General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy White Supremacists Are Chugging Milk (and Why Geneticists Are Alarmed)
(Snip)
Studying human genetic diversity is easier in a society where diversity is clearly valued and celebrated right now, that is very much on my mind, said John Novembre, a University of Chicago evolutionary biologist who has taken to concluding his visiting seminars by illustrating how one of the fields textbook examples of natural selection has been adopted for illiberal ends.
One slide Dr. Novembre has folded into his recent talks depicts a group of white nationalists chugging milk at a 2017 gathering to draw attention to a genetic trait known to be more common in white people than others the ability to digest lactose as adults. It also shows a social media post from an account called Enter The Milk Zone with a map lifted from a scientific journal article on the traits evolutionary history.
In most of the world, the article explains, the gene that allows for the digestion of lactose switches off after childhood. But with the arrival of the first cattle herders in Europe some 5,000 years ago, a chance mutation that left it turned on provided enough of a nutritional leg up that nearly all of those who survived eventually carried it. In the post, the link is accompanied by a snippet of hate speech urging individuals of African ancestry to leave America. If you cant drink milk, it says in part, you have to go back.
In an inconvenient truth for white supremacists, a similar bit of evolution turns out to have occurred among cattle breeders in East Africa. Scientists need to be more aware of the racial lens through which some of their basic findings are being filtered, Dr. Novembre says, and do a better job at pointing out how they can be twisted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/white-supremacists-science-dna.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Aristus
(66,452 posts)Some people are just about as dumb as a ditch...
TheBlackAdder
(28,211 posts)brush
(53,841 posts)Iggo
(47,565 posts)Best guess before I stopped caring.
lame54
(35,321 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)Ilsa
(61,698 posts)Corgigal
(9,291 posts)that some white people are proud of. Our vitamin D absorption is awful, but hey..
hlthe2b
(102,352 posts)It is their bastardization of the science of lactose intolerance to promote their racist agenda.
What the hell, NYT?
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)But where in the world does strawberry milk come from?
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)udders. They just be very carefully milked by the wee folk after they've raced around the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to capture a bit of the leprechaun's magic.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)And ye wouldn't wanna do that now would you? Think of the poor things standing in line with a banshee as their very overworked caseworker.
Moostache
(9,897 posts)tymorial
(3,433 posts)Wow. That has certainly never happened before.
Iggo
(47,565 posts)tymorial
(3,433 posts)People will always twist information to suit their agenda. Science will never be exempt
Fullduplexxx
(7,870 posts)I hate android
2naSalit
(86,775 posts)peekaloo
(22,977 posts)another "Orange" association
Demonaut
(8,926 posts)Hekate
(90,787 posts)MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)And go play around, unprotected, in some UV light.
Polybius
(15,475 posts)Figures they would enjoy it, yuck!
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)I guess because some ancient ancestor of mine had a mutation that allowed it.
But I live in Florida and have had numerous precancerous thingies cut off my body. I have a pretty high risk of developing cancer from the sun on a planet that depends on the sun for all life. I have 2 shades I come in. White and bright red.
No genetic lotto winner here.
These people are nuts. And scientifically illiterate.
yankeepants
(1,979 posts)mercuryblues
(14,537 posts)I love, love, love the beach. I am the one sitting under the umbrella with a hat and at least a 50 sunblock on.
Even as a baby, I could not tolerate milk. So where do I go back to?
Initech
(100,100 posts)Blue Owl
(50,491 posts)greyl
(22,990 posts)said a wise man.
Cha
(297,612 posts)such a preponderance of more healthy choices.. like soy, almond, coconut, cashew, hemp milk, etc.. Yes there's Hemp Milk!
2naSalit
(86,775 posts)peekaloo
(22,977 posts)Go suck a bull.