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Hungarian Sequencing Company Vets DNA For 'Gypsy Or Jew' Genes
ananyo writes "Hungary's Medical Research Council (ETT), which advises the government on health policy, has asked public prosecutors to investigate a genetic-diagnostic company that certified that a member of parliament did not have Roma or Jewish heritage. The MP in question is a member of the far-right Jobbik party, which won 17% of the votes in the general election of April 2010. He apparently requested the certificate from the firm Nagy Gén Diagnostic and Research. The company produced the document in September 2010, a few weeks before local elections. Nagy Gén scanned 18 positions in the MP's genome for variants that it says are characteristic of Roma and Jewish ethnic groups; its report concludes that Roma and Jewish ancestry can be ruled out." Adds ananyo: "The test is of-course nonsense, and notions of 'racial purity' have long been discredited." Just when you think the world is too modern for such things, modernity gets hijacked by flim-flam.
I don't see anything racist in that comment, aside from, maybe, "knee grows", but, then, I would ask "What term can be used to refer to a black person and not be considered, by some, to be offensive or racist? African American? Black? Colored? Negro? Afro Puff? Porch Monkey? Nigger?". All of those offend somebody, some moreso than others; and I'd say all but the first three would be considered by most to be racist terms.
It's fact that black kids trying to better themselves are ousted for "being white" and often get the shit beat out of them. The ones who survive that are often quite successful and well-accepted members of society. Hell, one of them even got my vote for President. I wonder if all the knee grows interviewed on the news saying they were gonna vote for him "because he black" realize they would have kicked his ass in high school for "being white".
And before I get jumped for being a racist, I'm only parroting the exact argument made by most of my black friends.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.