One of the said goals of Population Genetics studies on human genetic genealogy was its application in medicine. The argument was the drugs can’t be universal as there are differences among humans. Finding out the distinct groups among humans and tailoring medicines to those individual groups was the supposed motivation.
Many suspected the whole exercise was a disguise to give scientific background to racism by creating categories of humans. Some of the scientists part of these studies were known to harbour racial prejudices. The studies energised White supremacists on the web.
The studies that started in the late nineties saw the emergence of bloggers and sites where individuals armed with statistical tools mined the studies and came up with their own theories. It was a rare mixture of racial prejudice and scientific neutrality. Only intellectual dishonesty required to reconcile them both as they struggled to come up with new definitions for the race.
The studies showed the differences but also the admixture and clinal variation which were a nightmare of racial purists. However, many still soldiers on instead of accepting loss of face. This group is a unique mixture of people with different ethnic background.
The pure racists weren’t exactly torchbearers of white brotherhood. They, in fact, put down southern and eastern Europeans dismissing them as less pure. So, there were eastern and southern Europeans trying to uphold their honour. Adding to the mix were Asians who thought they were too strong that they didn’t need white social justice warriors’ protection(as they thought). Their belief was that races were scientifically true but these white rationalists mask that truth to protect them from white racists. However, most of the western scientists opposed the classification purely for scientific reasons and as things turned out they were true throughout. I wouldn’t say, there weren’t non-scientists who opposed it purely from its effect on society. However, even their lack of scientific background doesn’t negate the fact that their rational thinking was far more nuanced than these Asian race warriors'. Sometimes, I feel Asian race warriors regress into argument from incredulity fallacy. They don't sound much different from theists who believe in god because they don't understand how things work. These Asian race warriors support racism because they don't understand the multiple concepts put forth by non-scientist humanists to oppose racism.
These individuals forget that it's not about them or their ability but it's about a dangerous idea and how it affects a group as a whole. Even if some groups have moved up, how racism affects more vulnerable smaller groups. Sometimes the groups that were at the receiving end of the prejudices in the past, now with their new political and social power, perpetuating it on other groups while forgetting the fact that they could move up in the first place because mainstream society rejected the idea legally.
A similar behavioural pattern could be observed among underprivileged castes with their caste pride in Indian society. Also, some of the OBC individuals’ opposition to social justice initiatives.
Coming back to the original topic of this post, there were other scientists who were sceptical about the medical utility of these studies. In their opinion, if anything, medicine has to be individualised(N-to-one). Group medicine will always have the same drawbacks of universal medicine.
I’ve seen individuals being turned off by the whole field of modern medicine(which they then start calling using that abusive term, “allopathy”) as some times drugs don’t work on them. These aren’t Hindutva/right-wing nuts. It would be nice if N-to-one can help these small percentage of the population at a reasonable cost. Their frustration and pain sometimes can have a greater influence on society, helping the quacks along the way.
Related:
https://bantwal.blogspot.com/2008/07/human-genetics-and-racial-categories.html
Many suspected the whole exercise was a disguise to give scientific background to racism by creating categories of humans. Some of the scientists part of these studies were known to harbour racial prejudices. The studies energised White supremacists on the web.
The studies that started in the late nineties saw the emergence of bloggers and sites where individuals armed with statistical tools mined the studies and came up with their own theories. It was a rare mixture of racial prejudice and scientific neutrality. Only intellectual dishonesty required to reconcile them both as they struggled to come up with new definitions for the race.
The studies showed the differences but also the admixture and clinal variation which were a nightmare of racial purists. However, many still soldiers on instead of accepting loss of face. This group is a unique mixture of people with different ethnic background.
The pure racists weren’t exactly torchbearers of white brotherhood. They, in fact, put down southern and eastern Europeans dismissing them as less pure. So, there were eastern and southern Europeans trying to uphold their honour. Adding to the mix were Asians who thought they were too strong that they didn’t need white social justice warriors’ protection(as they thought). Their belief was that races were scientifically true but these white rationalists mask that truth to protect them from white racists. However, most of the western scientists opposed the classification purely for scientific reasons and as things turned out they were true throughout. I wouldn’t say, there weren’t non-scientists who opposed it purely from its effect on society. However, even their lack of scientific background doesn’t negate the fact that their rational thinking was far more nuanced than these Asian race warriors'. Sometimes, I feel Asian race warriors regress into argument from incredulity fallacy. They don't sound much different from theists who believe in god because they don't understand how things work. These Asian race warriors support racism because they don't understand the multiple concepts put forth by non-scientist humanists to oppose racism.
These individuals forget that it's not about them or their ability but it's about a dangerous idea and how it affects a group as a whole. Even if some groups have moved up, how racism affects more vulnerable smaller groups. Sometimes the groups that were at the receiving end of the prejudices in the past, now with their new political and social power, perpetuating it on other groups while forgetting the fact that they could move up in the first place because mainstream society rejected the idea legally.
A similar behavioural pattern could be observed among underprivileged castes with their caste pride in Indian society. Also, some of the OBC individuals’ opposition to social justice initiatives.
Coming back to the original topic of this post, there were other scientists who were sceptical about the medical utility of these studies. In their opinion, if anything, medicine has to be individualised(N-to-one). Group medicine will always have the same drawbacks of universal medicine.
I’ve seen individuals being turned off by the whole field of modern medicine(which they then start calling using that abusive term, “allopathy”) as some times drugs don’t work on them. These aren’t Hindutva/right-wing nuts. It would be nice if N-to-one can help these small percentage of the population at a reasonable cost. Their frustration and pain sometimes can have a greater influence on society, helping the quacks along the way.
Related:
https://bantwal.blogspot.com/2008/07/human-genetics-and-racial-categories.html
