theowraithical physics
ancestry dna services reproduce whiteness by erasing cultural and historical specificity. the idea that you can be "40% scottish" as a material thing is horse shit. if you did genealogical ancestry and found that your great grandparents migrated from glasgow after a local industry failed, that is actually material and locates you within history.
Jan 31, 2019 at 9:13pmWeb
Show threadtheowraithical physicsJan 31, 2019

you should be very wary of these useless tokens of pseudo information

consider the following: you have the same ancestry percentages as another human. does this actually say anything about either of you? does it give us any truly airtight predictive information about how you behave as individuals? if not, then by purely scientific principles, it is worthless information. it only serves to cement the status of individuals within the category of whiteness, or more specifically, "nonblackness"

Show threadtheowraithical physicsJan 31, 2019
if you are white and interested in your ancestry, go ahead, learn about your family history, learn about the cultures and material forces that produced you. these are good things to learn about because it will only make it more clear that whiteness isnt a stable category and the "shared white western culture" that reactionaries prattle on about is nothing but myth. spitting in a cup wont teach you jack shit.
Show thread๐š›๐š˜๐š˜๐š@๐š‘๐š™๐šŒ:~#Jan 31, 2019
@dankwraith not about your family history, but it's still very worth doing for health reasons fwiw, just don't pick a company like 23andMe that performs whole-genome on you, gives you a tiny fraction and then refuses to hand you the rest while they monetize the shit out of it
Show threadMre. Dartigen [MOVING]Feb 1, 2019

@dankwraith Eh, it can be useful for people who are adopted or who otherwise are struggling to trace their family history.

But it's also fucked up that the DNA route is often easier than trying to get adoption records unlocked or released, even if someone is deceased (or the people involved in the adoption are).

(And that also creates trouble medically, since knowing if other relatives have something or react to something is very important.)

Show threadTau_LeonisJan 31, 2019

@dankwraith

If those DNA tests don't reveal that I am 5% extraterrestrial Alien I'm going to be pissed and demand my money back.

(Also great post btw)

Show threadOl' Minecraft DickJan 31, 2019
@dankwraith
See this is why I'm doing the second thing and not the first thing
Show threadEmber Jan 31, 2019
@dankwraith It is strange to think there is really any such thing as having dna from a place. That's not how dna works. Humans have always moved from place to place. What time period are they claiming this genealogy is from? It seems to me like this is only a thing that would come into being in a place like the US with our weird concepts of race and ancestry
Show threadtheowraithical physicsJan 31, 2019
@Laura_I absolutely
Show threadcalaverasJan 31, 2019
@dankwraith @Laura_I totally agree. Itโ€™s a farce.
Show thread_&Jan 31, 2019

@dankwraith This is the only story about those snake oil genetics companies that I like

https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/a99fw9/tifu_by_buying_everyone_an_ancestrydna_kit_and/

TIFU by buying everyone an AncestryDNA kit and ruining Christmas

Earlier this year, AncestryDNA had a sale on their kit. I thought it would be a great gift idea so I bought 6 of them for Christmas presents....

Show threadtheowraithical physicsJan 31, 2019
@_ampersand lol its amazing to me that people dont even consider the possibility that the composition of their family might not be as traditional as they expected
Show threadGabs, doggy dogFeb 1, 2019
@dankwraith also colonizes indigenous identities on the basis of blood quanta
Show threadGabs, doggy dogFeb 1, 2019
@dankwraith and tries to resell an ancestry to descendants of the slave trade that was stolen from them
Show threadMre. Dartigen [MOVING]Feb 1, 2019

@dankwraith Though, there are probably more dedicated services for people who've been adopted and are trying to find other ways to find relatives.

Unfortunately, there's not much for cases where parentage is in question or wasn't recorded and everyone who was there is gone. I have my doubts about DNA being all that useful even there though.

Show threadSashaFeb 1, 2019
@dankwraith I admit a curiosity because I know that Great-grandpas Harry couldnโ€™t keep his pants zipped and am curious if we would find extra branches of the family.
But also identical twin friends took the test and didnโ€™t get flagged as relatives, so not only are they doing shitty racist revisionism, theyโ€™re also bad at what they claim to do