Ethnicity doesn't mean "race", absolutely at all. Ethnicity is an agreed-upon collective identity, based on shared attributes, which usually include language, geography, institutions, beliefs, rites, but can also lack a few of these (there are diaspora ethnicities without geographical unty, there are ethnicities with multiple languages, etc). In the end, what defines ethnicity, is an arbitrary, consensual sense of belonging.

Judaism can be described broadly as a shared culture (which is, basically, what ethnicity means), with, indeed, believers and atheists, but even atheists can belong to a religious tradition in the sense that I am an atheist belonging to a christian culture (that is, in a society organised by christian rites, christian calendars, and philosphical currents rooted in christianism). It has been racialized by antisemits (in particular nazis), it can be sometimes vaguely traced by genetic markers (in the sense that all partially in-breeding populations tend to statistically carry some markers around), but it is not a "race", and a person's judaic religion or culture cannot be inferred by the shape of their nose or whatever.

But identities (be it "jew" or "tutsi" or whatever) can also be administratively imposed by the outside, and that's what the nazi bureaucratic powers did a lot, designating people as "jewish" depending on their own pseudo-scientifical definition of the notion. So no, a designated "jew" could not opt-out. But the nazi administration could decide arbitrarily who would be or wouldn't be "a jew".

Yikes, I missed that part :-/

Thanks for expanding that point.

It's not fighting about 'nothing.' They are discriminating against white actors by excluding them from consideration solely based upon their skin color. That's outright racism, period.

So in your case, it isn't about the story or the background or the genealogy (someone mentioned genealogy as a reason why it was important Ciri be white- I don't quite get what a fictional genealogy has to do with race in a fictional world), but about racism against white actors?

For one role out of the serie's hundreds, most of which are decided through the opposite criterion.

Yeah. Oppression.

That's right. Discriminating against white actors, who already get 99% of the good roles. XD How shameful to not let them in on that remaining 1%!

Whatever. Have fun discussing it with others.

If you've read The Old Testament that you would know Judaism (religion of Jews) defines Jews as people of certain lineage. You must "enter their family" so your children would become Jews. You can't just become a Jew (in full sense) like you can become Christian or Muslim.

So being Jewish is a matter of religion AND ethnicity through conditions of religion.
So, you will be OK with two white parents having a black daughter? Or vice versa?

Oh boo hoo.

This forum never fails to disappoint.

I can't say I'm familiar with any kind or piece of the Bible in depth (as an atheist I consider it to fall under "trivia" rather than a reliable source of information (unlike science), though I have no problem with letting people believe in a higher power if they choose to).

Guess what? We agree. :P

I never stated being Jewish is not an ethnicity, all I said was that Jews are not a race. XD

Ethnicity - people joined by a shared culture, history, beliefs
E.g. Jews and the Roma.

Nationality - people belonging to the same nation or country
E.g. German, Italian, ...

Race - people belonging to the same group based on phyisical characteristics, like skin tone, eye shape and so on.
E.g. black, Asian, white, ...

That's some nice ass-backwards logic there, buddy.

White? Who is white? You're coming back to race again.


If the Flaramara of the Gloroboro are an ancient family of noble lineage dating back to the Third sun of the Age of Ulgron, does it make a difference if their skin is purple or green or white? If the secondborn child of the current Lord happens to have orange skin, are you going to take that as in-universe lore that she's actually a bastard-child with the vile Gapoopian of Glud? @_@

We're talking about a fictional universe here. NONE of the supposed cultural trappings that come with the idea of race in our world are relevant in the fictional world, except as the author chooses. And since this is an adaptation by a third party, they're choosing something else.

You could argue that the original author perceived X character to be a specific race or specific skin colour, in which case this adaptation is deviating from that.

Is that what you're suggesting? Are you saying that the race- a cultural construct in this world, and a lore-related one in the fictional world- of specific characters (not genealogy of those characters) plays any level of importance to the story of the Witcher?

A fact is not a (((suggestion))) merely because you do not like it's implications. "Whites" don't run Hollywood. But perhaps you've decided that it no longer matters who has the power when it comes to racism -- or is it a bit more (((complicated))) than that? o.O

Also, invoking the Holocaust in defense of assertions that cannot be substantiated with reason is an incredibly sleazy tactic, akin to corrupt politicians wrapping themselves in a flag and invoking "patriotism".