From: no@spamthank.s   
      
   catpandaddy wrote:   
   > "Ian B"  wrote in message   
   > news:4b1660a1$0$2483$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...   
   >> DaffyDuck wrote:   
   >>> On 2009-12-01 04:20:52 -0800, "Ian B"  said:   
   >>>   
   >>>> You don't seem to be getting the point. If somebody appeared on TV   
   >>>> who looked exactly like your spouse, a close friend, etc, you'd   
   >>>> immediately notice them, and remember them. They become significant   
   >>>> to you because of the astonishing similarity, not because of what   
   >>>> their job title or other status is.   
   >>>   
   >>> Wow, so you're saying I actually *did* bang Lucy Liu, and Grace   
   >>> Park?   
   >>   
   >> What country do you live in, and what ethnicity are you?   
   >>   
   >   
   > Ian, it makes no difference.  Two people of your own race can look so   
   > alike that the difference in photographs is not distinguishable, even   
   > though it is an extremely rare thing.  I guess you have to witness it   
   > for yourself before you can realize it.  Mistaken identity takes   
   > place even for us good old WASP types.   
      
   Well, I noticed that both Daffy's like-a-looks are oriental (what's PC these   
   days? "Asian"? Eastern first nations? :) There's a couple of factors that   
   would have some significance there. A person from a western country will   
   have a visual cortex trained more acutely to differentiate caucasian and   
   (probably, but perhaps to a lesser degree) "black" faces than less   
   represented ethnic minorities. It's basically a lesser version of the old   
   colonial problem with the natives; "they all look alike to me". This is   
   generally treated as terribly racist; but the reality is that an englishman   
   raised among englishmen in the C19 had a visual cortex trained on english   
   people that genuinely couldn't differentiate africans, asians etc so easily.   
   The same occurred for the locals, who found it harder to tell the white   
   folks in the silly hats apart. The problem is much less now that we live in   
   multicultural societies, but is still likely to occur to a lesser degree.   
      
   Also, you've got the thing that there is much more genetic variation in   
   "blacks" and "whites" and indians etc than oriental asians, due to the   
   latter practicing more rigorous reproductive isolation, due to various   
   cultural and historical reasons. So they really do tend to look quite alike.   
   Arab women all look alike too, but that's because they have to wear bags   
   over their heads.   
      
      
   Ian   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)