The Straight Dope 05/23/2003

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 05/23/2003

Dear Cecil:

Recently in your on-line archive I read your column
on why white people don't look more alike, which
interested me from multiple angles. The first stems
from the experiences of people with Asperger's syndrome,
a neurological disorder which has "face blindness" as
one of its symptoms (and which I myself have). Face
blindness refers to both difficulty in reading faces
and in recognizing people by their faces. In other
words, most people look alike to us. It has taken me
years of concerted practice to be able to distinguish
people by their facial features, and a lot of "Aspies"
are never able to do so. I can point out from my own
and others' experience that it is no easier to tell white
people apart by nonfacial characteristics than people of
other colors. By "nonfacial characteristics" I mean
hairstyle and color, skin color, height and body shape,
style of dress, places one habitually is found, and all
the other things that are so much easier to tell apart
than facial features. 

The second point re: white people not looking alike comes
from experiments in social psychology. [The writer quotes
a social psych text that in turn cites studies suggesting
that people of other races seem to look more alike than
people of one's own race.] I'm appending the journal
references. --Jennifer McIlwee Myers, via the Straight
Dope message board

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Cecil replies:

Hm. That archived column really addressed two questions:
the one that was asked (why do white people display
more physical variety than other races?) and the one
that was in the back of everyone's mind (why do all
those people look alike?). I answered question number
one, in the process challenging but not denying its
premise, namely that white people do show greater
variation in certain superficial traits--hair and eye
color, for instance. No doubt this led those who felt
question number two was the real issue to conclude:
You racist pig! The fact that you would even think that
members of other races look more alike proves you can't
transcend your racial conditioning, etc. One sees the
box this puts us in, debatewise. We plunge on
nonetheless.

Let's begin by conceding that conditioning has a lot to
do with it. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030523.html


STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

This link will take you to the Straight Dope message
board discussion of whether DNA fingerprinting can
differentiate between human and simian DNA. We can't
seem to reach a consensus (or rather I can't get
everyone to agree with me). Can you use your magical
powers to resolve this for us? --Dave 

P.S.: My daughter recently moved to Chicago. If you
run into her be sure to say hello. 

SDSTAFF Hawk replies:

Not likely. Ignorance being what it is, these days
we rarely get out of the bunker. 

It's little wonder that DNA analysis is confusing.
Given a tissue sample of unknown origin, it's possible
to use DNA to identify the species. It's also possible
to determine the likelihood that two DNA samples come
from the same individual--that's what is commonly
meant by "DNA fingerprinting." But for reasons we'll
explore, it's generally not practical to do both
things at the same time. 

To better understand the difference between individual-
vs. species-level analysis, it's easiest to look at the
past. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdnaanalysis.html


STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 01/14/1977

Dear Cecil: 

A few years ago there was a story in the papers about
a TV crew that accidentally discovered a dead body
inside a "mummy" in a Long Beach amusement park fun
house. But I never saw anything more about it. Did
they ever figure out how the body got in there, or
who killed the guy? Was anybody ever brought to
justice? --Milo T., Los Angeles

Dear Milo: 
The mysterious Long Beach Mummy turned out to be the
earthly remains of one Elmer J. McCurdy, an Oklahoma
outlaw who was killed in a train robbery in 1911.
In those blissful pre-television days, it seems,
looking at dead felons was a popular form of
amusement, and a celebrated cadaver was always in
demand. Poor Elmer was duly embalmed and sold to a
traveling carnival, in which he entertained thousands
of fun seekers throughout the south and southwest. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_203a.html

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