Scientist: genes affect political views

Started by quiller, July 13, 2014, 04:34:56 AM

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quiller

The New York Times offers up what could become a hilarious science issue equaled only by Al Gore's complete balderdash over "global warming." Op-ed contributor Thomas B. Edsall opines on the notion that our political views are literally a genetic cause. To set the reasoned and perfectly bipartisan tone, here's his opening, before he even mentions the topic....

QuoteIt's been a key question of American politics since at least 1968: Why do so many poor, working-class and lower-middle-class whites — many of them dependent for survival on government programs — vote for Republicans?

The debate over the motives of conservative low-income white voters remains unresolved, but two recent research papers suggest that the hurdles facing Democrats in carrying this segment of the electorate may prove difficult to overcome.

Sure gets you in the mood for something totally unbiased and rigidly fair, doesn't it? Sure it does!

So then Edsall tries chewing through a summary of a report from three scientists (which is here http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886913001384 ) and they concluded that if our beliefs are genetic. Then he cites a different study (curiously, no link) and says they concluded....

QuoteWorking along a parallel path, Amanda Friesen, a political scientist at Indiana University, and Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz, a graduate student in political science at Rice University, concluded from their study comparing identical and fraternal twins that "the correlation between religious importance and conservatism" is "driven primarily, but usually not exclusively, by genetic factors." The substantial "genetic component in these relationships suggests that there may be a common underlying predisposition that leads individuals to adopt conservative bedrock social principles and political ideologies while simultaneously feeling the need for religious experiences."

From this perspective, the Democratic Party — supportive of abortion rights, same-sex marriage and the primacy of self-expressive individualism over obligation to family — is irreconcilably alien to a segment of the electorate. And the same is true from the opposite viewpoint: a Republican Party committed to right-to-life policies, to a belief that marriage must be between a man and a woman, and to family obligation over self-actualization, is profoundly unacceptable to many on the left.

If these predispositions are, as Friesen and Ksiazkiewicz argue, to some degree genetically rooted, they may not lend themselves to rational debate and compromise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/opinion/thomas-edsall-how-much-do-our-genes-influence-our-political-beliefs.html?mabReward=RI%3A8&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=1

Shouldn't we thank the Times for assuring us that we are rational only if we agree with liberal parasites?

Quick, somebody get hot on applying for a science grant. We beat polio and went to the Moon, so there is no reason we cannot beat this genetic flaw called liberalism.

Write the Koch brothers. Urge them to put their money to some serious use!  :wink:

supsalemgr

Quote from: quiller on July 13, 2014, 04:34:56 AM
The New York Times offers up what could become a hilarious science issue equaled only by Al Gore's complete balderdash over "global warming." Op-ed contributor Thomas B. Edsall opines on the notion that our political views are literally a genetic cause. To set the reasoned and perfectly bipartisan tone, here's his opening, before he even mentions the topic....

Sure gets you in the mood for something totally unbiased and rigidly fair, doesn't it? Sure it does!

So then Edsall tries chewing through a summary of a report from three scientists (which is here http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886913001384 ) and they concluded that if our beliefs are genetic. Then he cites a different study (curiously, no link) and says they concluded....

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/opinion/thomas-edsall-how-much-do-our-genes-influence-our-political-beliefs.html?mabReward=RI%3A8&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=1

Shouldn't we thank the Times for assuring us that we are rational only if we agree with liberal parasites?

Quick, somebody get hot on applying for a science grant. We beat polio and went to the Moon, so there is no reason we cannot beat this genetic flaw called liberalism.

Write the Koch brothers. Urge them to put their money to some serious use!  :wink:

"It's been a key question of American politics since at least 1968: Why do so many poor, working-class and lower-middle-class whites — many of them dependent for survival on government programs — vote for Republicans?"

It is obvious these brain dead libs never considered that maybe these people feel they have an opportunity to improve themselves and do not feel the need for government to take care of them from cradle to graves.
"If you can't run with the big dawgs, stay on the porch!"

quiller

Quote from: supsalemgr on July 13, 2014, 04:53:33 AM
"It's been a key question of American politics since at least 1968: Why do so many poor, working-class and lower-middle-class whites — many of them dependent for survival on government programs — vote for Republicans?"

It is obvious these brain dead libs never considered that maybe these people feel they have an opportunity to improve themselves and do not feel the need for government to take care of them from cradle to graves.

I can hear their future screams after somebody mandates that all children born in the U.S. will receive DNA tests to determine eligibility for federal funding to remove liberalism at its genetic and most pernicious level. Leave it to each state to decide whether to seize all those carrying the gene and remove it before others are harmed.

Solar

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LOL, the author completely misses the big pic, that libs are genetically prone to stupidity. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

DaisyJane

As my dad (a World War 2 Marine Corps vet) reminds me often, it was the prevailing wisdom that the Democrat party was for "the working man."

So, this is an entrenched point of view.  My LIV sister-in-law voted for this TWICE because "the Republicans are going to take away my unemployment."

She and my brother are union members, and do what they say.  They are NOT liberals, but will vote Democrat nevertheless. 

So, this study is just BS.

DaisyJane     :cool: