A date that shall live on in infamy: The latest estimates place the whitening of European skin between 19,000 and 11,000 years ago
A date that shall live on in infamy: The latest estimates place the whitening of European skin between 19,000 and 11,000 years ago
Infamy? I am perfectly happy being white. And I find white women more attractive than women of other hues,
usually, though there are some very cute Chinese women around. It is sensible that whites selected for
attractiveness, while Asians selected for brains.
When did we evolve our invisible knapsacks of privilege?
I think it was when we moved out of mud huts and caves and into something a little more secure with doors and locks.
holy crap, didnt realize Vikings were shy.
my blue eyed grandsons are anything but shy
all races exhibit some degree of neoteny, whites have blonde hair as do some Australian Aboriginals , Negroids have larger lips, Orientals have smooth hairless skin
all race changes have to take place in the past 50000 years ,after the escape from Africa, not a very long time at all. one of the most fascinating is the occurance of the Xtype allele in central North America deeply imbedded in the native population indicating European contact 10ooo years ago or more.
just an add to this which will create some controversy , according to Desmond Morris women are more physically evolved than men . Men are more mentally evolved.
the first one is easy, as I stare at my own caveman countenance every day with razor in hand. the second one could never be explained to women , but its in the adventure and recklessness that are considered further ahead
that is Desmond Morris’s view , personally I dont see how something that blends and crossbreeds every 25 years or so could get out of sync.
The author’s comments about minimum wage lead me to take his comments about European skin colour etc. with a grain of salt.
“By dissolving those cultures that have historically produced the most wealth—because of their peaceful social relations, future time orientation, and high level of trust—globalization may cause an overall contraction of economic activity. History will go into reverse.”
So she’s not a multiculturalist, then.
well micheal jackasson changed to white in just one life time as I understand!!
It’s not hard to believe that white skin was (in part) a product of natural selection. All around the world – Mexico, Japan, India, etc., and even in the U.S. within the African-American community – women with lighter-coloured skin are almost always considered more attractive and more “valued”.
On a more…personal note – TMI alert! — over the course of my entire lifetime I have, without even one exception, only been physically attracted to white women. I want to make perfectly clear that it’s not in any way a policy of mine, or a decision I’ve made; I’m just making an after-the-fact observation about my consistent, instinctive reaction.
I almost wish it wasn’t the case, because I have no antipathy whatsoever to non-European women, and I’ve met some really super-nice and intelligent non-white (Asian/hispanic, etc) women, a couple of whom were very fond of me and wanted a relationship, but at a physical level I’m just not attracted.
Go figure. Some of my friends like the “exotic” look of Brazilians, Japanese, etc., but for me (strictly in terms of physical attraction) it’s like looking at a lovely….lawnmower. My body’s completely non-volitional “whites only” policy is so 100% consistent and undeviating as to convince me that it is definitely an inherited trait, and end-product of natural selection in my ancestral…ilk.
Btw, I think that Evo’s dismissal of the evolutionary need for lighter skin in order to produce vitamin D in seasonally-dark northern climes is at least somewhat mistaken.
Remember. We all came from apes. Well…except the Welsh. They come from Wales.
there is actually just a general correlation with skin colour to the amount of light.some of the darkest people in the world lived in Tasmania which is foggy and far south. similar latitudes to Africa across the ocean in South America also do not generate black skin. and time isnt a factor as all the migrations are in a similar time period
Ive been reading alot of Bryan Sykes and Jared Diamond lately , Im more inclined to Bryan Sykes DNA codes than Diamonds everyone is equal but the environment in tough theory.
EBD, the most likely cause of white skin in northern dwellers is due to the 20 fold greater efficacy of white skin in producing VitD during the summer months than dark skin. Given that VitD is involved in far more bodily functions than just preventing rickets, there would have been very strong selection pressure for white skin. The only way one can get enough vitamin D through diet is to eat lots of oily fish hence the lack of white skin among the eskimo’s.
Evolution doesn’t operate logically and there’s no benefit that I can see to red haired woman in being far more likely to have autoimmune diseases. Similarly, while an individual might be competent in one area of endeavor, they can be incompetent in another such as the economics of minimal wage.
The Welsh … Well said Grrr .. nice to see someone is paying attention.
Creation, evolution, demographics, environment, heredity, free will, bondage, war, peace, fertility, libido, and annual amounts of rainfall and sunshine are all interactive to the extent that it makes any proposed determinations re. intelligence, prosperity, or who’d be the best shade of candidate to rule the world or rock your world in bed totally unworthy of debate.
The US Army also conducted research of cold weather related injuries among soldiers in the Korean War, and found black soldiers were more likely to suffer frostbite and other circulatory problems than were white soldiers.
IIRC their hypothesis was that melanin content has a deleterious effect on skin flexibility at low temperatures, making the tissue more prone to vascular damage. Whether there’s actually anything to that or not, I have no idea.
There’s for sure a clinal distribution in skin tone from south to north (in the northern hemisphere at least) observable in both Europeans and East Asians. Seems like it had to confer some sort of advantage.
Must be the 4% Neanderthal genes that caused white people to be white, and invent rocket ships.
Nah, scientists got it right, if you sit in the Arctic for a few generations you become white from global warming like the Inuit.
Loki >
I’m guessing that ancient white people ate “oily fish” as well.
Humans apparently have over 90% DNA similar to chimpanzee’s and chimpanzee apparently have white skin.
Does this mean white people are closer to Chimpanzees than blacks? Many blacks seem to think so, and most Liberal white would agree 100%.
Monkey is what monkey does.
I’m not white, I’m rosy.
“Asians selected for brains” what a load of crock.
Why don’t you go over there where they’re common as dirt and find out how brainy Asian peasants are compared to the white middle class here.
It’ll be a real eye opener.
Don’t take their(Asians) word for how smart they are.
They have this cultural thing called ‘saving face’ that prevents them from admitting how brainless most of them really are.
While women are more diverse than men in both hair color and eye color, this greater diversity came about differently in each case. With hair color, women have more of the intermediate hues because the darkest hue (black) is less easily expressed (Shekar et al., 2008). With eye color, women have more of the intermediate hues because the lightest hue (blue) is less easily expressed (Martinez-Cadenas et al., 2013).
I was guessing that the reasons were that women dye their hair and use colored contact lenses more than men, myself.
Oz,
You touch on some interesting points.
When we characterize any race(except white)or other definable group as having a certain trait, it is considered bigotry, no matter the truth behind it.
I cannot avoid noticing however, that the Chinese have no complaints over the false label of smart, nor does the negro male argue claims of “endowment”.
Anyways, these claims of how white skin came to be are completely bogus. First of all, Christianity tells me the world is only 6,000 years old. Secondly, according to my upbringing in the Catholic church, Jesus and pretty much everyone else in the ME during his lifetime was white.
Hey, if Jeff Beck can believe Jesus Christ visited America after his resurrection, why can’t I believe he was originally from Wales?
The light-skinned woman thing is fascinating. It seems pretty universal. You can find it in Greek and Minoan art, just to start with. To an extent I put it down simply to the idea that upper-class women stayed indoors.
At any rate, I’m not just trying to p*mp out my own stuff here. I mean, obviously it’s partly that. But this is just an interesting thingy.
http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2013/09/i-find-this-very-interesting.html
Another theory that I’ve read suggests – or points out, really – that it’s easier to see certain signs of ill-health/non-vibrancy (e.g. kidney/liver problems, auto-immune-related skin disorders, etc., etc.) on white skin.
It is harder to spot dark circles under the eyes on an aborigine, for example.
“It is harder to spot dark circles under the eyes on an aborigine, for example.”
a)Have you ever really tried? Have you?
b)It’s “Aboriginal”, you fascist. The other one is really offensive for some reason. To people in Anthropology departments. Probably not to real Aboriginals, but, eh, who really cares about them?
An aborigine is a rare varietal form of misspelled eggplant.
I can understand your confusion, but not your rage.
It makes me feel important.