Shack wrote:
It's the skin color that makes the difference here... not the biology...
Hmmm... maybe ya got somethin' there. Maybe all this examining of the social construct of race is beside the point for Americans. Perhaps it's just the plain external physical appearance that is the critical factor in judging a man. Let's have a look at one anthropologist's attempts to quantify this. Felix Von Luschan first published his Von Luschan Chromatic Scale in 1897.
This scale was later simplified into six categories for the purpose of classifying sun tanning risk:
Quote:
type I: von Luschan 1-5 (very light).
type II: von Luschan 6-10 (light).
type III: von Luschan 11-15 (intermediate).
type IV: von Luschan 16-20 ("Mediterranean").
type V: von Luschan 21-28 (dark or "brown").
type VI: von Luschan 29-36 (very dark or "black").
type II: von Luschan 6-10 (light).
type III: von Luschan 11-15 (intermediate).
type IV: von Luschan 16-20 ("Mediterranean").
type V: von Luschan 21-28 (dark or "brown").
type VI: von Luschan 29-36 (very dark or "black").
While this type of classification is the very definition of superficial, it is at least one rational means of defining what people are saying by stating Obama is America's first "black" president. Since race has been debunked as myth on a scientific basis, maybe a chromatic scale is all we have left to cling to...