[HPforGrownups] Re: Purity of Bloodline

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 2426

Ebony Elizabeth wrote:

> This discussion of "purity of bloodlines" always brings to mind two
> questions with corresponding observations.  1)  Almost all of the
> normal blood I've ever seen is a shade of red--no matter who it comes
> from.  What exactly *is* pure blood?

It has nothing to do with actual blood. Back in the dim dark days before
people had any clue just exactly what in the man's semen made the woman
pregnant, they assumed it was some component of his blood that combined with
hers (I'm really over-simplifying here, but it's been many zillions of years
since I read those old Biology texts that explained the usage of "blood" for
heredity). The usage was ingrained in our language way before we understood
genetics or DNA. Hence, we get "bloodlines" for lines of descent, "blood
kin" for someone we are related to by birth, etc.. A "pure" blood is one
whose descent can be documented as being all from a certain type, as in a
pureblooded dog or horse. For legal purposes, a set number of generations
can be specified that must be documented, to be "pure." For a new dog breed,
it also has to breed true, etc.

3)  The notion of race is a relatively modern construct invented for a
specific purpose.  What *is* race?

Biologically, it's a subcomponent of a species. In  _Homo sapiens sapiens_,
we are the race _sapiens_. Recent placement of Neanderthals as _Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis_ would make the Neanderthals another race. But that's a
biological definition.

These days "race" seems to mean a visual difference. At least in the U.S.
But I've read old hiring guides from the 19th century that tell you that
Italians are too volatile for supervisory jobs, and too physically frail for
heavy labor jobs, Slavs are good for heavy work, but not too bright, etc.
I'm not joking. We are actually *much* less "racial" today.

The term "race" has been overlaid onto a psychological component of humans,
that ol' tribal Us/Them, and in that light is not new at all. Why do you
think it's a modern construct?

Anyway, I have to go feed the munchkins now. By the way, their dad, whose
grandparents came from Poland, is a "pure blooded" Pole, and resents having
to choose "Anglo" as a racial choice when he has no Anglo blood at all. And
just to muck with the census, I listed his and the children's ethnicity as
Polish-American. Ha.

--Amanda