The human biodiversity revolution in discourse can not be stopped:
Mr. Baker’s observations are common sense. Does anyone really think an Eskimo would perform as well in Wrigley Field in July as someone of African ancestry who has spent all but a speck of his evolutionary history along the equator? “The single most important factor in heat toleration is body proportions,” says David Brown, a University of Hawaii anthropologist and morphology expert. “If the relative fitness levels are similar, those with more skin surface area to overall body mass–those with relatively longer limbs–are more heat efficient. It’s easier to sweat, dissipate heat and keep core body temperature steady.” Check that anthropology textbook: Africans have longer limbs and more skin surface area than whites, who have more than Asians. Stout-and-short Eskimos, who are of Asian ancestry, don’t perform as efficiently in scorching weather as whites or blacks. Is it racist to acknowledge this?
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This controversy transcends sports. The era of the human genome is upon us. Geneticists are studying population-based differences in the hope of devising medicines–for multiple sclerosis that afflicts Northern Europeans, colorectal cancer that hits blacks, alcoholism which impacts Asians because of a mutated gene, or the 27 diseases that disproportionately target Jews–purely as a result of their ancestry. We need a new lexicon that appreciates human differences without playing the race card. In other words, get off Dusty’s back.
Us evolutionary realists will have the last laugh…you listening, Murtaugh? 😉
Posted by godless at July 15, 2003 09:10 AM| TrackBack | Email this article
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