[L. Joseph]

It has been suggested that there’s likely to be far fewer white people by 3000 A.D. Can someone explain the genetic and and behavioral factors to support this idea? Also, what behavioral factors might maintain the population of a white-skinned minority?

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Name : L. Joseph, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : London, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC25070]

Wealthier and better-educated groups tend to have far fewer children, so white numbers have been declining since the 1960s. Plus, nonwhites have gradually asserted ourselves and defended ourselves better against the problems of poverty, neglect and downright hostile attempts to limit our numbers. Looking at my own heritages, American Indians have increased from less than a quarter million people since our lowpoint, around 1910, to around six or seven million today. Latinos have gone from less than 2 percent of the U.S. population to around 8 percent during that time. At the same time, birth control has become the norm for most whites, while traditional beliefs and religious practices among nonwhites tend to inhibit its use. I think we have already seen what ‘whites’ do to maintain or increase their numbers. They just keep redefining what ‘white’ is, that’s all! It used to be Irish were ‘not white’. They were considered BLACKS, believe it or not, up until the mid-nineteenth century in the US. Same thing with Germans. Eastern and Southern Europeans also were often considered ‘not white’ in the early part of the twentieth century. It used to be you had to be Protestant to be ‘white’ too. Now Catholics and Jews are thought of as ‘white’. In the future, expect to see anyone who has ANY ‘white’ ancestry AT ALL to be considered ‘white’. Don’t believe me? Look at Keanu Reeves (half Hawaiian) and Johnny Depp (half American Indian), two actors who are thought of by the public as white. By the time Tiger Woods reaches retirement age, he’ll probably be thought of as ‘white’ too. And if you wonder why I keep putting ‘white’ in quotes, it’s because the term has no scientific validity at all. It’s purely a very confused and frequently changing ad hoc folk classification. That’s why it fell into disfavor in the scientific community long ago, since Franz Boas first discredited it way back in the 1920s.

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Name : ACC25070, Race : Mexican and American Indian, City : W. Lafayette, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Grad student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Kelly26574]

It’s because developed countries tend to be white countries. That’s why there will be fewer whites. THe same thing’s happening in Japan.

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Name : Kelly26574, Gender : F, Age : 22, City : Kingston, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Social class : Upper class, 

[Joe-D30588]

It is true that in the United States whites are currently the majority, but we are not the majority in the world. Even in this country there is an increasing amount of intermingling of the races as prejudices against such behaviors have decreased. As a result, there is a slow trend toward more people of mixed race. Whether this can, in and of itself, lead to whites becoming a minority group in this country has yet to be seen. The trend that is more likely to lead to that result is the rapidly growing Hispanic population in this country. That, of course, leads to the question of to which racial group do Hispanics belong. This is a complicated issue, as Hispanics can be white, black, American Indian or any combination thereof. Many questionaires list ‘Hispanic’ as a separate racial category for this reason. Then there is the other, rarely asked question of just what constitutes membership in each of the separate racial groups. Not to mention the question of even enumerating and naming the racial groups. As you can see, each question leads only to more questions, and there is no end in sight. If we could all start thinking of each other as humans first and members of racial groups second, if at all, then none of this would be very important.

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Name : Joe-D30588, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Basking Ridge, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Physician, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Kathy]

You all have such interesting postings, and I would like to discuss this topic of ‘white’ and what does it mean and who exactly can be considered ‘white?’ Is it anybody who was born from Europe? How about some African-Europeans? Are they considered Europeans or blacks? Or how about some Caucasians born in Hong Kong? I actually have a ‘white’ person who was born in Hong Kong. Is he Chinese like me? Or how about a ‘white’ person born in Africa? Is he white or black?

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Name : Kathy, Gender : F, Race : Asian, Age : 22, City : San Jose, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Artist, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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