Friday 29 October 2010

At Last - The Liberal Gene!

Here's a prime specimen of nonsense dressed up as science - genetics, indeed! So, 'liberals' are more disposed to 'seek out new experiences', are they? Not in my (limited, reactionary) experience. Some of the most firmly closed minds I've ever come across have been politically 'liberal' - also some of those with the least exposure to 'a wider variety of lifestyles and beliefs'. I suspect that it's at least as true that the more exposure you have to the rich variety of the world as it is, the more likely it is to turn you in a conservative direction. Many a conservative is a liberal 'mugged by reality', i.e. by wider experience of the world as it is.

2 comments:

  1. But simply being born with the liberal gene doesn't make one a liberal.

    "It is the crucial interaction of two factors - the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence - that is associated with being more liberal," the researchers report.

    In contrast, research shows conservatism arises from the crucial interaction between the conservative gene and the degree to which one has observed liberals making a total hash of everything.

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  2. Well, sorry to disprove your theory, but having grown up in two countries (India and the US), traveled around the world several times, and having having at various times been fluent in multiple languages, I am also pretty liberal in my politics.

    Maybe you just need to get out more, and meet a wider range of people. Oh wait, no, that won't work, will it? Since your point was that no one gets around at all. *snort*

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