Not a Good Thing

As a fan of redheads, I find this story disturbing.

PETER Beattie, Nicole Kidman and Michael Voss are. So were William Shakespeare, Christopher Columbus and Queen Elizabeth the First.
But the future doesn’t look bright for people with ginger hair.

According to genetic scientists redheads are becoming rarer and could be extinct in 100 years.

The current National Geographic magazine reports that less than 2 per cent of the world’s population has natural red hair - created by a mutation in northern Europe thousand of years ago.

Global intermingling, which broadens the availability of possible partners, has reduced the chances of redheads meeting and so producing little redheads of their own.

Although it takes only one red-haired parent to produce ginger babies, two redheads obviously creates a much stronger possibility.

Some experts warn redheads could be gone as early 2060, but others say the gene can be dormant in the reproductive system for generations before returning.

Oh, wait...this is the opinion of experts. Well now I know it’s bullshit. It would take a whole lot of forced intermingling to do that in 52 years. And even so, it wouldn’t probably happen. People only have so many kids in a lifetime. And while races intermingle, people tend to go for their own race as a rule of thumb. People are tribalists by nature.

This is another bogus article, referencing so called scientists who obviously don’t understand the slightest thing about reality. How could red heads go extinct in 52 years? When there are red headed babies being born as we speak?

1. I think the point is that within the next 2-3-4 generations, there won’t be born any more redheads ... not that every redhead will die in 2060.

   Posted by  on  08/26  at  09:08 AM

2. They’re wrong

   Posted by  on  08/26  at  05:18 PM

3. Sure ... what do THEY know ... silly scientists. *sigh*

   Posted by  on  08/27  at  12:55 AM

4. Oh, so you believe everything scientists say? Even when they contradict each other? So all the scientists who believe GW isn’t happening are right then?

   Let me put it to you another way. This is what the article is saying: “According to genetic scientists redheads are becoming rarer and COULD BE extinct in 100 years.”

   Well, sure. And the human race COULD BE extinct in 5 years if an extinction event MIGHT happen.

   This is the problem I have with stories like this. Scientists say blah blah MIGHT blah COULD happen. The press breathlessly reports it as if its some kind of fact. But its just an opinion. And, really, about as valid as one you could get at a local bar. Because this is an area where they are still very much in the dark. Like the climate.

   Posted by James Hudnall  on  08/27  at  08:33 AM

5. Okay ... I have a few problems with your posts here, so lets see if we can get this on track...:

   The first thing YOU say: “Oh, wait...this is the opinion of experts. Well now I know it’s bullshit.”
   Do you really want me to go into that one, or is it clear to you what you did just there?

   The article dosn’t say that this WILL happen - YOU are saying that it does. Yes, it says “might” and “could”, which is really the only way we can difine anything aboyt the future, because we don’t have that damn crystalball.

   “And, really, about as valid as one you could get at a local bar.”
   So you are saying that people who have devoted their life to science don’t know shit about science - or that at least Joe Sixpack knows just as much. Last I heard, Joe Sixpack didn’t do shit for the greater good of the planet - as oppose to the “good men and women of science” that brought you all those goodies that are making us live longer aso. Whatever…

   “this is an area where they are still very much in the dark.”
   Really ... and what the heck do you know about that?! Enlighten me, if you please.

   Posted by  on  08/28  at  09:02 AM

6. This post is about how the media uses lazy arguments to make bogus claims.

   1. When the media says “Experts say..” that sets off red flags. One week experts say Coffee will give you cancer. Next week, coffee cures you. This week redheads will be extinct, next month redheads may be taking over the world. All according to “experts”. Experts has become a joke word.

   2. Yes, we don’t have a crystal ball. But using these terms also means you can say anything. Bob might be a zillionaire in two years. Bob might be a pauper in two years. These stories are fluff. I was just mocking the seriousne4ss of it. It’s called ironic sarcasm.

   3. No, that is not what I am saying. People are people, whether they are scientists or not. Some will do or say anything to get attention. Some are just plain wrong most of the time. Some are irresponsible and some are all of the above. I happen to love science, which is why I complain about all these bogus science stories in the press. They are ruining the good name of science by letting hacks make bogus pronouncements endlessly, to incite scare stories. This is basically a crypto-racist story because it’s really trying to say, all the racial mixing will eliminate white people traits. Well, that would require a lot more time and a hell of a lot more interracial breeding, and its not happening to the degree some people think, which answers your final point.

   Posted by James Hudnall  on  08/28  at  10:09 AM

7. Great post!

   1: Yes, you are absolutly right.

   2: Right again ... and Bob is belived to become a zillionaire pauper next month (says experts).

   3: And here we have the real problem! The big question is, and I hope you can follow me here, WHO TO BELIVE?! You say you complain about “all the bogus science stories” ... but how the hell do YOU know what is science and what is fiction?!? Science is all about getting smarter - learning new things. And I’m not saying it’s true, this thing about the redheads, but what if it’s right? Someone has to be the first to speak it, right? I mean, when Pasteur first discovered the path from germs to disease, everyone thought HE was crazy. That’s the thing about being a scientiest - some peopel are just not ready/comfortable with learning new things. We often say that “man fears the unknown”, which means that when he is presented with the unknown, he finds a big stick and beats the messenger to death!
   To recap: yes, there IS bogus science out there ... but HOW do we know which is which?!

   Posted by  on  08/28  at  12:13 PM

8. The answer to your third question is simple. Does it pass the smell test? This one does not.

   What is the smell test? For me its deductive reasoning.

   The article suggests because of human migration there are more sexual partners of different races available than before. And since redheads are only 2% of the population they might get bred out in 100 years.

   Simple math and an understanding of humanity tells you this is faulty logic. While there are more people of different races moving into areas, that does not mean they are automatically mixing. While race mixing is up, it is not the rule of thumb. The birds of a feather rule still applies. And I could go on but why bother? It seems rather obvious that these guys were just blowing smoke.

   I was pointing out that these kinds of stories are really nothing more than thinly veiled “scare stories” and like most stories they are speculative fiction.

   Posted by James Hudnall  on  08/28  at  01:07 PM

9. But you don’t have to mix races to lose the red haired people ... If you mix a redhead with someone with brown hair, there is a big (75%-85%, I belive) chance that the child will be born with brown hair, which is because the gene that gives you red hair is recessive (basic biology).
   So the “simple math” you are talking about, is actually going against your claims!!!

   So your two little tests don’t work.

   Posted by  on  08/28  at  03:57 PM
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