I really don’t get this. I know where my parents and grandparents came from. Should I care if I have Irish or African blood? It baffles me that anyone does. How would that information would change my life? We should be judged by our actions, not by the origin of our distant ancestors.
Knowing whether I have First Nations blood on my mother’s side would have real legal benefits for me (my mom is estranged from her family and so has never told me much about them, but there’s some possibility there given their historical context). I know a friend who had to prove he was 1/8 Metis in order to get a job as a web designer with a particular company.
I think it’s ridiculous and flat out racist, frankly, but there are indeed benefits in this day and age from having particular ancestry.
My position has always been “if there are people who are disadvantaged then pass laws to help disadvantaged people rather than making the assumption that everyone with a particular set of genetics need help.” I guess it’s just easier to take that shortcut though.
I’m of the same mind. Luckily my entire family is fairly skeptical of things like this. While we want to know more about our ancestry (we know the culture we’re from as it’s pretty well documented, we would like to hone down where exactly we’re most likely from. Our last name hints at it in the region but it’s still unclear.) I would rather travel across the ocean and do manual research than give my DNA to any of the ancestry companies.
The people who most benefit from DNA ancestry are people who want to know where they came from but documentation is scarce or non-existent. In the US that group is primarily composed of the descendents of slaves. It can also help people descendent of native groups who only know that they are from some native people of North America identity a particular tribe.
I’d be really interested to know my heritage but this scenario actively is stopping me from doing so.
It’s okay, you can just be like me and have both your parents do it! They may not know my exact data, but they’ve got enough to guess.
I really don’t get this. I know where my parents and grandparents came from. Should I care if I have Irish or African blood? It baffles me that anyone does. How would that information would change my life? We should be judged by our actions, not by the origin of our distant ancestors.
I think you get disease risk data, which does give you some useful info.
Knowing whether I have First Nations blood on my mother’s side would have real legal benefits for me (my mom is estranged from her family and so has never told me much about them, but there’s some possibility there given their historical context). I know a friend who had to prove he was 1/8 Metis in order to get a job as a web designer with a particular company.
I think it’s ridiculous and flat out racist, frankly, but there are indeed benefits in this day and age from having particular ancestry.
Holy fuck, how is this legal?
“Good intentions”, I presume.
My position has always been “if there are people who are disadvantaged then pass laws to help disadvantaged people rather than making the assumption that everyone with a particular set of genetics need help.” I guess it’s just easier to take that shortcut though.
Ah, understood, thanks
I’m of the same mind. Luckily my entire family is fairly skeptical of things like this. While we want to know more about our ancestry (we know the culture we’re from as it’s pretty well documented, we would like to hone down where exactly we’re most likely from. Our last name hints at it in the region but it’s still unclear.) I would rather travel across the ocean and do manual research than give my DNA to any of the ancestry companies.
The people who most benefit from DNA ancestry are people who want to know where they came from but documentation is scarce or non-existent. In the US that group is primarily composed of the descendents of slaves. It can also help people descendent of native groups who only know that they are from some native people of North America identity a particular tribe.