Weaponized culture.
Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
11–20 of 36 posts
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#12Why is this posted on HackerNews? I mean, I know the reason why, but what's the handwavy-low-effort reason that it's here?
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#13When I was at school in the US I had a minor medical procedure. One of the forms required me to list my race. My doctor was Egyptian and having grown up in the middle east myself we joked about whether he qualified as African american or if he could medically identify my race. Race has no medical definitions and worldwide few courts would ever dare tell someone their race. This case is going nowhere. The opera has ma…
If the performances only take place in Hungary, it's pretty unlikely that US court has jurisdiction.
Gershwin was american. I assume his kids/estate is american. So this involved a contract between a European opera company and US persons regarding a work protected by US copyright law. They could probably file in a US court and a court may well determine that the US is the better place the hear the case. (When between a person and a corporation, US court tend side with the person's location on issues of jurisdiction. If someone is going to get on a plane, they think it easier for the corporation.) It is a possibility.
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the performances only take place in Hungary, it's pretty unlikely that US court has jurisdiction.
Gershwin was american. I assume his kids/estate is american. So this involved a contract between a European opera company and US persons regarding a work protected by US copyright law. They could probably file in a US court and a court may well determine that the US is the better place the hear the case. (When between a person and a corporation, US court tend side with the person's location on issues of jurisdiction.…
> a work protected by US copyright law
I don't think this is entirely correct. It's only protected by US law in the US - in all other countries, it's protected by their local laws. That's the reason for international agreements to harmonize copyright between countries, such as the Berne convention.
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#15When I was at school in the US I had a minor medical procedure. One of the forms required me to list my race. My doctor was Egyptian and having grown up in the middle east myself we joked about whether he qualified as African american or if he could medically identify my race. Race has no medical definitions and worldwide few courts would ever dare tell someone their race. This case is going nowhere. The opera has ma…
> Race has no medical definitions
On the contrary, race is extremely useful information in certain medical contexts. Black Americans have different risk profiles for certain cardio-vascular conditions than white Americans. And European Jews suffer a higher incidence of certain recessive genetic diseases (so much so that genetic screening is basically routine for couples where both parents have Ashkenazi ancestry).
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#16When I was at school in the US I had a minor medical procedure. One of the forms required me to list my race. My doctor was Egyptian and having grown up in the middle east myself we joked about whether he qualified as African american or if he could medically identify my race. Race has no medical definitions and worldwide few courts would ever dare tell someone their race. This case is going nowhere. The opera has ma…
> Race has no medical definitions On the contrary, race is extremely useful information in certain medical contexts. Black Americans have different risk profiles for certain cardio-vascular conditions than white Americans. And European Jews suffer a higher incidence of certain recessive genetic diseases (so much so that genetic screening is basically routine for couples where both parents have Ashkenazi ancestry).
You are describing the ethnicity, not the race. Race refers only to the skin color of the person, whereas ethnicity refers to the cultural and lineage aspect of that person.
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Race has no medical definitions On the contrary, race is extremely useful information in certain medical contexts. Black Americans have different risk profiles for certain cardio-vascular conditions than white Americans. And European Jews suffer a higher incidence of certain recessive genetic diseases (so much so that genetic screening is basically routine for couples where both parents have Ashkenazi ancestry).
You are describing the ethnicity, not the race. Race refers only to the skin color of the person, whereas ethnicity refers to the cultural and lineage aspect of that person.
The line between the two terms is blurry, but race is certainly not strictly about skin color. Here is the definition of race in my computer's dictionary:
> Each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.
Then, further down:
> a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are describing the ethnicity, not the race. Race refers only to the skin color of the person, whereas ethnicity refers to the cultural and lineage aspect of that person.
The line between the two terms is blurry, but race is certainly not strictly about skin color. Here is the definition of race in my computer's dictionary: > Each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics. Then, further down: > a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group
If you look up the definitions of those words using the 1828 dictionary, you get something very interesting.
ETH'NICAL, adjective [Latin ethnicus; Gr. from nation from the root of G. heide, heath, woods, whence heathen. See Heathen.]
Heathen; pagan; pertaining to the gentiles or nations not converted to christianity; opposed to Jewish and Christian.
ETH'NIC, noun A heathen; a pagan.
RACE, noun [Latin radix and radius having the same original. This word coincides in origin with rod, ray, radiate, etc.]
1. The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob. Thus we speak of a race of kings, the race of Clovis or Charlemagne; a race of nobles, etc.
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the performances only take place in Hungary, it's pretty unlikely that US court has jurisdiction.
Gershwin was american. I assume his kids/estate is american. So this involved a contract between a European opera company and US persons regarding a work protected by US copyright law. They could probably file in a US court and a court may well determine that the US is the better place the hear the case. (When between a person and a corporation, US court tend side with the person's location on issues of jurisdiction.…
> work protected by US copyright law.
Only within the US jurisdiction. US law does not superpose or replace the laws of other jurisdictions.
Re: Hungarian opera singers declaring themselves African-American
#20Context: Hungary is under the rule of Viktor Orbán, a nasty piece of work who has impoverished his people, run constant anti-Semitic campaigns and harasses any cultural organization including universities that don't follow his culture-war line.
I think "impoverished" is too strong a word. I think Orban does more damage in people's mind long-term than economically.