I'm a red-head, and when someone throws around phrases like fire-crotch, and carrot-top, I take offense. Now I've started a debate within the confines of my school about race. People don't believe me when I say that being red-haired is a race. It satisfies all definitions, both theirs and those in the dictionary yet people still disagree with me. Now i know that most of you will probably disagree with me but i really want to know why. So is being red-haired a race?
the definition you posted classified a race as: a group of persons related by common descent or heredity. i dont think all redheads are related. your friends were probably refering to thiss ^^^ definition. redheads could be called a race in some aspects, but then again, so could fat people.
Fat people aren't quite a race since fatness isn't inheritable. To the point neither are red-heads. saying race usually implies not only the trait but also a culture that is shared from the parents that descends much like the actual trait. So let's take the most obvious example, black people. Black people aren't just a race because of the trait they have, black skin. While this does make people uncomfortable since this is a difference from other groups, the real thing is the culture that separates them from other people. At first(in America) it was the common suffering of slavery that bonded them as well as their African heritage. Then it became the unity under the civil rights banner. A good example is this guy I knew. He is Egyptian. He applied for a scholarship for African-Americans. He was accepted, but when he went for the interview the people were like, "who the heck are you?" The next year the scholarship conditions were changed to "Sub Saharan African". This guy is African, but he isn't the race commonly known as "Black" because his ancestors didn't pass on the same culture as the people of the black race. The easiest way to see if it is a race is the simple question "Is my whole blood related family (insert trait)?" If this answer is no, then it isn't a race. Simple as that.
Red-heads are not a race because they don't necessarily share heredity. http://www.noob.us/humor/south-park-ginger-kids/
Race is based off of having specific characteristics. White with brown or blond hair I'd call you Caucasian. White with blond hair and blue eyes and I would call you a member of the Aryan race. So its not just hair color. Its other characteristics as well. And would you not say that most red-haired people have pale skin? With freckles thrown in? It's a recessive gene and while you might not have the same hair color as your parents that's just in rare cases. You cannot say that its not heritable, becasuse it very much is so. Same goes to you. If it is passed down from your genes to you its inheritable. Your hair color isn't random. Your friend was assumed black because the characteristics of a African-American as we think of the race is dark skin and dark hair color. As for culture, most people with red hair come from Ireland, Scotland, and very northern Europe. If you don't think that they have a distinct culture think of the whole continent of Africa. Hows that for an African race? Better yet, Caucasian, most of Europe. Would you say they have a single unifying culture more so then a more specific area? No. And how about this? Latin Americans, or Latinos as they're sometimes called. Are you going to tell me that they have one specific culture? No. Previous arguments should satisfy this one.
What I think OP means to debate about is name-calling. Or something. All I know is that he's whining.
QFT. The definition you linked to also says Journalists are an interesting race. Which is an example of the definition any group, class, or kind, esp. of persons. Journalists aren't a race, just a group of people who work as journalists. But still, they are a race, by definition, but not a race such as Caucasian is. Being red haired is not a race in the same way Caucasian is a race, but being a group, or 'kind' of people, it is a race by definition. So you are not your own race. Just belong to a group of people with red hair, though that may be referred to as a race. This is not a debate, it is not fact based and completely opinionated :lock: