katunia

[weblog-gen(e)]

no, this one is not funny.

the other day i read through the new york times magazine (the one that comes once a week with several european newspapers). one headline on its frontpage was: more people say "my genes made me do it". and since i'm interested in human nature i read the article by a. harmon, getting to know that risk taking, anorexia and several other social/behavioral phenomena are said to be connected to genetic dispositions... which is not a new argument.

anyways, what stroke me most was this phrase:

"whether the new emphasis on genes will breed tolerance or bigotry for inborn differences remains an open question."

?

this must be denial or maybe stupidity... or is it rather the conscious and cynic negation of history and present?
the emphasis on inborn differences (genes) is not new at all. it is a structuring element of (western/modern) societies. tons of things come to my mind when i think of the concept of inborn differences and its consequences: colonialism, slavery, racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism - especially if nationality runs in the blood, as it does in germany -, deportation, discrimination....
and we know quite well about the outcome, too. it is not an open question. the notion of inborn differences has always been used to establish and defend hierarchies, has always been used to justify genocide, eugenics, othering and exclusion (all the things mentioned above)... and the proclamation of the normal.

it has never ever caused tolerance!

>genes< is just a new word for an old idea.