What people apparently want to be called

[Middle-aged Europe]

In the eastern part of Germany, people from Asia or of Asian descent* are often called "Fidschis" or "Fijis", which isn't exactly the most politically correct term you could think of.


*note: I think Vietnamese are still the largest immigrant group in former East Germany... not that we have that many immigrants here.

[J. J.]

I know a few Iranians; they are whiter than am, by a long shot.

We had an Iranian girl, about 16 when she came, living with us for the first three years of my life.  A foreign exchange student.  She was beautiful and she used to hold me and rock me to sleep and sing persian songs to me.  She had big breasts and I'd bury my face deep into them.  Mama said that must be the reason I always went for brunette women, rather than white women, later in life.  Some deep indelible association of black hair and brown skin with security or happiness. 

There are obviously different ethnic groups within a country.  Iranians I've met are generally lighter than I am. 

Traditionally, before the Nazis appropriated the word, they were Aryans.  I believe one of the Shah's titles was "Light of the Aryans."

It's ironic, but the Roma, or Gypsies, possibly were the "Aryan" people in Europe (at least by decent) in the 1930's.

[angus]

There are obviously different ethnic groups within a country.  Iranians I've met are generally lighter than I am. 

Traditionally, before the Nazis appropriated the word, they were Aryans.  I believe one of the Shah's titles was "Light of the Aryans."

It's ironic, but the Roma, or Gypsies, possibly were the "Aryan" people in Europe (at least by decent) in the 1930's.

good points all.  Yes, my observation was that I'd met brown iranians and white in my life.  I also note that the word aryan was more broadly used on atlases and by people in the old days more than today.  In fact, my bengali neighbor (a hindu, thus an ethnoreligious minority in his own country which is about 90% muslim) calls himself an aryan when asked about his race, or sometimes he uses the term IndoAryan, which I believe is more familiar from the various readings.  He is a very handsome man.  Tall with jet-black hair and a prominent nose.  Dark black eyes and what I'd call dark skin (but then I'm pale pink with yellow hair and blue eyes so I call lots of folks dark that you may not.)  He's what I imagine real Aryans to look like.  Though I suspect his hair is no longer really jet-black.  I've seen old photos showing him with white hair.  Like Saddam and Chairman Mao he doesn't want to appear frail and weak so he colors his hair.  I give him a hard time about it.

I collect maps and atlases by the way.  I recall you're also a NGM subscriber, so I thought you might appreciate my map fetish. 

[J. J.]

NGM?  National Geographic?

[angus]

Yeah, didn't we talk about national geographic magazine before?  I'm sure we did.  I'm not entirely sure I like the way they're trending, away from geography, ethnography, and ecology, and toward advocacy and posturing on controversial topics, but I still eagerly await every issue and still read them from cover to cover.  I found this month's interview with Alaa al Aswany particularly interesting. 

[angus]

I see.  Your explanation makes sense, given for example that "A/PI" is

was

a group, even though A and PI are different genetically. 

Thought you might find this interesting.  I've been filling out many on-line demographic forms lately, and find that this is the standard set of demographic group choices I encounter for both state- and privately-funded institutions and agencies:


White, non-Hispanic. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

 Black, non-Hispanic. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (except those of Hispanic origin.)

 Asian or Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or Pacific Islands. This includes people from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, American Samoa, India, and Vietnam.

 American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America or who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.

 Hispanic or Latino. A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban , South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

 Not Disclosed


You select one.  Typically, only one is allowed, so if you try to CRTL+click to select two, you can't.  Interesting.  Moreover, I assume if you consider yourself in any group other than those specifically delineated, you would pick "Not Disclosed."  I guess you could also pick "Not Disclosed" if you don't care to disclose that sort of demographic information.  I notice also that it's always "demographic information" and never "racial information" or "ethnolinguistic background information" or "genetic lineage information." 

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Just call me white. I dont' see why because I have some non-european ancestry and ancestors from a spanish speaking coutnry that I have to fit myself into some lame US census made grouping.

[GregTheGreat657]

I wonder what the results would be if they did this today

[Crumpets]

I wonder what the results would be if they did this today

I don't know what the results would be, but I wonder how many Xs the pollster would manage to squeeze into words like Negrx and Anglx.

[Biden his time]

I wonder what the results would be if they did this today

I don't know what the results would be, but I wonder how many Xs the pollster would manage to squeeze into words like Negrx and Anglx.

I personally must say I identify as:

64.284% XXXXX
29.293% XXXxX
6.423% 0thXr