The Ancestry Genetic Test Fad

A while back they began to show these DNA testing commercials on TV, Ancestry.com being the major company doing this.  In one of their ads, a man who had taken on the persona of what he deemed to be a "German" because he had a German-sounding name took one of these tests.  The result came back with little-to-no German ancestry, but a lot of Scottish...so he began to wear a kilt.  Oh, come on, folks...do people really take this ancestry thing that seriously?

Forgive me for being a little skeptical about this latest craze of people sending in their DNA samples to the big company for a fee and then getting a readout as to where their ancestors came from.  For one, I believe that there is a built-in bias in the process because of the names of the ethno-national groups and the criteria for dividing them from one another: since the company wants a saleable product pleasing to its customers, it will make familiar distinctions among the different groups that they can easily recognize.  Secondly, I wonder about the accuracy of it all, assuming that the DNA sample sent in is pure to begin with.  I wonder what the results would be if I sent in samples to various competing companies...how much would they vary from each other? And thirdly, all my life I have been educated to believe that, under the skin and outward appearance, we're all just fellow human beings.  The notion of "race" that we've been snowed under to believe for centuries isn't a matter of objective reality, but rather one of subjective perception.  After all, geneticists have concluded that our species is relatively very homogeneous in comparison with others, with very little genetic diversity between the so-called races and ethnic groups.  And lastly, I wonder whether people engage in genetic testing in order to classify themselves...at least partially...as members of a group that they want to identify with for whatever personal reasons...

The way I see it, you and I are what we are, and our respective lives, the things we have gone through, screwed up, learned, and accomplished create individual tapestries that are far more interesting and significant than any pie chart showing our ethnic origins...