the-blog-of-burnstein:

knox:

girlfriendluvr:

hundondestiny:

manic-napi-dream-girl:

The home ethnicity DNA test industrial complex is causing real harm to Native American communities, refugees, Jewish people, and like other forms of “forensic science”, will mainly harm already vulnerable people if it becomes more cemented as a science instead of as biometric astrology, and yet, I’m supposed to tolerate it because white people are getting bit in the ass by their own construction of whiteness as supplanting culture and heritage in favour of dominant power, and it hurts their feelings that they “don’t know who they are”? 

it’s also being used to exploit the experiences of disconnected diasporic groups, such as African Americans, by promising a connection to their home culture that they cannot actually be given. The tests themselves are fraudulent at best, but it’s even worse when you’re telling people whose cultures and histories have been forcibly erased that it will restore what (the creators of) these institutions robbed us of.

There’s also the ADDITIONAL fine print that allows these companies to “own” the DNA samples that are submitted, and to use them for nefarious purposes, such as supplying DNA to police for targeting criminals and their families.

It’s an entirely garbage institution that does no good to anyone.

i’m a jew whose family was torn apart in the decade before the holocaust and i was hoping i might be able to use one of these things to find and connect with lost relatives… hearing that these things are scams is heartbreaking. they shouldnt be able to present themselves as legitimate. and “owning” your dna?? wtf

I know it’s cracked but this article actually breaks it down pretty effectively from my memory, by someone who interviewed a person working for a DNA testing company here

The “scientific” philosophy of these tests is only a few steps away from the “scientific” school of eugenics. These tests are disgusting.