(no subject)

This discussion is about heritability.

Formal topic, as I was driven to sum it up eventually: People turn to genetics as an explanation for problems not proven (or even suggested by evidence) to be connected to it any more than to anything else. People do this to the extent that they ignore environmental factors, because blaming genetics for Bad Things is easier than accepting responsibility.

This is a long discussion which was originally about homosexuality and became about everything from intelligence to mental illness to gods know what. I don't expect people to read all 47 posts or whatever the hell we're at now. But, for the sake of reproducing a boiled-down version of my basic argument, I'll copy-paste my latest response.

Disclaimer! Keep in mind that at this point in the discussion we've basically moved beyond the question of whether or not we can fairly call half the topics at hand "problems," so it's more accurate to say that we're discussing behaviors and preferences overall. So, that said, I don't need to see comments telling me that homosexuality isn't a social problem, because nobody suggested we need to "solve" it in the first place.

( Read more... )

(no subject)

This discussion is about heritability.

Formal topic, as I was driven to sum it up eventually: People turn to genetics as an explanation for problems not proven (or even suggested by evidence) to be connected to it any more than to anything else. People do this to the extent that they ignore environmental factors, because blaming genetics for Bad Things is easier than accepting responsibility.

This is a long discussion which was originally about homosexuality and became about everything from intelligence to mental illness to gods know what. I don't expect people to read all 47 posts or whatever the hell we're at now. But, for the sake of reproducing a boiled-down version of my basic argument, I'll copy-paste my latest response.

Disclaimer! Keep in mind that at this point in the discussion we've basically moved beyond the question of whether or not we can fairly call half the topics at hand "problems," so it's more accurate to say that we're discussing behaviors and preferences overall. So, that said, I don't need to see comments telling me that homosexuality isn't a social problem, because nobody suggested we need to "solve" it in the first place.

( Read more... )

(no subject)

This discussion is about heritability.

Formal topic, as I was driven to sum it up eventually: People turn to genetics as an explanation for problems not proven (or even suggested by evidence) to be connected to it any more than to anything else. People do this to the extent that they ignore environmental factors, because blaming genetics for Bad Things is easier than accepting responsibility.

This is a long discussion which was originally about homosexuality and became about everything from intelligence to mental illness to gods know what. I don't expect people to read all 47 posts or whatever the hell we're at now. But, for the sake of reproducing a boiled-down version of my basic argument, I'll copy-paste my latest response.

Disclaimer! Keep in mind that at this point in the discussion we've basically moved beyond the question of whether or not we can fairly call half the topics at hand "problems," so it's more accurate to say that we're discussing behaviors and preferences overall. So, that said, I don't need to see comments telling me that homosexuality isn't a social problem, because nobody suggested we need to "solve" it in the first place.

( Read more... )