like one or two. Any recommendations of where to start would be appreciated!

[@CynicalHistorian]

My bibliography is in the description. Plenty there to dig into. My favorite is _the myth of race_

[@leahunverferth8247]

@@CynicalHistorian Thank you!

[@Roberta-my7qr]

Great work. I'd like to see you introduce Robert Malthus, and his "interesting" ideas about scarcity, and moral justification for euthenasia.

[@matheussantana2390]

Just a minor note. The Iberian Union was "merely" a dynastic union, the two countries remained independent of each other.

[@gailforce]

as a non-american i always had a hunch that division by skin colour was related to poor white people trying to pass themselves off as non-slave or non-poor culture. as a euro we always had class and tribal divides. I think america melted it all down into a skin colour divide. there's been plenty literature and records from my country of people being sold into slavery for whatever reason. it's no amazing leap of imagination to consider there was race mixing (in what we nowadays would call race). those whiter skinned people would have wanted to distance themselves from the stigma of slave history following the emancipation. those darker skinned people would not be able to avoid any of that stigma. Human nature is a bizarre, horrible and essentially human thing. regardless of how much we learn, discover and understand each other there will always be that twinge in the human brain that desires to create divides. Our best efforts as individuals and groups is to avoid that urge. before the sun melts the earth

[@gailforce]

@@CynicalHistorian i don't even know what pewdiepie does. denialism? if you say so. I'm not american and don't know your history, and didn't claim to know. I think the atlantic slave trade happened because they could, not because they had an inherent hatred of skin colour. They had better weapons and there was less outrage against it because it was far away places that the public didn't care about, much like they don't care about what is going on in the world today because it seems to far away and alien to them. Racism was a later contrivance to try and justify the slave trade and the aftermath of emancipation. Of course I have nothing to prove this with, and it is just conjecture. Whimsical, I'd say, certainly not denialism. You know history records the words and thoughts of only so many people.

[@CynicalHistorian]

That was supposed to be a reply to a different comment on a completely different video. KZbin studio has been acting very strange

[@hydromic2518]

It reminds me of the Apartheid governments’s social programs to uplift poor white people. Programs similar to those of the New Deal in America was used to get rid of poverty among white people because the Apartheid government, especially Hendrik Verwoerd, could see how white poverty would falsify their idea of white supremacy. Many dams, irrigation systems, roads, rail and energy infrastructure was built. Personally I think they were trying to emulate what America was like for middle class white people especially since suburbs grew significantly. I don’t think people realize just how much the government was able to do for white people in South Africa. I think it would be quite accurate to say that in the major cities and predominantly white areas South Africa is just like white America(specifically commercial, industrial and residential areas dominated by white people) while areas for non-whites are more akin to the rest of Africa and poor Eastern European communities. People to this day will use this as an excuse to sympathize with Apartheid when most of this was just a façade. It relied upon the cheap labour of non-whites and many of these high quality programs and services were only provided to white people who made up a minority of the population. It is of course cheaper to provide an American standard of living to a few million people than over 20 million people. The social situation was also becoming increasingly unstable and sanctions further strained the economy. The economy was heavily reliant on natural resources and corruption was a serious issue in the government. Definitely not as pretty a picture many would try to paint

[@SpaceCase6valence]

Whitewashing/ white supremecy actually does hurt "white" (notice the quotes). Just ask all the Italian immigrants who felt compelled to abandon their Catholic faith and join protestant churches just to avoid discrimination because "white," in America, specifically meant Anglo-Saxon and Protestant

[@2007NissanAltima]

Everyone who is hyper fixated on race (usually the far left and far right) are always weirdoes

[@pashanoble9359]

Thank you for this video. It is a breath of fresh air in a world filled with pollution.

[@NerdAboveALL8]

I personally just say I'm white because I have a white European last name and I look white, but I have ethnicly diverse parents however it's to hard to explain and most people just say that I'm trying to be diverse. Like my mom is a mix of five different ethnic groups and one of them is from a countrie that no longer exist and the other four are so random that I only consider two of them my actual heritage. My dad is three ethnicities so culturally different that I don't even consider identifying with them because I know that me being a white guy means some people will mad that I am celebrating my heritage that I don't look like. It's why I say racism is the most inclusive thing ever because no matter who you are you can be racist.

[@sashhhaa4874]

Someone told me that because race is phenotypic you don’t decide ur own race you are the race that the world perceives you as. In my case i’m girl who came from two black africans but has lighter skin than the stereotypical black person enough to make the world believe i have one non-black parent. Race is a social construct and it does make identification for racially ambiguous people like us hard to identify ourselves but it’s not the only measure of identity there is 😅

[@NerdAboveALL8]

@sashhhaa4874 I love this response and this is exactly how I feel. I've had people ask me what what my ethnic background is and it's always a weird experience because I answer primarily white because it's easier than saying white and Hispanic / Latino without being glared at.

[@swiftsetrider4543]

@@sashhhaa4874 I have one Black parent and one White parent. From a DNA test I know I’m 55% European (mostly Irish, 10% Russian, a little Norwegian and Western European), 44% Black African (split pretty evenly between West Africa proper and West Central Bantu/Congolese) and 1% North African. People looking at me assume I’m North African or similar and clerks have put down “White” on forms for my race without a second thought.

[@Peter-oh3hc]

Thanks!

[@CynicalHistorian]

And thank you!

[@awesomesauce8083]

I never understood how intelligence is linked to the color of your skin, because if i get a tan does my IQ drop?

[@Propain4eva]

We humans have escalated such a basic social concept to understand into a complex way of thinking. It’s something that has rooted itself in society over centuries and will probably take centuries to rid ourselves of. However it is something that is learned as we grow and develop so it is important to teach the next generation on history’s flaws, and perhaps learn from their innocence.

[@saulspanco854]

Well race is more than the color of your skin so..

[@TheJsmitty85]

For being demonized this is getting a lot of ads

[@leeterredeemed9527]

Hey man. Colorblind people can still tell what the traffic light means. The different values are in the same position every time.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Colorblind people can still see colors. You should look up what something is before trying to defend it

[@leeterredeemed9527]

I know. I've failed those dot tests my whole life. There've been a few i had to go off the position for though.

[@darkranger116]

Someone asking me about the origins of Race : Me, a DM of 20+ years : "okay.. so you know how Elves used to be a class?"

[@romkoppel5302]

I would'vs appreciated if you threw in a tongue-in-cheek "Oh, yeah,women weren't considered people back then. But that's a whole other thing" in the middle of one of the quotes that referred to the entirety of human population as "men".

[@cordeliahoffmann9803]

Great video!! Thank you for this. I learned a lot of this in an anthropology class in undergrad but i still learned new things from this video. Appreciate it so much!

[@RichGilpin]

Boy, some wild comments. Very well done and researched as usual. We all have a lot of this junk stuck in our minds regardless of the commonality of us all. I still mostly always describe myself as Caucasian because I was brought up to think that way, but now have to respond as white, both equally ludicrous because the government seems to want these statistics and I (dumbly) keep responding. I have a wife from Taiwan, who may be described as Chinese but prefers the Island name (formerly as I grew up Formosa - Formosian?). I have never had so many steaming pending circles as tonight, in fact I have fast internet and seldom get any, but sometimes comcast seems to priortize things wierd so it might be them. Just wierd. Also interesting, may be demonetized yet many ads including ... 'we have to stop this woke revolution and just say no' from Hillsdale college (me laughing).

[@registromalplena2514]

Going by the definition at 7:27 I have to think about my own genetic lineage of both being dyslexic and on the autistic spectrum. Both of which would be things that my parents grandparents and other relatives have and it's genetically inherited. Personally having dealt with this all my life I would say that this is a bigger division between me and other people then how much melatonin I have.

[@DrawnofHistory]

Ha. I didn't know I was in this video. Great!

[@urzmontst.george6314]

Just discovered your channel. Thank you fro presenting a balanced and nuanced view of history without leaving out the inconvenient bits.

[@vectorshift401]

All language is a social construct.

[@kyleyoung2464]

that is true

[@lukedoesbutter]

Yep 🎉

[@bryankollmorgen2696]

Would you consider genetic screening before having children to be a form of eugenics? That is, if two people have a history of a congenital defect in their family history, would it be eugenics if they are both tested to see if they are carriers of said condition before they attempt to have children?

[@stevencarr4002]

There is already routine screening for things like Down's Syndrome in Iceland , followed by abortions. But we mustn't call this 'eugenics'. That is a bad name. It is 'reproductive health care', which is good. Eugenics is what those nasty other people do.

[@samrevlej9331]

Love the video so far, with a very thorough debunking of nonsense that is unfortunately still prevalent today, but small nitpick: there are numerous errors with dates for various people cited in the video (Aristotle, Wilson and others).